Riding in Bed Of Pickup leads to Personal Injury

As I was driving home, the other day, from our Personal Injury law firm, I saw a site that never ceases to amaze me.  I was stopped at the intersection of Delaware Street and Fall Creek Parkway on the near north side of Indianapolis.  I was the first car at the intersection waiting for the light to change.  The speed limit on Fall Creek is in the 30-45 mph range. A pickup truck was travelling east on Fall Creek.  In the bed of the truck, sitting on camp chairs, You know the type-cloth with a metal frame that squeeze shut and fit into a small bag, was what appeared to be a grandmother, and two small children.  Their hair was blowing and their faces were impassive, as if this was the most common thing in the world.  Of course the children do not know what danger they are in, but the driver and the grandmother must know the danger, and yet they apparently do not care.

While riding in a car or truck, a person is travelling at the same speed as the vehicle.  If the vehicle has to make a quick stop, the people in the bed are going to keep moving because they have no brake (ie the seatbelt). So they either fly out of the truck bed or they hit the truck itself.  A quick stop is the least dangerous action, and it can result in death or serious personal injury, so you know all the other actions, (hitting another car, swerving, rolling) can only lead to worse results.  Ejection from a vehicle almost always lead to serious personal injury such as brain injury, broken bones, spinal cord injury and paralysis, amputations and wrongful death.  The only way to avoid such results is to not ride in the bed of a pickup.  Do not allow your friends or family to do it.  In this instance an ounce of prevention avoids a lifetime of whoa, or worse yet wrongful death.