Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

A semi tractor trailer rear ended a car killing three young girls last week. The semi rammed into the back of a car that had stopped for highway construction.

The accident occurred on U.S. 63 in Phelps County, Mo. The girls, 11-year-old Christel Miess, five-year-old Gracey Miess and their infant sister Gaberielle Miess were riding in the back seat of a Ford Tempo. Mark Barton, 38, was driving the car and the girls’ mother, Christina Miess, was also in the car.

According to the Highway Patrol, the crash occurred at 3 pm. The three girls were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The Associated Press reported that all three were wearing safety devices at the time of the accident.

Barton and the girls’ mother were taken to area hospitals. The driver of the tractor trailer, 38-year-old Alvin Lewis, was not seriously injured in the collision.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact The Lowe Law Firm. Our trucking-accident attorneys will find out whether the truck driver, trucking company, or trailer owner is responsible for the accident. If so, we will then seek compensation for future and other related medical expenses, future and other affected wages, pain and suffering, disability and/or other related damages.

An initial free consultation with The Lowe Law Firm attorneys for victims of trucking or truck related accidents is available. Appointments can take place at our office, at the hospital, or in the privacy of your home.

Contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

In Springfield Missouri a dump truck and tractor-trailer were involved in an early morning collision that left one man dead, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The accident occurred at about 5:15 am on March 18, five miles north of Springfield, Mo. A Missouri Department of Transportation dump truck driven by Springfield resident Joshua Slatten, 21, was headed northbound on U.S. 65. The dump truck crashed nearly head-on into a southbound tractor-trailer driven by 32-year-old Robert Christian of De Soto, Mo.

Slatten was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Christian was taken to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield with moderate injuries, the Springfield News-Leader reports.

The investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact The Lowe Law Firm. Our trucking-accident attorneys will find out whether the truck driver, trucking company, or trailer owner is responsible for the accident. If so, we will then seek compensation for future and other related medical expenses, future and other affected wages, pain and suffering, disability and/or other related damages.

An initial free consultation with The Lowe Law Firm attorneys for victims of trucking or truck related accidents is available. Appointments can take place at our office, at the hospital, or in the privacy of your home.

Contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

An Illinois truck driver was fatally impaled last week by a fence post when his semi veered off the highway, the Associated Press reports.

The accident happened on March 4 south of Indianapolis on Interstate 65. Elvin Stanley, a 47-year-old truck driver from Chicago, left the road around 1 am. The truck went down an embankment, hit some trees then drove through a fence. One of the fence posts crashed through the truck’s windshield and impaled Stanley.

State police believe driver fatigue may have been a factor.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact The Lowe Law Firm. Our trucking-accident attorneys will find out whether the truck driver, trucking company, or trailer owner is responsible for the accident. If so, we will then seek compensation for future and other related medical expenses, future and other affected wages, pain and suffering, disability and/or other related damages.

An initial free consultation with The Lowe Law Firm attorneys for victims of trucking or truck related accidents is available. Appointments can take place at our office, at the hospital, or in the privacy of your home.

Contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A truck driver who allegedly fell asleep while behind the wheel is to blame for causing a crash that killed three people, the Rockford Register Star reports.

The accident occurred on Dec. 27. William Hinds was driving a tractor trailer on Interstate 3 when he fell asleep at the wheel. His truck failed to slow for a construction zone and slammed into the back of a Ford Explorer. The truck then plowed into a vehicle driven by a couple from Florida, Donald W. Rautio, 67 and his 65-year-old wife, Faye. The Rautio’s car then hit a Ford Taurus driven by Caryn J. Casey, 21. The Taurus and the semitrailer burst into flames.

The Rautios and Casey were killed in the accident that involved seven vehicles.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact The Lowe Law Firm. Our trucking-accident attorneys will find out whether the truck driver, trucking company, or trailer owner is responsible for the accident. If so, we will then seek compensation for future and other related medical expenses, future and other affected wages, pain and suffering, disability and/or other related damages.

An initial free consultation with The Lowe Law Firm attorneys for victims of trucking or truck related accidents is available. Appointments can take place at our office, at the hospital, or in the privacy of your home.

Contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

Tractor trailers carrying hazardous material must stop at railroad crossings. This has resulted in accidents at a rail crossing in Columbia Missouri. The most recent accident was last Friday. A northbound tractor-trailer stopped at the crossing and then was moving slowly over the tracks when it was struck from behind by Subaru station wagon. The station wagon was rear-ended by a minivan.

According to the Columbia Tribune, it was unclear whether the Subaru first hit the truck and then was rear-ended by the minivan or whether the minivan first hit the Subaru and forced it into the semi. The semi’s driver was not hurt. The drivers of the other two cars were taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition.

Last fall, a motorist died after his car collided into the back of a stopped gasoline tanker at the intersection. In 1997, another driver was killed when it hit the back of a school bus.

City officials have admitted that the intersection is dangerous and have proposed building a $5.5 million overpass for the trains. In the meantime, they are trying to get the crossing exempted from the state law requiring certain vehicles to stop at the crossing. From a safety standpoint, an at-grade railroad crossing that cuts across a highway with a posted speed limit of 70 mph doesn’t seem like it would be a good design. As Highway 63 near Columbia, Mo. proves, it is a dangerous design.

State law requires all buses as well as trucks carrying hazardous material to stop at the railroad crossing even if a train isn’t coming down the tracks. A slowed or stopped truck on the highway often comes as an unwelcome surprise to motorists. In the past five years, there have been 18 crashes at the railroad crossing, the Columbia Tribune reports.