Children who are barely old enough to combine words to form sentences know that a red light means stop and a green light means go. Failure to stop at a red light is one of the most dangerous things a person can do when driving. Trying to get through a yellow light before it turns red but not quite making it is usually not disastrous; the other drivers saw you keep driving when the light was yellow. They just have to wait for one more car to pass through the intersection after their light turns green. When a driver gains speed from a distance and then plows through the intersection when the light is red, though, this often leads to catastrophic accidents. Finding out who is at fault when someone speeds through a red light is easy, but recovering compensation for the financial losses you suffered because of that person’s negligence is less so. If you suffered serious injuries in an accident where someone drove through a red light at an intersection, contact a Santa Fe car accident lawyer.
Driver Runs Red Light, Causing Fatal Five-Car Pileup
In September 2024, Nikole Zamora was driving an SUV on Lomas Boulevard in Albuquerque; the speed limit was about 30 miles per hour in the area where she was driving. By the time she got to Sixth Street, she was already going 20 miles per hour faster than the speed limit, but she kept accelerating. By the time she reached Second Street, she sped through the red light at 70 miles per hour, colliding with a car that had the right of way. The impact caused the car to collide with three cars ahead of it.
Zamora’s SUV overturned, but she was able to crawl out of it by the time the police arrived. They arrested her for reckless driving and for driving with a suspended license. The driver of the vehicle Zamora struck died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident, and the passenger was hospitalized in critical condition. News reports did not release the names of the occupants of the vehicle that Zamora’s car hit. It does not appear that she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident.
Now Zamora is facing a laundry list of criminal charges, including vehicular homicide and reckless driving resulting in severe bodily injury, in addition to the charge of driving without a suspended license. If convicted of all her charges, Zamora could face a prison sentence of nine years. In October, a judge ordered her to remain detained until her trial. Even if she is acquitted, the victims and their families have the right to file lawsuits against her in civil court.
Contact Slate Stern About Car Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in motor vehicle accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505) 814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/judge-decides-on-pretrial-detention-for-vehicular-homicide-suspect
Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash