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Roxbury woman survives deer crash in Braintree, gets out, is killed when another driver swerves to avoid her car and slams into her, State Police say
By adamg on Mon, 06/17/2024 - 10:17pm
State Police report a Roxbury woman standing in the breakdown lane of Rte. 3 north in Braintree after the driver of the RAV 4 she was in hit a deer in the right lane died when the driver of another vehicle swerved into the breakdown lane to avoid the stopped car and hit her early Sunday.
State Police say the driver hit a deer shortly after 3 a.m. and that both he and his passenger, Magdalena Desrosiers, 35, were standing in the breakdown lane when the driver of a Jaguar SUV swerved into the breakdown lane to avoid their deer-entangled vehicle . Both were hit and transported to a local hospital. The driver lived, Desrosiers was pronounced dead, State Police say.
No charges have been brought; State Police say the crash remains under investigation.
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Comments
The first sentence almost
The first sentence almost killed me too.
I hope they throw the book at the Jaguar driver.
The breakdown lane is not a passing lane. Despite how commonly people pull this maneuver, it is illegal and this was a preventable death if the Jaguar driver didn't so carelessly swerve out of the travel lane off the roadway. Clearly was traveling at reckless speed and velocity and this death caused due to driver negligence. No sympathy.
Speed Kills
But what do you do if you see a stopped vehicle like this? You attempt to go around to avoid the collision. In this case it was fatal, but plowing the vehicle isn't a better choice if you can't make it around on the left, and may also have been fatal to the Jag driver and the two people at the side of it.
Sounds like a sad situation all around. Unless the vehicle was disabled, the driver should have pulled off to the side, deer and all. But the vehicle may not have been able to pull off and may not have had working lights and flashers. I'm betting that the jag was flying low, but what were they supposed to do when they suddenly noticed the stopped vehicle and were unable to stop in time?
This situation is why all major insurance companies recommend that you stay in your vehicle, belted in, if you are on a major highway and you have a breakdown or crash. Either that, or get completely off the pavement if that is an option.
I'm not a driver but...
From looking at Google Maps, Route 3 northbound in Braintree is a multiple lane roadway. The Jaguar should not have been in the breakdown lane at all.
Do you think it was intentional?
1. This happened at 3:10 am, not in the middle of the day.
2. "The Rav4 struck a deer and came to a stop in the right lane to assess damage to the vehicle." If the vehicle was not at all driveable, you'd have no choice. But in their place, I'd have moved it to the breakdown lane if it would drive at all. I'm not talking "drive to the nearest gas station", I'm talking "move it 20 feet to the right".
3. There isn't any information on whether the Rav4 had lights and/or flashers on. If it was completely dark, the driver of the Jag might not have seen it until they had to move fast to evade.
4. There isn't any information on other traffic. At 3:10 am it's a lot less likely, but it's possible that there was traffic overtaking in the next lane over, and that moving into that lane would have resulted in a collision.
5. It seems unlikely that the driver of the Jag saw people out of the car in the breakdown lane.
It does seem likely that the swerve into the breakdown lane was a split-second decision, and may not have been the best decision, but...split-second decisions rarely are.