Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was interested to read that a truck driver will face criminal charges in an accident that took the lives of three people near Bonne Terre. As KMOV reported Jan. 20, Robert Carmona of New York, 37, faces three counts of involuntary manslaughter as well as charges of driving without a valid license. Carmona failed to stop for a car ahead of him that was stopped at the intersection of Berry Road and Highway 67 in Berry. The Jan. 20 crash killed Frank Weber, 56, of De Soto; and Rachel Sharp, 18, and Aaron Weber, 20, both of Bonne Terre. Carmona was not harmed.

Sharp was the younger Weber’s girlfriend and was four months pregnant at the time of the crash. The three victims were stopped on Highway 67 at around 1:30 p.m. the day of the crash, in a Ford Crown Victoria. None of them were wearing seat belts. Carmona apparently failed to stop for the car as his big rig reached the intersection and rear-ended it. The crash pushed both vehicles off the side of the road and dragged the car several hundred feet. All three of its occupants were pronounced dead at the scene by the St. Francois County coroner. Carmona was not hurt. It was unclear why he failed to stop, but authorities said he was driving with a suspended license. Another report said his license had been suspended for stealing motor fuel.

It always interests me, as a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, to learn whether and why truckers have faced disciplinary action. Truck drivers are in charge of multi-ton vehicles that can do a whole lot of damage, as this case unfortunately shows. For that reason, they are held to higher standards than ordinary drivers, including higher standards of conduct for things like driving under the influence. It’s not clear whether the suspended license is enough to justify the charges against Carmona, but prosecutors in the area clearly believe they can win an involuntary manslaughter case against him, suggesting that the facts are on their side. If Carmona was working for a trucking company at the time, that company may also be legally liable for allowing him to go on the road with a suspended commercial driver’s license.

Continue reading "Trucker Criminally Charged in St. Francois County Rear-End Crash That Killed Three" »

Trucking accident attorneys often focus on one case at a time, so it can be easy to forget that accidents involving tractor-trailers are happening almost constantly. As a reminder of how frequent these accidents can be, here are three stories that all took place within the last few days.

In Hartford, Conn., two people were killed in a tractor trailer accident on the 22nd. Police responded to the call around 5 am, and found that a tractor-trailer had collided with a passenger car. The two fatalities were from injuries sustained in the crash, though it is unclear if the victims were in the truck or in the car. It took authorities five hours to clear the wreckage from the road.

Thankfully, a similar collision between a semi-truck and a passenger vehicle left no one dead in the town of Anna, Texas. The passenger car swerved unexpectedly into the tractor-trailer's lane. The truck driver tried to get out of the way, but semi trucks are huge and hard to maneuver, and he was unable to do so entirely. Several people at the scene were taken to the hospital, but the injuries are not expected to be threatening.

Finally, the driver of a tractor trailer in Pennsylvania lost control of his vehicle on I-295. His truck went wild and plowed into the trees along the road, causing a massive traffic backup. Again, perhaps amazingly, nobody was hurt. However, traffic was affected for most of the day, with the accident taking five hours to clear from the road.

All these accidents, which took place in the last five days, represent only a handful of the incidents involving tractor-trailer vehicles this week alone. Semi trucks are massive vehicles and can be difficult to control; plus, drivers are often pushed very long hours in order to complete their routes on time. Caution must be exercised around semi trucks at all times.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I was interested to see reports about an unusual accident involving a mail truck. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Jan. 17, the back door of a big rig came open as it ferried mail from St. Louis to Memphis early the day before. The accident left pieces of mail along 65 miles of road in three counties, but fortunately didn’t cause any crashes. Authorities believe they’ve gathered most of the lost mail, which seems to exclusively be business mail rather than personal mail. Postal employees plan to get in touch with those companies to ensure that the bills get through to recipients, who are mainly on the West Coast. They declined to speculate on what caused the spill, but plan an investigation.

According to KDSK, the mail truck belongs to a private contractor rather than the U.S. Postal Service. The truck left a processing facility in Maryland Heights, Mo., early Jan. 16 and headed down Interstate 270 and Interstate 55. It was 65 miles from the processing center and 7:30 a.m. before the unnamed truck driver noticed or was notified that the back of the truck had opened and loose mail was escaping the truck. Postal authorities aren’t sure whether the back door had been left open through carelessness or had broken. Either way, however, mail ended up scattered across the highways from Maryland Heights to St. Genevieve County, Mo. State troopers, postal inspectors and local police searched the snowy roads until about 10:30 a.m. to recover as much of the mail as they could.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I’m pleased that this incident was more of an embarrassment for the Post Office than an emergency. Losing a load of mail may not sound like a big threat to other drivers, but losing cargo can pose a danger on the road. In this case, a vehicle following behind the truck could have been hit by a large chunk of mail, or forced to take evasive action when it dropped in the driver’s path. A flood of loose mail could also impair the driver’s vision rather than creating a physical obstacle. Either way, this could be dangerous on the icy roads we’ve had lately, requiring quick movements at high speeds that lead to slipping. This is true of any type of cargo loss, which is why it’s important for truck drivers and trucking companies to pay close attention to the security of their loads. Improperly secured cargo, loads that put all the weight on one side and other problems can unnecessarily cause or exacerbate crashes.

Continue reading "Open Door on Postal Service Truck Loses Mail Over 65 Miles of Missouri Highway " »

Late last year, a court case was settled in a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from a fatal trucking accident on Virginia's I-64. The plaintiffs were awarded 3.5 million dollars when it became clear that the defense had no substantial evidence on which to base their case.

A car was traveling on I-64 with a damaged tire, and was in the right lane traveling slowly because of the tire. A tractor trailer came up behind it and struck it at nearly full speed, killing the passenger of the car in the collision. The driver of the truck, during the deposition, confessed that he had not seen the smaller vehicle until a few seconds before colliding with it. Subsequent analysis of the facts of the case revealed other difficulties with the defense's story.

For example, the defense tried to argue that the collision was the fault of the other driver. The defense tried to argue that the car was going below the speed limit with no hazard lights on. However, analysis of the testimony forced the attorneys to admit this would not be a successful defense.

Further, the trucker in the incident is known to suffer from diabetes. Investigation into the matter revealed that he has not taken steps to properly treat or manage his condition. Given that visual problems are one of the symptoms of improperly-managed diabetes, the defense about the car not being visible began to look rather weak. While the defense tried to argue that it couldn't be proved that diabetes was the cause of the accident, it did make the case murky enough that the plaintiffs’ attorneys were able to convince the insurance company that settling was better than going to court.

The settlement will be sufficient to pay the expenses of the deceased's daughter throughout much of her life.

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I’m a big fan of federal hours-of-service rules for truck drivers. These are the rules that limit how long drivers may stay on the road in one work day and in one work week, ensuring that they get enough rest and that other drivers are not endangered by driver pushing through to make deadlines. That’s why I was pleased to see a proposal for stricter hours of service rules from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last month. The proposed rules would make seven changes from existing HOS rules, including one that would likely mean longer “weekends” for drivers and another that requires all of drivers’ work days to take place within the 14-hour daily window. Trucking industry groups have blasted the new regulations as unnecessary and overly expensive.

Currently truck drivers may drive up to 11 hours a day within a 14-hour work day. The new rules may restrict drivers to 10 hours a day, although the FMCSA has said it will consider dropping it back to 11 if public comments oppose the change. More importantly for many drivers, the 14-hour work day must now include all of truckers’ on-duty activities within 13 hours, plus a one-hour break. Drivers would be required to take one 30-minute break for every seven hours on the road. And while the trucker “work week” of 60 to 70 hours and 34-hour “weekend” requirements would stay the same, there are additional requirements for the 34-hour period. Now, those 34 hours must include at least two periods from midnight to 6 a.m., and can’t be started until at least 7 days from the previous “weekend.”

The trucking industry has reacted angrily to the new rules, declaring them politicized, unnecessary and economically crippling. As a St. Louis tractor-trailer crash attorney, however, I think they’re quite modest, and may even help truckers’ jobs look more like other people’s jobs. The requirements for breaks, for example, bring trucking in line with federal law’s requirements for hourly workers. The weekend requirements give truckers a more genuine weekend -- while also ensuring that they get two nights’ rest before heading back onto the road. And the restriction to 10 hours a day of actual driving, if it is adopted, could reduce truckers’ fatigue and thus increase safety. The new requirements may cut into trucking companies’ profits, but if they reduce accidents and give drivers a more human work schedule, I believe that’s nothing more than the cost of doing business in a society that values its citizens’ lives.

Continue reading "Federal Trucking Regulator Proposes Stricter Hours of Service Rules for Truckers" »

An overturned semi truck carrying fuel shut down traffic on I-75 in Butler County, Ohio, on January 10. The accident ultimately closed down the entire southbound highway for a full five hours, causing massive delays and traffic jams before the situation was resolved and the highway reopened.

According to police, the accident occurred around 10 a.m. near exit 129. A car traveling ahead of the semi swerved to avoid a box in the middle of the road. The semi driver swerved to avoid hitting the car, and lost control of his vehicle. The truck ultimately overturned, spilling approximately 2,000 gallons of its 5,000-gallon fuel cargo onto the roadway. Astonishingly, the fuel did not explode or ignite.

Investigators reported that disaster crews responded immediately, bringing in loads of dirt and sand. The fuel had begun to spread quickly across the road, pouring into the drainage system and over the asphalt. The dirt and sand was poured onto the mess in an effort to keep it from spreading further, and is credited with helping prevent the fuel from lighting up and causing a much greater disaster.

Both the driver of the car and the driver of the semi were taken to nearby hospitals, though their injuries are reported as serious but non-life-threatening. The highway ultimately was reopened around 3 p.m. the same day, despite initial estimates that it would remain closed until 6 p.m.

"This doesn't happened very often where we have to shut down the entire southbound lane," said a police representative.

The traffic jam lasted even after the highway was reopened, though authorities did their best to reroute traffic to alternative routes off the interstate. The damage isn't completely cleaned up, either. Environmental response crews will be revisiting the site for several weeks as they dig out and replace the soil that was contaminated by the spill.

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was disappointed to read about a fatal accident allegedly cause by a truck driver who was drunk and driving on the wrong side of the road. Denver’s 9news.com, the local NBC affiliate, reported Dec. 28 on the crash that killed Martin Hernandez, 71, and injured two passengers in his car. Hernandez was driving east on interstate 70 when he encountered a Freightliner truck driven by Jason Ross, 33, of St. Louis. Ross was driving west in the eastbound lanes when he hit Hernandez’s car head-on. The crash also injured Maria Hernandez, 77, and a nine-year-old girl riding in the back of their car, who was not identified. All four were airlifted to hospitals, but Ross was quickly released into the custody of Colorado state troopers, who jailed him on multiple charges.

According to the article, the crash took place at about 8 p.m. on Dec. 26. Witnesses called the Colorado State Patrol to report a semi heading west in the eastbound lanes, without its lights on. Witnesses told the news station that the truck was swerving into other vehicles’ paths. A local police officer followed on the correct side of the highway and attempted to pull Ross over, but did not succeed before his truck hit the Hernandezes’ Buick Park Avenue head-on. Martin Hernandez died in the hospital, but Maria Hernandez and the girl remain hospitalized. Ross is jailed on a $100,000 bond for vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, DUI, reckless driving, careless driving causing injury, driving on the wrong side of a divided highway and driving without headlights. The article said his trucking company, USA Truck Inc., has been cited 13 times in the past two years for drivers using, possessing or being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The unflattering information about USA Truck goes on. The article also says this trucking company, with a fleet of about 2,300 trucks, had 100 accidents in the past two years involving an injury or death. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration cited the company at least three times in 2010 for serious violations like failure to maintain trucks or using unqualified drivers. And since 2008, the company had 751 unsafe driving violations, such as speeding. As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident attorney, I cannot overemphasize the importance of this information, because it’s evidence that the company’s safety systems aren’t in place. If it failed to take legally required steps that could have prevented this crash, like routine drug and alcohol testing, it would bear some of the responsibility for this crash. And that, in turn, would allow this family to recover financial damages from the trucking company, in addition to any criminal penalties faced by Ross himself.

Continue reading "Missouri Trucker Accused of DUI Manslaughter in Colorado Wrong-Way Accident" »

Around 10:20 am on Tuesday morning, a semi truck collided with a van on Highway 27 near Sparta, Wisconsin. The collision injured the driver and passenger of the van, and both were taken to nearby Franciscan Skemp hospital, where the woman passenger later died. The injuries of the van driver have been described as serious but not life-threatening. Neither his name nor the name of the deceased has been released at this time, pending further police investigation.

According to police reports from police chief Mike Kass, the van was turning left from Highway 27 onto Avon road when a semi traveling northbound on 27 collided with the smaller vehicle. The driver of the semi was 44-year-old Delbert Singer, a native of North Vernon, Indiana. Singer was not injured in the crash.

The Wisconsin State Patrol is assisting local police in reconstructing the accident, which remains under investigation. No charges have yet been filed in the matter. The accident did shut down Highway 27 for several hours while police secured the scene and performed the reconstruction work, which is now under analysis.

Accidents such as this highlight the severe danger that semi trucks can pose to smaller vehicles on a highway. The woman involved in the accident did not die from her injuries until several hours after the crash. A smaller vehicle colliding with the van might well not have killed her at all. A tractor-trailer is a massive vehicle, some weighing well over 20,000 pounds when fully loaded. There aren't many passenger vehicles that mass more than a ton, and even that would only be a tenth of the weight of a fast-moving semi truck. Smaller vehicles have almost no chance against large semis, which is why otherwise preventable deaths and costly highway shutdowns like this one still happen.