The Montana Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate an accident in which a 23-year-old Busby, Montana woman was struck and killed by a vehicle as she walked along U.S. Highway 212 recently. The woman was walking with two men at the time of the accident, and they have said they believe she was struck by a semi truck. Unfortunately the vehicle that hit her did not stop, and officials say the chances of it ever being identified are slim.
The fatal truck accident happened as the victim and her two companions were walking along the highway from Crow Agency to Busby. The three had hitchhiked from Busby to the border of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and originally intended to continue to Crow Agency, but decided to turn around and head back to Busby. Shortly after they started heading back, the woman was struck and killed.
The three were intoxicated at the time of the accident. The two men who were with the victim said they remembered a number of semi trucks passing them as they walked along the highway. They said one semi hit the woman and kept on going.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol, it is possible the semi driver didn’t even realize he hit someone, and it will be extremely difficult to identify the vehicle.
When a person is killed by the negligence of a driver who leaves the scene and cannot be identified, their family may still be able to bring a claim for wrongful death. If the victim owned an automobile and had uninsured motorist coverage on their insurance policy, they can make a claim against that coverage. The coverage is designed to provide compensation for damages caused by an uninsured driver, or a driver who cannot be identified. The coverage applies even when the victim was a pedestrian at the time of the crash.
Source: KXLH.com, “Officials identify woman killed on Montana highway,” Feb. 6, 2014
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