A fiery rollover crash on westbound Highway 580 near 35th Avenue claimed a life and critically injured another.
Ma Lu Thu, 47, died on Sunday, Feb. 2, when the black SUV she traveled in, hit the right shoulder, overturned, and burst into flames. The accident happened at 4:42 p.m. in East Oakland.
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The victim, a Santa Clara resident, died at the scene. Paramedics rushed a critically injured victim to the hospital. Reports indicate the second person sustained burns.
It is unknown who drove the SUV.
The number of deaths worldwide from car crashes is staggering. Each year, about 1.3 million lose their lives in a vehicle accident and that translates to about 3,287 deaths each day.
Rollovers are dangerous accidents but not in the pure number of accidents, but rather in the fatality rate. According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study, only 2.1 percent of nearly 9.1 million crashes involved a rollover, but rollovers delivered nearly 35 percent of all deaths from vehicle crashes. Only head-on crashes killed more people.
Many rollovers occur when the vehicle’s tires hit something, such as soft soil or a bump, putting a hiccup in the car’s forward motion. Nearly all single-car rollovers occur in this manner, according to the NHTSA.
Consumer Report studies indicate that rollovers don’t need to be this deadly by adding “rollover-avoidance technology, better vehicle design, enhanced safety systems, stronger government regulations, and increased use of safety belts.”