TULSA, Okla. — A woman died Monday morning after losing control of her pickup on an icy stretch of road, according to Tulsa Police. The crash occurred in the 3700 block of North Highway 75 near Mohawk Boulevard.
Investigators said 44-year-old Ashlea Justice was driving north when her vehicle hit ice, went off the roadway, overturned onto its roof, and slid down an embankment.
Police reported that Justice was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, but the roof of the pickup caved in during the rollover.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Vehicles need to be checked for defects in rollover crashes
It only takes a small patch of ice on the road for a rollover to happen, turning an ordinary drive into a violent, dangerous, deadly incident.
When fatal rollovers occur, police reports will often concentrate on the driver or road conditions. What’s too often overlooked is just as important: whether the vehicle itself was designed to withstand the violent forces of a rollover. When a life is lost, we have to look beyond the obvious. That means asking: Was the vehicle built with enough structural strength to survive a rollover crash?
This matters. It matters because manufacturers have an obligation to design vehicles that are structurally safe and able to protect the people inside them. That is the purpose of rigorous safety testing long before a car or truck ever reaches the hands of the public.
The fact that the pickup’s roof caved in on Ms. Justice concerns me. Many truck models have a history of failing to withstand rollover crashes, leaving occupants at greater risk of serious injury. Common failures include seatbelts that do not restrain occupants, airbags that fail to deploy, and roofs that collapse—potentially crushing the people inside and causing severe spinal or head injuries. Could that have possibly played a role here?
We have handled hundreds of cases similar to this one. We recently took on a tragic case involving a fatal rollover crash in Nevada caused by a dangerously defective pickup truck. The vehicle rolled over, and its weak roof structure collapsed, crushing the occupant’s survival space and leading to fatal injuries.
That tragedy was entirely preventable. The manufacturer had long known about the dangers of roof crush in rollover accidents, but failed to strengthen the truck’s roof or implement available safety technologies. Instead, they prioritized cost-cutting over human lives. And when disaster struck, they tried to avoid responsibility.
We fought to hold them accountable for their negligence and to bring justice to the grieving family. No one should lose their life because a manufacturer failed to ensure basic vehicle safety.
The same pursuit of truth should happen for Ashlea’s family. They deserve to know whether the truck she was driving did—or did not—contribute to the fatal outcome.
But getting those answers isn’t simple. Rollover cases are complex and require attorneys who know how to investigate design failures and challenge manufacturers when they resist accountability.
I hope all the facts come to light and the surviving family finds the answers they need.
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The Ammons Law Firm represents clients nationwide in rollover accidents involving SUVs and trucks that result in serious injury or death.
Disclaimer: This post is not legal advice. Information contained in this blog was compiled from third-party sources or is the opinion of the author. Please inform us immediately if false or misleading information is contained in this post.
