One Killed in Head-on Truck Accident on Highway 371 in San Juan County, NM
San Juan County, NM - June 21, 2022, one person was killed due to an accident where a vehicle and a truck collided head-on on Highway 371.
Navajo authorities reported that the crash took place near mile marker 90.5 of Highway 371 in the area of Navajo Agricultural Products Industry.
Right now, the cause of the crash remains unclear. Officials said only that a propane truck and another vehicle crashed head-on. Due to the crash, the passenger vehicle driver sustained fatal injuries.
No further information about the crash is available at this time.
Commentary on Fatal Truck Accident on Highway 371 in San Juan County
With something like a head-on collision, I find people are generally quick to assume the investigations will be straight-forward. Whichever vehicle is across the center line is the one at fault, right? Well, things are rarely so simple. In fact, making that assumption can be incredibly detrimental to the victims and families.
Take for example a situation I handled a while back where a police report claimed someone crossed the center line and hit a car. When the family had us look into things, the evidence showed police completely got the facts wrong. What really happened was the truck drifted left of center, so the car swerved left to avoid it. Then, the 18-wheeler veered back into its original lane where the crash happened. The investigating officer, inexperienced and lacking proper equipment, simply assumed the victim was at fault due to the end position of the vehicles.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying anything like that happened here. My point is folks often wait around for the authorities only to find authorities aren't getting them the answers they need. Could it be that more thorough investigations from independent professionals will prove necessary here, as well?
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