Miami Car Accident Lawyer

Top 10 Most Horrific Celebrity Car Accidents

While we tend to believe that all celebrities have limo drivers at their beck and call, in fact many famous people choose to drive themselves. In some instances, this decision has had serious repercussions. The following ten celebrities are among others who have suffered particularly shocking car accidents:

• James Dean: Beloved Hollywood star, James Dean, lost his life in 1955 when he took his Porsche Spyder out on California freeway 99. While Dean was preparing for an upcoming race, witnesses say the actor was not driving at an excessively high speed at the time of the crash. As Dean rounded a curve on Route 466, his car collided head-on with a 1950 Ford, flipping into a nearby gorge. Dean suffered a broken neck and multiple internal injuries which would prove to be fatal. Dean’s passenger, Porsche mechanic Rolf Wutherich, was severely injured in the crash, but survived. Rumors claim Dean’s car–nicknamed the Little Bastard–was cursed; after the accident the car rolled off the back of a truck, crushing the legs of a nearby mechanic. Later, parts of the car were sold to buyers across the country, and many of those cars were subsequently involved in deadly crashes.

• George Lucas: He was involved in a near-fatal car accident just three days prior to his high school graduation. While driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver going 90 mph broadsided Lucas, flipping Lucas’ car over several times. Lucas was hospitalized for over three weeks, but eventually made a full recovery.

• Gary Busey: The American film and stage actor was severely injured in a motorcycle crash in 1988 after he slid on a patch of gravel and flipped over the handlebars, hitting his head on a curb. Busey was not wearing a helmet and suffered a skull fracture, leading to intense swelling and bleeding of his brain. Busey was in a coma for thirty-three days. After a period of rehabilitation, Busey eventually returned to his film career.

• Stevie Wonder: Steveland Morris–better known as Stevie Wonder–was involved in a serious automobile accident on August 6, 1973 while on tour in North Carolina. Wonder was a passenger in a car being driven by his cousin when the car collided with a logging truck. Some accounts of the accident say a log flew off the truck, crashed through the windshield and hit Wonder in the face. Wonder was in a coma for four days, but eventually recovered, although he suffered a partial loss of his sense of smell and was left with a scar on his forehead.

• Jackson Pollock: The man who challenged the tenets of art with his abstract paintings was driving his mistress and a friend of hers to a party on Long Island in 1956 when he barreled into an oak tree due to being severely intoxicated. Pollock was found in the driver’s seat, decapitated. One young woman also died in the accident while the other suffered injuries but recovered and later wrote a book about Pollock, claiming he was in love with her.

• Jayne Mansfield: Actress Jayne Mansfield died at age 34 in a car crash near the Rigolet Bridge in Mississippi in 1967. Mansfield was on her way to New Orleans with her husband, their driver and three of her children when her Buick Electra crashed into the back of a mosquito fogging truck, sliding under the truck and killing all three adults in the front seat. The three children in the back were injured, but survived, including three-year old Mariska Hargitay, who went on to be an actress in her own right.

• Grace Kelly: The Hollywood actress and Princess of Monaco was killed in 1982 as she and her 11-year old daughter Stephanie drove back to the Monaco palace from their country road. The French mountain roads were winding and steep, and Grace missed a bend which required steering nearly 150 degrees to the right, sending the car through a retaining wall, crashing through tree branches and careening down the mountainside. Princess Stephanie was injured, but recovered.

• Billy Idol: Rocker Billy Idol nearly lost his leg following a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles, caused when Idol ran a stop sign. Idol had just been tapped to play a character in Terminator 2, but because of the steel rod inserted into his leg and the subsequent physical therapy, Idol was forced to drop out of the movie.

• Steve Allen: The comedian, musician, writer and the first host of the Tonight Show died from a massive heart attack caused by a ruptured artery sustained when his car crashed into another car which was backing out of a driveway.

• Gloria Estefan: the singer was involved in a very serious auto accident when her tour bus was hit by an 18-wheeler on a Pennsylvania highway. Estefan broke her back and was told she might never walk again. Two titanium rods were inserted into her back, and after six months of rehabilitation, Estefan was able to walk.

If you have been involved in a serious car accident you know how difficult the road to recovery can be. Speak to a knowledgeable Miami car accident attorney for a better outcome for your future.