Mars Candy Heiress Kills One, Hurts Five Texas Women

Jacqueline Mars, 73, one of the richest women in the world, crashed her 2004 Porsche SUV head-on into a minivan the other day in Virginia.

Irene Ellison, a grandmother from Huntsville, died at the scene. The driver and front seat passenger are still in the ICU. Three other passengers were injured and rushed to area hospitals. The six women had driven from Texas to Virginia to attend a family wedding and had almost arrived safely at their destination.

How did this tragedy happen?

Ms. Mars, who has been charged with a misdeameanor count of reckless driving, is now claiming that she fell asleep at the wheel. The collision happened at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

It is obvious that she wasn’t paying attention to the traffic on the road when she crossed over the center line and hit the Chrysler van.

I wonder if Ms. Mars was having trouble opening up a Mars bar? Or maybe she was texting while driving or got carried away talking on the phone? It’s hard to believe she fell asleep driving that early in the day, isn’t it?

As our readers know, distracted driving, especially due to the almost universal use of cell phones, is a huge problem every where. I have blogged about this on many occasions.

Most of the other states have tried to reduce their use.

While none ban all cell phone use, 37 states and the District of Columbia ban all cell phone use by new drivers, and 12 states and D. C. prohibit people from driving using hand-held phones. And 41 states ban texting while driving, with six others making it illegal for new drivers to do so.

But not In Texas. And distracted driving causes way too many wrecks here. On the Texas Crash Report’s list of factors and conditions contributing to accidents, “distraction in vehicle” was a factor last year in 10,261 accidents and “driver inattention” in another 82,833 wrecks. These are cited even when the officer believes the negligent driver was on his cell phone or texting at the time of the crash. Those two categories accounted for 408 fatalities.

“People are reluctant to admit they were on the phone because they think there is a law against it already,” said Price, the Allen traffic officer. “It’s really underreported.”

The Texas House and Senate passed a texting ban in 2011. Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the bill. The House passed the ban this year but the bill died in the Senate. The bill’s sponsor, conservative Representative Tom Craddick from Midland (R) stated: “I’m not going to stop until we get this done.”

While those who engage in distracted driving may not face direct consequences for causing an accident, those who are injured by them certain have the opportunity to seek appropriate compensation.

Filing a personal injury lawsuit in connection with a distracted driving accident is not necessarily and easy thing to go through, and it pays to work with an experienced advocate.

The Fort Worth and Dallas area law firm, Berenson Injury Law, only handles automobile, truck, 18 wheeler, and motorcycle collision cases. Mr. Berenson has over 33 years of experience in handling wrongful death and injury claims. He has been board certified in personal injury trial law for approximately 20 years and has won many awards and has served on trial lawyer boards of directors for years. The firm is recognized as being one of the best law firms in Fort Worth. Our motto is “Getting You The Compensation You Deserve” — and we’re proud to say, we’re good at it! We also fight to reduce your expenses so you will receive more money in your pocket. Don’t believe us? Ask hundreds of our satisfied clients.

If you need help or advice about a wrongful death or personal injury claim, please call us at (817) 885-8000, toll free at 1-888-801-8585m or contact us through this website.

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