Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

A grandmother and her grandchild in central Missouri ended up in the hospital after a crash with a large truck, the Daily Guide of Waynesville reported. This was actually the second truck accident to happen Dec. 3 along the eastbound side of Interstate 44. In the first accident, a semi truck jackknifed, blocking both lanes but causing no injuries.

To avoid that crash, Verne Massey of St. Robert pulled over to the side of the road, with her grandchild, Page Massey, in the car. As they waited, a second semi slipped on water in the road and slid into their Ford Escort, knocking it off the road and into a rock bluff. Fortunately, the Masseys were not seriously hurt, although they were taken to the hospital, and the truck driver was unharmed. However, their car was totaled, according to the article.

This accident is a good example of the unfair but very real physics affecting an accident between a large truck and a passenger car. A truck can weigh 80,000 pounds or more; a Ford Escort weighs about 2,500 pounds. Because the force each vehicle brings to an accident is determined by its weight, this severe mismatch means the truck can do serious damage to a car in a truck-car collision.

For the people inside, this can mean death or very serious injuries, including severe burns, spinal damage and head injuries. In fact, the vast majority of trucking accident fatalities are the deaths of people outside the truck -- occupants of passenger vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and others. Statistics from the federal Department of Transportation show that just 6% of deaths in multi-vehicle truck crashes in 2007 were the deaths of the truckers themselves.

Unfortunately, the laws of physics don’t care who was actually at fault for the accident. Even if the victims are properly stopped in an emergency lane, like the victims in this accident, they’re still susceptible to very serious injuries in a crash with a tractor-trailer. That’s why federal law, and the laws of Missouri and Illinois, strictly regulate who may drive a large truck and how. When truck drivers break these laws and a death or serious injury results, victims the trucker and his or her trucking company are legally and financially responsible.

The Lowe Law Firm has helped many victims collect compensation for the financial costs of their accidents, such as repairs and hospital bills, as well as compensation for a permanent disability or a loved one taken too soon. Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., we represent clients throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. If you or someone you love is a victim of a trucking accident and you’d like to learn more about your rights at a free consultation, please contact us online today.

A man was injured when a truck’s tire came loose and struck him during morning rush hour, Minnesota’s WCCO reported.

The station said a tire came off a dump truck on Interstate 35W during morning rush hour Dec. 5, hitting the man’s car. The highway was closed to allow a medical helicopter to take the victim to a hospital. Fortunately, the report said his injuries weren’t life-threatening. However, it noted that a similar accident in the spring, involving two tires that fell off a garbage truck, did kill a man. Generally, the article said, the results of a large truck losing a tire at highway speeds are much more serious.

A 2007 study by the federal agency responsible for regulating interstate trucking, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, looked at the causes of accidents involving large commercial trucks (also called semi trucks, tractor-trailers and 18-wheelers). According to that study, vehicle-related problems were the immediate reason for 10% of crashes; tire or wheel failure specifically was the immediate reason in 1%. Other equipment problems that were believed to be accident causes included cargo shifts (4%), degraded brakes (3%) and outright brake failure (1%).

While driver-related problems are still far more likely to be the cause of a trucking accident, equipment failure does happen. Because of this danger, strict regulations apply to maintenance and inspection of large trucks. Unfortunately, some trucking companies choose to ignore these laws, in order to save money by skimping on maintenance. This irresponsible behavior puts everyone at serious risk: The truck’s driver, its cargo and every innocent driver around them.

When trucking companies or truckers cause an accident like this one through carelessness or deliberate wrongdoing, and someone is hurt as a result, victims have the right to hold them legally responsible. The Lowe Law Firm represents clients who have been very seriously hurt or lost a loved one in southern Illinois or Missouri trucking accidents. If you’re in this position and you’d like to learn more about your legal options, you can contact our firm online or call us at 1-877-678-3400 for a free consultation.

The corruption scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has prompted a series of news reports explaining the state’s history of corruption, such as this one from Time magazine. As the article points out, Blagojevich took office directly after former Gov. George Ryan, who was convicted on felony corruption and fraud charges similar to the ones Blagojevich may soon face. The scandal that brought Ryan down was especially interesting to me as a Missouri and Illinois trucking accident lawyer: Ryan was accused of selling commercial truck driver’s licenses to unqualified candidates who hadn’t passed the licensing test -- and sometimes didn’t even speak enough English to take it.

That was the case with truck driver Ricardo Guzman, the recipient of one of the illegal licenses. According to this editorial, Guzman was driving a big rig on I-94 near Milwaukee when a metal assembly came loose from the rear of his semi. Other truck drivers on the road tried to warn him of the problem, but Guzman didn’t speak enough English to understand them. As a result of his inaction, the metal piece came loose from his truck on the highway and hit the fuel tank of a Chicago family’s minivan, causing a flash fire that killed the six children inside and left their parents with severe burns.

All told, the editorial says, authorities believe the illegal trucker licenses caused 55 accidents and 11 deaths. The bribes used to buy the false licenses helped elect Ryan to the governorship -- and later helped send him to federal prison. Unfortunately, the licenses sold by Ryan’s office aren’t the only false truck driving licenses out there. As the Chicago Tribune reported in 2007, the federal government believes there could be as many as 15,000 valid commercial truck driving licenses obtained through bribery or fraud.

A large truck is a ten-ton machine that can literally crush smaller vehicles in an accident; it should never be given to an amateur. Truck drivers with fraudulent licenses endanger themselves and everyone around them. And when they cause a serious trucking accident, they -- and the trucking companies that knowingly benefited from the fraud -- should be held legally responsible for the results. The Lowe Law Firm represents clients in Missouri and southern Illinois who have been seriously harmed in a crash caused by a truck driver’s bad decisions, whether or not the driver had a valid commercial license. If you or someone you love is in this position and you’d like to learn more about your options, you can contact our firm online for a free initial consultation.

A train derailment caused by a stopped truck on the tracks sent nine people to the hospital, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The semi truck accident took place in Macoupin County, in southern Illinois, late in the morning of Dec. 8. The train was an Amtrak passenger train heading to St. Louis from Chicago. According to a spokesman, the train came upon a tractor-trailer truck obstructing the tracks north of Brighton, Ill. The ensuing crash derailed four cars and nine people, including the train’s engineer, were taken to local hospitals. Fortunately, the truck’s driver had already gotten out of the truck and was not hurt, and none of the train’s passengers or crew was seriously injured.

Accidents between trains and trucks are relatively rare. Most of my practice as a Missouri trucking accident lawyer focuses on accidents between cars and trucks, which are both more common and much more serious, because of the huge difference in weight between a passenger car and a multi-ton commercial truck. As this accident shows, the weight difference doesn’t work in the train passengers’ favor because the accident can cause a derailment, which throws passengers around violently in the same way that a rollover accident in a car would (only without seatbelts or airbags). In either case, victims run the risk of a head injury, spinal damage or other serious injuries that can mean death or permanent disability.

Fortunately, nobody involved in this accident suffered a serious injury or death. But in cases where a trucking accident does lead to serious harm, victims have the right to sue the people or organizations at fault for the accident. In an Illinois or Missouri trucking accident lawsuit, victims can claim payment for the financial costs of the accident, such as medical bills; and compensation for serious injuries, disabilities and any wrongful death.

At the Lowe Law Firm, we handle commercial truck accidents throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. Located in St. Louis and in Belleville, Ill., our experienced trucking accident lawyers can help you pinpoint who was at fault for the accident, protect your rights from any wrongdoing by lawyers for the other side and prove your case in a court of law (if necessary). If you’d like to know more, you can contact the Lowe Law Firm online or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

The collision of two tractor trailers causing serious injuries has resulted in a jury awarding $23.5 millionthe Wichita Eagle reports.

On March 16, 2006, Terry Frederick, from Overland Park, Kan., was a passenger in a Yellow Freight semi. Frederick’s lawyers claimed that Robyn Getchel, the driver of a Swift Transportation tractor-trailer, was backing up from a rest stop onto the highway when she hit the Yellow Freight semi.

Frederick suffered a severe spinal cord injury. Dennis Bottorff, the driver of the Yellow Freight rig, was killed.

Getchel tested positive for methamphetamine.

Because the jury assessed 65 percent of the fault to the Swift driver, the actual award to Frederick, 56, is nearly $15.3 million. Frederick’s medical bills up to the time of trial totaled about $5 million. The rest of the verdict covered future medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

When the driver of an 18,000 pound truck uses illegal drugs and engages in unsafe driving maneuvers, the consequences are deadly for both motorists and other truck drivers.

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 a St. Louis/Illinois trucking accident lawyer at the Lowe Law Firm by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.