Without comment, the N.C. Supreme Court has affirmed a lower-court ruling that will force the state Department of Transportation to pay $3 million to the families of three people killed in a Charlotte auto accident in 2009.

The award is based on the finding that DOT should have installed a traffic light at the intersection where the accident took place. A nearly 90 mile-per-hour race between two vehicles led to the accident at Riverpointe Drive, Palisades Parkway, and Highway 49 that killed a 2-year-old girl, her mother, and a 13-year-old boy in another car.