Donuts Aren’t Just For Coffee

Two people died and four others were injured after a pick-up truck overturned. The driver of the truck pulled into an unpaved loading dock then steered hard to the left in an attempt to do a “donut” in the open lot. For those of you not familiar with this maneuver, Wikipedia says “performing this maneuver entails rotating the rear or front of the vehicle around the opposite set of wheels in a continuous motion, creating (ideally) a circular skid-mark pattern of rubber on a roadway and possibly even cause the tires to emit smoke from friction.”

In the driver’s attempt at a stunt young adults believe is fun and harmless, the truck rotated and began to rollover, ejecting the driver and partially ejecting a passenger in the rear seat behind the driver. The pickup landed on its left side, pinning both men. They were pronounced dead at the scene, a lot scarred with skid marks of tires gone wild. Two other passengers suffered serious injuries. According to the police report, no one was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

Performing the donut maneuver is dangerous. This activity began when race car drivers would perform a “donut” after winning a race or to entertain the audience. Although dangerous, these are trained race car drivers. While donuts and other stunts may seem fun and innocent, they are far from it. They can cause serious injuries or death. Unfortunately, the more they are popularized on YouTube and other social media websites, they more young adults will believe they are invincible.

Mark Bello has thirty-three years experience as a trial lawyer and twelve years as an underwriter and situational analyst in the lawsuit funding industry. He is the owner and founder of Lawsuit Financial Corporation which helps provide legal finance cash flow solutions and consulting when necessities of life litigation funding is needed by a plaintiff involved in pending, personal injury, litigation. Bello is a Justice Pac member of the American Association for Justice, Sustaining and Justice Pac member of the Michigan Association for Justice, Business Associate of the Florida, Tennessee, and Colorado Associations for Justice, a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan and the Injury Board.