Distracted driving ends in Christmas car crash tragedy

A day that was going to be filled with wonder and joy for one family far from Portland was instead turned to one filled with sadness and loss. Christmas Eve morning, a young mother drove to work and was involved in a violent car accident apparently caused by a distracted driver.

The woman’s father, a volunteer fireman, rushed to the scene of the violent crash in New Hampshire, not knowing the name of the victim. He didn’t learn until his arrival that the 30-year-old female pronounced dead at the scene was his daughter.

The 30-year-old was a daughter and wife and she was the mother of three little girls, ages two, four and nine.

The woman’s husband struggled just a day later to make Christmas morning “normal.” But of course, the youngest wanted to know where her Mommy was; her older sister, just four, told her that “Mommy died.”

Police said at the time of the morning accident, the woman had been driving to work at a plumbing business she and her father ran. Just after 9 a.m., her Ford Explorer was rammed from behind by a Toyota pick-up truck.

The force of that impact sent her SUV into oncoming traffic, where it was broadsided by another vehicle.

She was dead at the scene; the other drivers, including the 31-year-old man driving the Toyota, were uninjured.

Police said it didn’t appear that excessive speed or intoxication were causes of the crash, though they said inattention was a likely factor in the tragedy.

There is obviously nothing that will bring Mommy back for those three little girls.

There are just as obviously going to be financial challenges for a young family that has lost one of its breadwinners to an apparently distracted driver. For families in similar situations, a conversation with an experienced attorney can help begin the process of obtaining full and fair compensation for the financial losses, as well as compensation for emotional damages.