Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

As a St. Louis large truck accident attorney, my interest was piqued by a particularly tragic article about a 10-year-old boy who was killed by a semi-truck in Bloomington, Ill. According to the article, Travell Arrington was riding his bike to the store with his friends when he was hit by a semi truck turning into a driveway. The article said he and a friend were trying to beat the truck across the driveway. According to the coroner, this little boy died "as a result of severe head injuries due to being crushed by a tire."

Arrington's death deeply disturbed the community in Bloomington. A total of 250 people attended his memorial service, where his mother and others called for an investigation into the safety of traffic patterns in the high-density area. The truck driver was questioned by the police, of course, and his blood was tested for unsafe drug and alcohol levels, as is routine in traffic accident deaths. The results of that test are not yet available. In addition, an Illinois State Police trooper inspected the tractor-trailer's mechanical systems for defects, and a city traffic committee thoroughly examined the accident's site for ways in which its safety may have been compromised.

Unfortunately, results so far have been inconclusive, and the trucker has not been cited with any traffic violations or criminally charged. A follow-up article in the Pantagraph this week said that Bloomington's city traffic committee had no suggested changes for the area. The police, too, reaffirmed that there likely was nothing that could have been done differently on the part of the city to prevent the accident.

In the absence of this evidence, the city is doing the only thing it can: it plans to hold special programs, including a "bike rodeo," to educate children on bicycle safety as a result of the accident. I applaud this effort, but as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer crash lawyer, I hope they are also looking into the truck driver’s role. While the description of the accident suggests that Arrington may have taken a risk, truckers and all other drivers have a legal obligation to take special care around children -- precisely because their inexperience can lead to bad choices. Illinois pedestrian laws require drivers to exercise due care around pedestrians and bicyclists, even those engaged in unsafe or illegal behaviors -- and especially around children or “any obviously confused, incapacitated or intoxicated person.” If an investigation finds that the truck driver failed in this duty, he could be held legally liable for the accident.

Continue reading "Bloomington Mourns 10-Year-Old Boy Killed by Semi Truck, Plans Bicycle Safety Programs" »

Last week, I saw a truly bizarre accident on TV station KTVI (Fox 2). On July 8, on Highway D in St. Charles County, two women were almost crushed inside their car by a Caterpillar grader that was being transported by a flatbed semi truck in the next lane. Evidently, one of the truck's wheels slipped off the road, causing the grader to shift, then come crashing down on top of the women's car. The victims, who were ironically on their way to pick up a friend to take her to the hospital, were both seriously injured and had to be rushed (one airlifted) to the hospital themselves.

You can view the report here:
 

According to the report, the grader was originally tied down. However, it does not appear to have been tied down securely enough to ensure the safety of these two women, or anyone else unlucky enough to be sharing the road with this truck. Under federal and Missouri law, truck drivers and trucking companies must tie down their cargo securely. They must also check the reliability of the truck itself and its equipment, including brakes and tires whose failure could cause a serious accident. Any violation of those laws is a form of negligence -- the legal term for extreme carelessness -- and the trucker and trucking company can be held legally liable for any resulting accident with a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawsuit.

Any Missouri commercial truck crash lawyer can tell you that the deadly hazards involved with large trucks are too numerous to count. All that weight, plus the inertia involved in driving, turning and stopping, spells serious trouble for anything in a big rig's path -- or in this case, vicinity. It is imperative to make sure that any load the truck bears is absolutely secure. When truckers and their trucking companies fail in this duty, they can be held legally liable in a Missouri semi-truck accident lawsuit, allowing victims to claim all financial losses resulting from the accident, such as hospital bills and lost income. They can also be compensated for any injury, pain, disability or wrongful death that the incident has caused.

Continue reading "St. Louis Women Nearly Crushed by Semi-Truck's Load: A Tractor" »

Two women are uninjured and another suffered only minor injuries after a crossover collision, The Southern reported July 6. Illinois state police said Kyra Rivera of Potter Springs, Georgia was driving south when she was forced off the road by a semitrailer truck. She crossed into the opposing lane and struck an SUV driven by Sara Gordon of Olmstead, who suffered minor injuries. Rivera and her passenger, Leslie Heslip Jackson, were not injured, and the truck’s driver was not named in the story. However, both of the vehicles in the crash suffered severe damage.

This accident caught my eye as a Southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer because no truck was involved in the actual collision. Nonetheless, if the Illinois state police’s account of the facts is correct, this was an accident that was probably caused by a large commercial truck. As many highway drivers know, big rigs take up a lot of room simply because of their large size and length. Once you factor in the added stopping distance these heavy trucks need -- which every driver should do -- the amount of space they need becomes even bigger. Under those circumstances, it’s easy to see how careless driving by a truck driver could force someone off the road.

If that’s the case, this truck driver may be guilty of leaving the scene of an accident, a crime in Illinois, Missouri and all other states. Many motorists don’t realize this, but forcing someone off the road and then leaving is considered a type of hit-and-run under the law, even if the vehicles never touched. And like all hit-and-run accidents, these types of crashes should be covered by uninsured and underinsured motorist auto insurance coverage. After all, if the hit-and-run driver is never found, there’s no insurance policy to collect on. Unfortunately, insurance companies can make it difficult to collect on legitimate UM/UIM claims, especially expensive ones, which is why drivers should always talk to a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer at the first hint of any trouble.

Continue reading "Southern Illinois Woman Suffers Minor Injuries After Truck Allegedly Ran Her Off Road" »

A driver for a Kansas City-based grocery company plowed into a line of stopped cars in northeastern Oklahoma June 26, the Associated Press reported June 28. Authorities said they did not believe driver Donald Creed, 76, of Willard, Mo., tried to stop before his truck hit three stopped cars, starting a chain-reaction crash that killed 10 people. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lieutenant George Brown said the scene was like a war zone, with some victims pinned in their vehicles for hours before they could be freed. All in all, ten people were killed:

• Ethan Hayes, 7, Frisco, TX
  
• Randall Hayes, 38, Frisco, TX
  
• Shelby Hayes, 35, Frisco, TX
  
• Antonio Hooks, 42, Oklahoma City, OK
  
• Dione Hooks, 41, Oklahoma City, OK
  
• Earlene Hooks, 63, Oklahoma City, OK
  
• Oral Hooks, 69, Oklahoma City, OK
  
• Cynthia Olson, 55, Crossroads, TX
  
• Ernestina Reyes, Phoenix, AZ
  
• Ricardo Reyes, 39, Phoenix, AZ

At least three other people, including Creed, are hospitalized with injuries from the accident. Twelve-year-old Andrea Reyes of Phoenix is listed in serious condition at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

An investigation is pending, but the cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Brown told the AP that investigators do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash, although authorities did a routine toxicology text. Later investigation found that the brakes on the truck, owned by Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas City, appear to work fine, and Creed’s commercial driver’s license was clean in both Missouri and Oklahoma. The initial highway patrol report said Creed was driving too fast for the conditions, and authorities have said Creed may be charged with ten counts of negligent homicide after a criminal investigation is complete.

My heart goes out to the people affected by this terrible crash. As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I would have been interested in this crash no matter what the circumstances. But I’m sorry to say that it also closely resembles the horrific July 2008 tractor-trailer crash that took place on I-40 here in St. Louis. In that case, the investigation eventually said the cause was simple inattention -- the truck driver was text-messaging right before he hit a line of stopped traffic, killing three and catastrophically injuring many more. As a result, the driver and his trucking company are now facing multiple Missouri tractor-trailer crash lawsuits alleging that their negligence (carelessness) caused the deaths and injuries.

Continue reading "Ten People Killed in Catastrophic Oklahoma Trucking Accident " »