Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

Before a truck driver can call it a day, an inspection report on the semi must be completed. According to Part 396 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, trucking companies must require their drivers to detail how critical pieces of equipment operated during the day such as:

• Service brakes including trailer brake connections

• Parking (hand) brake

• Steering mechanism

• Lighting devices and reflectors

• Tires

• Horn

• Windshield Wipers

• Rear vision mirrors

• Coupling devices

• Wheels and rims

• Emergency equipment

If a defect is found that is likely to affect the safety of the rig, trucking companies are required to fix it before the tractor-trailer is allowed back on the road.

The daily inspections, which must be kept for 18 months, are important. An 80,000 truck with defective brakes barreling down the road at 70 miles per hour is a deadly weapon.

If you have been hurt or a loved one has been hurt or died as a result of a truck driver's carelessness, contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

When a driver behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck blacks out, goes into a diabetic altered state of consciousness, suffers a seizure or experiences a heart attack, the consequences are deadly. Unfortunately, far too many sick bus and truck drivers are on the road every day, placing innocent motorists in harm’s way.

According to a study released last week by the Government Accountability Office titled, “Commercial Drivers: Certification Process for Drivers with Serious Medical Conditions,” more than half-a-million people with commercial drivers licenses also qualified for federal disability benefits. At least 1,000 drivers were diagnosed with vision, hearing or seizure disorders that should have disqualified them from a commercial license.

As the Associated Press points out in “Deadly Tolls: Sick truckers causing fatal wrecks,” the problem was identified by U.S. safety regulators as far back as 2001. However, a proposal that would have set minimum standards for determining whether truck drivers are medically safe has not been implemented.

The cost in terms of lives lost is sobering, as the families of four women who were killed on Interstate 70 near Columbia, Mo., know all too well.

In June 2006, trucker George Albright Jr. crashed his tractor-trailer into a Ford sedan and killed the four women inside. He was charged with four counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter. Last month, jurors acquitted the driver of all of the criminal charges after Albright’s lawyers argued that a diabetic episode “put him in an altered state of consciousness.”

If you have been hurt or a loved one has been hurt or died as a result of a truck driver's carelessness, contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

The scene of a deadly tractor trailer crash on a major St. Louis highway was a motorist’s nightmare. A tractor-trailer that didn’t slow down for a line of cars stopped in highway traffic mowed down everything – and everyone - unlucky to be trapped in the semi’s path. When the truck finally came to a stop, sixteen people had been injured and two were dead.

That was the scene in St. Louis on July 15. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that trucker Jeffrey R. Knight of Muscle Shoals, Ala. barreled into a line of cars caught in stop-and-go traffic on eastbound Highway 40 just west of Interstate 270. Left in the wake of the big rig were nine wrecked cars.

Traffic camera monitors broadcast the accident to employees at the Missouri Department of Transportation’s traffic command center, note reporters Greg Jonsson and Leah Thorsen in the article titled “He kept…hitting cars.” The cameras didn’t tape the accident, but that shouldn’t hinder the accident investigation.

“Nothum said authorities ‘have a very good idea of what took place before the crash and why it happened, but said it wouldn’t be prudent to disclose the likely cause until the investigation was finished. He said authorities would meet today with prosecutors to discuss possible charges.”

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Large Truck Causation Study, inattention, distraction and failure to keep a careful lookout were to blame for 29 percent of fatal accidents involving trucks. Poor decision-making, such as driving too fast for the conditions, following too closely, performing an illegal driving maneuver, or aggressive driving accounted for 38 percent of the accidents.

On July 9, 2007, Julieanne Kriens was on her way to an internship interview at Rockford College. The 20-year-old from Antioch, Ill. was driving on Route 173, a two-lane highway. Trucks in front of her were stopped in order to make a left-hand turn. Kriens also stopped. Unfortunately, the semi behind her didn’t halt.

Kriens was killed when her car was crushed between two trucks. The truck driver who slammed into Kriens’ vehicle later said he couldn’t stop because he’d been wiping sweat from his brow.

After the accident, Kriens’ mother, Jo Anne, began writing letters to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Noting that the stretch of road where her daughter was killed had many truck entrances, she urged state officials to reduce the speed limit, put up better signs, construct right and left turn lanes and to use traffic signals to slow down traffic.

But IDOT rejected all of the requests except for a traffic signal, the News Sun reports. And the traffic signal was placed on a list of unfunded intersections.

Now, a year after the fatal accident, the Citizens for Safety on the 173 Corridor are holding a “Right to Live” demonstration at the site. The organizers hope that if more people get involved, the state will make safety a higher priority on this deadly stretch of road.

If you have been hurt or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a truck driver's carelessness, contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.

Last month, one person was killed and four others were injured when a dump truck crashed into a parked bus in Chinatown. Now, the president of the New Jersey business that owns the dump truck is facing criminal charges, the New York Times reports.

In “Charge Filed Against Chief of Truck Firm After Crash,” reporter Al Baker writes that 30-year-old Osleivy Gomez, the president of C.P.Q. Freight Systems, was arraigned on July 1 in Manhattan Criminal Court. Osleivy was charged with unlicensed collection of trade waste, a misdemeanor.

The truck’s driver, Alejandro Fallo, picked up a load in Brooklyn and was bound for a dump in New Jersey. However, the truck was not registered to pickup construction and demolition debris in New York City.

The dump truck also received eight citations from the New York Department of Transportation, five of which were serious enough to have the dump truck immediately removed from service.

The charge is a step in the right direction. Companies should know that if their drivers are involved in fatal accidents, there is a chance that both criminal sanctions and civil wrongful death lawsuits may follow.

If you have been hurt or a loved one has been hurt or died as a result of a truck driver's carelessness, contact The Lowe Law Firm Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.