A North 59th Avenue crash claimed the life of one Phoenix mother and critically injured her two children over the weekend. Forty-three year old Nora C. Payan-Munoz was fatally injured when she was rear-ended Saturday afternoon in a serious Phoenix auto accident.

She had slowed and entered the two-way turn lane when she was hit from behind by another driver. The impact of the rear-end collision sent Payan-Munoz into oncoming traffic, where she collided with a Ford Taurus, turning the pileup into a fatal car accident. Payan-Munoz was T-boned by the Taurus and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.

T-bone crashes, also called broadside accidents or side-impact collisions, are two and a half times more likely to cause serious personal injury than a rear-end crash. It is not uncommon for those involved in a T-bone-type collision to suffer broken bones and head, brain or spinal cord injuries or a fatal injury, as in the Phoenix crash.

A chain-reaction crash such as this one can compound the seriousness of the injuries that result because there are at least two impacts that the body must absorb.

Payan-Munoz's two sons, ages 6 and 13 were with her at the time of the crash. Neither were properly restrained and were ejected from the car upon impact.

Investigators noted that impaired driving was not initially suspected as playing a role in the fatal car accident, but that all possible causes were being considered.

Source: CBS5AZ, "Phoenix woman dies, 2 boys critical after crash," Steven Leslie, June 17, 2012