The truism to always wear a seatbelt held true when Sloane Ackman, 49, and Trista Ackman, 29, were rear-ended and pronounced dead at the scene outside Tooele on Tuesday, November 27. The 16-year-old driver of the black SUV for whom the mother and daughter pair braked was questioned but has not been charged. He escaped with no injuries. It was the teen’s SUV which allegedly caused the Ackmans to slam on the brakes. The 16-year-old has been fully cooperative with police – he left the scene, thinking that the crash was well behind him. The Ackmans were not wearing seatbelts, and were fatally rear-ended by a truck. Sloane Ackman was remembered by friends as a free spirit with a strong, independent personality.
Overall, traffic fatalities are down. However, failure to wear a seatbelt is a surefire way of increasing your chances of dying in an auto crash.* Forty-eight percent of those who died in car accidents in Utah in 2010 were not wearing seatbelts, and not buckling up increases your chances of dying a full 31 times. The United States was one of the last large countries to introduce mandatory seatbelt-wearing laws in 1984.** Manufacturers had included seatbelts in vehicles since the 1960s, but traffic fatalities remained high in the decades when the rate of wearing seatbelts remained low.
Christensen & Hymas extend their condolences to the Ackman family. In a fatal accident, you need the best representation in the Salt Lake Valley. Call our experienced personal injury lawyers at (801)-506-0800.