North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Blame on DOT for Crash that Killed 3

North Carolina’s highest court has upheld earlier rulings that the state Department of Transportation’s failure to install traffic signals at a Charlotte-area intersection helped cause an accident that killed three, including two children.

The state Supreme Court affirmed Friday the decision of the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which awarded $1 million each to the estates of those killed during the 2009 collision at an intersection with Highway 49 near the South Carolina border.

The justices upheld the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals that rejected DOT’s arguments that drivers participating in a “drag race” that day were the accident’s sole cause. One of those drivers collided with a car carrying a mother and 2-year-old daughter who died. A 13-year-old inside one of the speeding cars also died.