Once again, another family has been torn to shreds by the misguided actions of another. This story repeats itself far too often throughout the United States and globe at large. A moment’s worth of poor judgment is all it takes to provoke a lifetime of suffering–and the end of many lives. I’ve been profiling stories of wrong-way crashes for more than five years now. Here is another case where multiple members of a family lose their lives due to the mindlessness of a fellow human being.
What happened to the Moore family?
Jennifer Moore, 46, and her daughter, Jaidyn, 9, as well as the family dog, were killed on May 25, 2019, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Samantha Winchester, 23, who also perished in the crash. Per police reports, the crash occurred at approximately 2 AM on Michigan’s Highway 14 in the Superior Township of Washtenaw County. Jennifer was driving eastbound on M-14 along with her husband Howard, 49, the assistant coach of the University of Wisconsin basketball team, their daughter, Jaidyn, and their son, Jerell, 13. Samantha was driving westbound in the eastbound lane and crashed into the Moore family vehicle. A third vehicle was hit in the crash as well and the driver survived with minor injuries.
Police responded to the crash within a few minutes. Jaidyn and Samantha died at the scene while Jennifer was transported to a local hospital and died after removal of life support on Saturday. Howard received third-degree burns while Jerell received minor injuries. Howard was later released from the hospital in early June while his son was released three days after the crash.
How could these deaths have been prevented?
To be as blunt as possible, these deaths could have been prevented if Samantha had driven in the right direction down M-14 that night. Nearly every story from the time of the crash states that toxicology results are “pending,” but no updates on those results were ever made widely available. All signs point to her inebriation, however, as alcohol is almost always the reason behind high speed wrong-way crashes at night. I most recently wrote about such a story here involving Abby Michaels, who killed an entire family by driving drunk the wrong way in Ohio that same month.
We don’t know what compelled Samantha to drive the wrong way that night. We do know that her decision cost her her life, as well as the lives of two people who did not make the decision to drive the wrong way down the highway, as well as the family dog. And the survivors of the crash–a father and son–will now be condemned to live the rest of their lives without two of the people they cherished most in the world. Samantha’s family will assuredly feel the same loss.
It isn’t fair.
Alcohol is a death sentence when paired with an auto
I’ve written about the dangers of alcohol before; this isn’t the first fatal crash I’ve profiled on The Car Crash Detective, and it unfortunately is unlikely to be the last. This story repeats itself thousands of times a year in the United States and millions of times a year around the globe. The research shows that there is no safe amount of alcohol you can consume before you drive. This is why alcohol limits are so much lower in most European countries than they are in the United States; the knowledge is spreading that fatal crashes and impaired driving can and do occur at much lower levels of intoxication than previously thought.
There is no safe limit of alcohol a human being can drink before driving a vehicle. To paraphrase a famous film from decades gone, the only winning move is not to play.
Best practices aren’t a mystery. They save lives. Please learn them and share them. Don’t make Sam’s mistake.
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