Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

The severe winter weather we've experienced here in Missouri has caused some dangerous road conditions. As a Missouri trucking accident attorney, this story about deaths on the road in our neighboring state of Kansas reminds me of the need for truck drivers to be especially careful during winter storms. Over one late February weekend, a couple lost their lives in a road accident involving semi trucks and icy roads. Kenneth and Diane Brown died after their car skidded on an icy bridge and was struck by a tractor-trailer in Marion County, Kansas, outside Kansas City.

It’s not clear whether this accident could have been avoided if the trucker had been driving slowly and safely for the road conditions, and allowing a safe following distance. But even most trucking companies would agree that missing a deadline due to cautious driving or pulling over in dangerous conditions is better than loss of life on the roads, especially with the dangerous weather we've experienced in Missouri this winter. We don't know whether the Browns were going too fast for the road conditions when their car skidded, but drivers of 18-wheelers have a greater responsibility to watch out for others on the road. Tractor-trailers cause much more damage to cars and their passengers than the other way around because semis weigh up to 22 times as much as cars. Trucking companies have an obligation to hire safe and experienced drivers, but they sometimes choose to overlook drivers' prior traffic citations, or even license suspensions, in favor of moving cargo as cheaply as possible.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Kills Kansas Couple Whose Car Skids on Icy Bridge" »

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the federal agency that regulates the trucking industry, has highlighted sleep apnea as a growing concern in commercial truck safety. So I was interested, as a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, to see a Feb. 22 piece on the same topic from Business Insurance. A 2002 study by the FMCSA found that 26% of the nation’s 3.4 million commercial drivers suffer from sleep apnea. That’s substantially higher than the estimated 6.62% of all Americans who have the disorder. This is a concern for safety groups, trucking companies and insurance companies because sleep apnea robs its victims of sleep, leaving them woozy in the daytime. The FMCSA and others are concerned that this could lead to increased numbers of serious accidents caused by sleep-deprived commercial drivers.

Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder in which the neck muscles relax too much during sleep, causing interruptions in breathing that wake the patient up. It isn’t clear why truckers have such a high rate of sleep apnea, but groups at risk for the disorder include people with a body mass index of 30 or greater (considered obese), people with wide necks and men, especially older men. Because symptoms appear while the patient is unconscious, doctors believe many thousands of people suffer from it without realizing it, often for years. This presents a problem for regulators and trucking companies trying to identify drivers at risk for a sleep apnea-related accident. Another problem is that truck drivers don’t necessarily want to be screened or admit they have the problem, for fear of losing their jobs. Truckers oppose a proposed FMCSA rule requiring screening, but one trucking company in the article said its own diagnosis and screening program substantially reduced crashes.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I strongly support the proposed federal rule that would make sleep apnea screening mandatory. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that sleepy driving causes thousands of crashes a year. It also said shift workers who drive at night or work long hours -- both of which apply to truck drivers -- are at special risk. Sleep deprivation can actually reduce drivers’ reaction times and focus, just like alcohol. This is risky even in an economy sedan -- but in a large truck, it can be catastrophic. When the massive size and weight of a commercial truck hits a smaller car of truck, it brings much more force to the crash than another car would. All too often, the result is death or catastrophic injury to the people in the smaller vehicle, regardless of who was at fault.

Continue reading "Insurers and Federal Regulators Raise Concerns About Sleep Apnea in Truckers" »

A recent article from the Belleville News-Democrat caught my eye as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident attorney. The Feb. 16 article is about Kelli and Chad Wisneski, both 20, who were involved in a serious accident with a grain truck on the night of their Nov. 22 wedding. The crash left Kelli paralyzed from the chest down and in need of major medical care, including 18 kinds of medication. She and her husband spent their wedding night at St. Louis University Hospital, from which she was discharged Feb. 9. Now, they’re living with Kelli’s parents in Freeburg, and are planning a fundraiser to help the family build an addition to accommodate Kelli’s electronic wheelchair.

Neither the bride nor the groom remembers much about the night of the accident. They were traveling down Illinois 15 to Chad’s parents’ house when they hit a grain truck pulling out from a field. Both passed out and awoke calling for one another. Chad was originally ticketed for failure to slow down, but that ticket was dropped. Neither of them was drinking. The article didn’t say what role the truck’s driver played, or whether he or she was injured in the crash. Kelli had just quit a job as a bartender and Chad worked as a roofer, but has been laid off. Both had planned to go to school in Missouri before the accident, but now they’re working on Kelli’s health. The family is waiting for Medicaid payments to begin, but in the meantime, they have only enough medication for two weeks.

I see avoidable tragedies like this more often than most, through my work as a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for trucking accident victims to leave the scene with permanent, lifelong injuries. And, like Kelli Wisneski, these victims often end up on shaky financial footing due to their very high medical bills, with no health insurance to cover them and no hope of going back to work and earning an income. The article isn’t clear about fault for the crash, but victims may sue at-fault truck drivers and their trucking companies for all of the injuries and financial costs they caused. Of course, this is far from an adequate compensation for having your health and your dreams snatched away in an instant. But it can help trucking accident victims get medical care and support themselves financially as they learn to live with a new disability.

Continue reading "Grain Truck Accident Paralyzes Young Woman on Her Wedding Night" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I continue to follow the news about the fallout from the 2008 Interstate 40 crash. In that accident, trucker Jeffrey Knight plowed his semi truck into a line of stopped cars, leaving three dead and 15 injured, some permanently. Knight told investigators he was reaching for his cell phone at the time, which eventually led police to charge him with three counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter. He has been held in St. Louis County jail since April of last year. Now, according to a Jan. 29 post the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Crime Beat blog, trial for the involuntary manslaughter charges has been scheduled for June.

Knight was driving a load of scrap metal when he approached a line of stopped cars near the junction with Interstate 270. He failed to slow or stop in time, running into or over ten vehicles before stopping. The accident killed Charles “Keith” Cason, of Caseyville, 55; Lydia Miller of Canton, 55; and Alvin Mast of Kahoka, 88. Miller and Mast were Amish and had hired a driver to bring them to a funeral in Tennessee. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Knight had a clean driving record and didn’t seem to be using drugs and alcohol. However, in its report, the patrol said Knight admitted that he had been reaching for his phone and opening it just before the accident, opening him to distracted driving charges. If convicted on all three counts, he faces up to 12 years in prison.

This was a terrible, avoidable accident. But as a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I hope that we can at least use it as an example of why it’s so important for truck drivers to avoid driving distractions. Every driver should avoid distractions behind the wheel, of course, and public safety campaigners are starting to acknowledge that. But truck drivers are in charge of machines many times the size and weight of a passenger car, and that means they can do much more damage in a crash. For example, if Knight had been driving an ordinary sedan in this crash, it’s unlikely that he would have been able to hit ten vehicles or harm 18 people. Truck drivers are well aware of this greater danger, and I hope that means they also feel a greater responsibility to drive safely.

Continue reading "Summer Trial Set for Truck Driver in Massive Interstate 40 Semi Truck Crash" »

A serious truck accident happened in our St. Louis semi truck accident attorneys’ own backyard Feb. 1. According to an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a truck ran off the road and overturned around 9:15 a.m. that day. No other vehicles were involved in the one-truck accident, but a fuel tank ruptured, causing an explosion visible that the East St. Louis Fire Department safely put out. Emergency workers spent an hour getting the truck’s driver, 35-year-old Ladon A. Trigg of St. Louis, out of his truck’s cab. He was hospitalized at St. Louis University Hospital, with injuries described as serious when emergency workers helped him away from the scene.

According to the Illinois State Police, Trigg was driving a Freightliner Truck Tractor laden with trash when he crashed his truck just east of where I-64 meets Interstates 55 and 70. They said he took the curve too fast, causing him to run off the side of the road, hit a guardrail and overturn. Illinois law enforcement may charge him with a traffic infraction or a crime. Although the injuries were not extensive, the crash shut down the eastbound side of the highway until about 3:30 and the eastbound I-64 ramp until at least 6 p.m. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came to the scene to help Illinois officials dispose of the spilled diesel and hydraulic equipment. A witness told the newspaper that he saw a smoke ball to into the air and that the cab was caved in.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I’m glad that no more injuries were reported, and wish Trigg the best luck in his recovery. Given that the crash happened at 9:15 a.m., around the end of morning rush hour, it could easily have hurt random innocent southern Illinois commuters -- or even killed them. In fact, the fact that no other motorists were involved is also a bit of luck for Trigg and the trucking company that employs him. The article doesn’t give a final ruling on the cause of the crash, but it does say the Illinois state police believe Trigg crashed because he took the curve too fast. If this is the case, he, and possibly his employer, would have been legally responsible for any injuries or deaths that could have resulted.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Explosion Shuts Down Interstate 64 in Southern Illinois" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I was delighted to read that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has banned truck drivers from texting and driving. According to a Jan. 27 article in the Springfield News-Leader, the ban is effective immediately and applies to all commercial drivers. That means drivers of any size truck that requires a commercial license, as well as bus drivers. It’s the first federal ban on texting and driving that does not apply exclusively to federal employees, and part of LaHood’s focus on reducing distracted driving. The federal ban penalizes truck and bus drivers up to $2,750 per violation. Both houses of Congress are considering unrelated legislation that would make federal transportation funding conditional on passing state laws banning texting while driving for all drivers.

Distracted driving emerged as an issue in 2009 after research showed that truckers who text behind the wheel raise their crash risk by 23 times and take their eyes off the road for nearly five seconds at a time. At highway speeds, that’s enough time for a semi truck to travel more than the length of a football field. For at least one Missouri trucking company, the News-Leader reported, the ban won’t make a difference because it already prohibits its truckers from texting on the job. A spokesman for Prime Inc., a central Missouri trucking company, said the company strongly supported the ban as a safety measure for everyone on the road. However, KMOX in St. Louis reported Jan. 27 that it might be hard for state troopers to enforce the law, because it’s hard to see into truck cabins. A law enforcement spokesman in that article said citations were most likely to occur after an accident, when police can go through phone records and find proof that the ban was violated.

Unfortunately, this is probably true. Nevertheless, as a St. Louis 18-wheeler accident lawyer, I believe this ban will help keep drivers of all vehicles safe for a few different reasons. First and foremost, a legal ban on texting for commercial drivers ties those drivers’ jobs and livelihoods to compliance. If truckers are caught doing anything that violates federal safety rules, they can be penalized by the government, and that can lead to losing their jobs, their licenses or their careers. Furthermore, truck drivers who violate a federal rule are more likely to be found liable in any trucking accident lawsuit that grows out of an accident caused by texting while driving. When the federal government has already said that a behavior is unsafe, it’s much harder to argue in court that it is not. And for both reasons, employers are likely to make compliance an important in-house safety rule as well, reinforcing the importance of following the law.

Continue reading "Federal Department of Transportation Bans Texting While Driving by Truckers" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was disappointed to see that Kansas City suffered a major multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35 last weekend. A three-year-old died and at least six other people were seriously injured in a crash involving 30 vehicles, the Kansas City Star reported Jan. 16. The crash took place at around 7:40 a.m. near Wellsville, Kansas, and stretched disabled vehicles for a mile down the highway. The vehicles involved included multiple semi trucks, including some that hit other semis as well as trucks that hit passenger cars. More than 17 people altogether went to at least four hospitals in the region.

At least some blamed the crash on thick fog that settled over the highway. Cathy Jankovich said visibility was almost nil past the headlights of the vehicle her son-in-law was driving, even though other drivers were passing him. The exact cause of the pileup wasn’t known, but authorities said the chain reaction began with an accident involving a tow truck. Of the thirty vehicles involved, nineteen were involved in the largest crash, including six tractor-trailers. Another crash involved six vehicles. Crash survivor Mike McRoberts told the newspaper that he and his brother raced to get out of their pickup truck after it hit two vehicles. That’s when they saw an out-of-control 18-wheeler approaching and ran for their lives. They dodged the truck, but it hit another semi “and just bent in half.”

As a St. Louis trucking accident lawyer, I wonder how much effect the weather had on this terrible accident. The newspaper’s description suggests that conditions may not have been safe for any driver -- but that may be particularly true for the truckers. Under federal law, commercial truck drivers have a special duty to use “extreme caution” in hazardous weather conditions, including heavy fog, snow or ice that limits visibility and traction. This is above and beyond the ordinary standard of care that applies to all drivers. Federal safety laws like these are made in part because large trucks can do severe damage to smaller vehicles in a crash, beyond what another car might do. Unfortunately, they’re also necessary because trucking companies and their drivers have a financial incentive to disregard safety and drive through bad weather.

Continue reading "Thirty-Vehicle Pileup Outside Kansas City Leads to Multiple Truck Crashes" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I was pleased to see a Jan. 13 blog post from FleetOwner.com addressing the dangers of texting while driving. The Trucks at Work blog made the case that truckers and the trucking industry generally should pay attention to this issue, in part because it’s a growing concern for safety advocates throughout the United States. The federal Department of Transportation and the private National Safety Council have made cell phone use behind the wheel a focus of their campaigns against distracted driving. In fact, the NSC this week launched a MADD-like organization advocating against texting while driving, named FocusDriven.

According to the blog, the NSC estimates that drivers using a cell phone in some way cause 28% of crashes. The majority are drivers talking on the phone, according to the NSC, but 200,000 of those crashes, or 3% of crashes overall, were caused by drivers involved in texting. Using other research, the blogger suggested that the true number of texting-involved crashes could be as high as 1 million. While the author didn’t seem to think truckers were likely to be guilty of texting-- despite some research to the contrary -- he suggested that truck drivers should care because people in smaller vehicles were likely to cause crashes. According to research from the Auto Club Foundation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, truckers did nothing unsafe in 73% of all crashes.

As a southern Illinois trucking accident attorney, I won’t argue with those numbers. Research consistently shows that drivers of heavy trucks crash less often than non-commercial drivers. However, when trucks do crash into passenger vehicles, they can cause deaths and devastating injuries, even if the same accident wouldn’t have been serious if the truck had been another car. Or, to put it another way, trucks’ much greater size and weight gives them the potential to kill and permanently disable the motorists around them, regardless of fault. That makes it essential for truck drivers to drive carefully and avoid anything that could impair their driving or judgment. And that means truckers have at least as much responsibility as other drivers, if not more, to avoid texting on the road.

Continue reading "Trucking Industry Blog Highlights Dangers of Texting on the Road" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was pleased to see that federal regulators are considering tighter rules limiting truck drivers’ hours on the road. According to a Jan. 4 article from business publication Logistics Management, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced four public “listening sessions” to get input for new rules on truckers’ hours of service. Topics could include requirements for rest and on-duty time, use of sleeper berths and loading and unloading times. The agency emphasized that this its rules are intended to promote safety and prevent devastating accidents with commercial trucks.

The meetings are set as a result of the FMCSA’s settlement of a lengthy lawsuit brought by safety groups including the Truck Safety Coalition, the Teamsters and Public Citizen. The terms of the settlement require new rules to be submitted for review nine months after the settlement was reached, which will be in mid-summer. Trucking companies oppose new rules, arguing that the current rules, which were formed in 1935 and updated in 2000, are working fine. Currently, drivers of tractor-trailers may drive up to 11 hours at a time, after a 10-hour off-duty period. They also face a weekly limit of 60 hours of driving in seven days or 70 hours in eight days, after which they must take a “weekend” of at least 34 straight hours. The safety groups contend that the on-duty periods are too long and can leave drivers impaired.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident attorney, I’m glad these groups are considering our safety. Driving while fatigued is an issue for drivers of all kinds of vehicles. Past studies have suggested that a sleep-deprived driver may be just as dangerous as a drunk driver. This is too big a risk to take when it comes to large commercial trucks, which can have up to 100 times the weight of a Honda Civic. In a crash, that weight difference can translate to severe damage for the smaller vehicle, and grave injuries or death for the people inside. Statistically, commercial drivers are involved in far fewer accidents than drivers of passenger vehicles -- but one mistake by a commercial driver can have far graver consequences. For the sake of the people who share the highways and roads with truckers, revising the rules to conform with science makes sense.

Continue reading "Federal Regulators Hear Comments on Stricter Trucker Hours of Service Rules " »

An unusual article in the Alton Telegraph caught my eye as a southern Illinois trucking accident attorney. According to the Dec. 18 article, a witness to a fatal crash between a car and a tractor-trailer called the newspaper to dispute the official law enforcement account, which put the blame on the driver of the car. Joshua Headrick, 19, was killed Dec. 17 when he proceeded straight through an intersection and into a semi truck turning left into a quarry. The resulting crash caused an explosion that killed Headrick. The truck jackknifed, but its unidentified driver was not injured.

Walters is a member of the Madison County Board, executive director of the Southern Illinois Industrial Association and a former insurance claims adjuster. He said he was waiting to make a left turn when Headrick drove by in his side of the road, then hit the left-turning truck. Both men had green lights, said Walters, but he was waiting to make sure traffic was clear before turning. Walters said Headrick was driving five to ten mph above the speed limit, but that this was not unusual for the area. And two other trucks in line to turn didn’t move, Walters said, suggesting that they didn’t have a green arrow. Under those circumstances, he told the Telegraph, “It was completely the truck’s fault[.]” However, the Alton Police Department initially assigned the blame to Headrick based on other witness accounts. The police department declined to comment.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I think this is powerful evidence that things are more complicated than they may initially have seemed to the police. I would be interested to know who the other witnesses are who implicated Headrick for the crash, and what their angles of vision might have been. The issue of who was at fault for the accident is important, because if police decide the truck driver was at fault after all, there will be important financial consequences for both parties. Not only could the truck driver face professional consequences, but Headrick’s family could have a strong claim in any lawsuit they choose to pursue. Depending on the circumstances, the truck driver, his or her trucking company and even the quarry could all be held legally and financially responsible for this terrible crash.

Continue reading "Witness to Fatal Semi Accident Disputes Official Account That Blames Car's Driver" »

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about a potentially quite serious accident in Kansas City, involving a tanker truck that overturned and spilled hydrochloric acid all over a bridge. As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was surprised to see that another truck has overturned in the same spot -- the Paseo Bridge over the Missouri River. According to a Dec. 14 article from the Kansas City Star, the truck was carrying soybean meal that spilled across the highway, causing the road to be closed between 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 14 and 1:30 a.m. the next morning. No injuries were reported, but the driver of the truck was cited for driving too fast. Initial reports that the semi was leaking gasoline were not substantiated.

Television station KCTV followed up Dec. 15 with a report looking for reasons for the two crashes. Missouri Department of Transportation officials blamed excessive speed for both crashes. They reiterated that warning in an interview with the station, saying the bridge is easy to navigate if drivers stick to posted speed limits. However, the bridge is also currently under construction, which means drivers also have to contend with workers, equipment, detours and lane closures. Drivers interviewed for the piece said the construction was sometimes confusing; one driver added that the downhill slope at the end of the bridge didn’t seem safe. Some said they prefer to avoid the bridge altogether, which means detouring to bridges to the north and south, some far out of the way and none attached to an interstate highway.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I suspect that both MoDOT and the drivers are right. Speeding isn’t a factor in truck accidents as often as it is in accidents involving passenger cars. But when truckers do speed, they can do far more damage, simply because their vehicles weigh up to 100 times more than the average import economy car. That weight matters not only in a collision, but also in a curve, because it makes it easier for trucks to turn over like these two did. And because there is construction on the bridge right now, drivers must slow down even more than usual. They must also be extra careful about their route and lanes, which may have changed because of the construction, and keep an eye out for people and equipment. Drivers who use the bridge regularly, and professional truck drivers, may be lulled into a false sense of a security by their experience -- but failure to take extra care under these conditions can easily cause a crash.

Continue reading "Second Semi in Three Weeks Overturns on KC Bridge, Prompting Speed Concerns" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I noted with interest a recent article about financial penalties for the state in a fatal trucking crash. According to a Nov. 24 article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a three-person arbitration panel ruled that the Missouri Department of Transportation should have warned motorists about the traffic pileup that led to the death of 28-year-old Jemma Dant of St. Louis. Dant was stopped on Interstate 44 for traffic when she was rear-ended by a semi truck, pushing her vehicle into another stopped vehicle. Traffic was backed up from the Vandeventer exit on I-44, past the designated exit lane and into the right lane.

Dant’s family argued that MoDOT should have done more to warn drivers about the backup problem. In fact, the exit in question has been re-striped since the 2005 accident, their attorney said, and warning signs have been added. Cases against MoDOT may be heard by an out-of-court arbitration panel instead of a state court. A panel in this case ruled in mid-November that Dant’s father, sister, brother, nieces and nephews should receive $1.3 million in compensation. But because Dant’s family had already received $950,000 in a claim against the trucker and trucking company, the state may subtract that amount from the judgment, leaving a payment of only $350,000. This is just under the maximum of $378,814 that state agencies may be compelled to pay, a cap set by sovereign immunity laws.

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I am pleased that Dant’s family received fair compensation despite those laws. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine dating back to Britain, which says that governments are immune from lawsuits. Incredibly, this doctrine allows states to decide whether they and their employees are liable at all for wrongdoing, even clear and undisputed wrongdoing. As a rule, Missouri and Illinois citizens may sue their states for negligence, but they have special rules to follow -- such as the damages cap -- and often must overcome special obstacles like shorter deadlines and administrative petitions. Failure to follow these rules can disqualify a claim entirely, no matter how strong it might be. That’s why it’s important for people with a claim against a government agency to speak with an experienced attorney as early as possible in the process.

Continue reading "Arbitration Board Rules MoDOT Must Pay Family of Woman Who Died in Semi Crash" »