Rural Iowa Roads, Where Tall Corn May Obstruct a Driver's Vision

Steve Lombardi

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 335

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On July 13th 2009 George Clark was headed Eastbound on 140th St. when he failed to yield while traveling through the intersection at Victory Avenue. Failing to yield caused the vehicles to collide and crash. The Clark vehicle was a small truck and it crashed into an International dump truck driven by Anthony Buckner. The resulting impact put Mr. Buckner in the East ditch while Mr. Clarks Ranger came to a stop in the roadway; George Clark was declared dead at the scene while Mr. Buckner was uninjured. Tall corn is said to have impeded the vision of both drivers and one has to wonder if more should have been done to protect drivers and in turn avoid this accident.

If tall corn impeded the vision of George Clark, then it should be trimmed back or a warning sign needs to be installed. Of course farmers will shout, leave us alone this is rural Iowa and we need to plant crop right up to the fences. Of course they are to some extent right and to some extent wrong. Also drivers need to slow down at that intersection where these two roads converge.

Now what about vision obstruction? The vision of the trucker may not have been impeded as much as the driver of the smaller truck, since the International dump truck driver sits higher and his view may have allowed him to see the roof of the merging car. If so he had a duty to slow down. To understand these concepts consider your view while flying in a plane. The guy in the plane can see the top of the car, not the driver but the car he can see; while the driver of the car may be able to hear but not see the plane or pilot. The same concept applies to drivers seated at a higher perspective.

Of course the driver of the Clark Ranger had a duty to yield and his failure to heed that warning sign has cost him his life. Slow it down, we aren’t in a race.