Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

An important part of my job as a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer is to protect my clients from overreaching and malfeasance by trucking companies with a great deal more money and resources than the clients have. In egregious cases, this can lead to company representatives pressuring accident victims or their families to sign a waiver they don’t understand or take money that forecloses their right to sue right after a crash. But later, if the case goes to trial or pretrial proceedings, the power imbalance s often visible in full force, as lawyers for trucking companies and their insurers use the court system to their full advantage. Powell et al. v. Dean Foods Co. et al put an interesting twist on the practice when the same trucking company moved for a substitution of a judge twice under different names. The Illinois Supreme Court ultimately decided no new trial was necessary, preserving a verdict for the plaintiffs.

Adam McDonald, Diana Kakidas and Christina Chakonis were killed in 2002 when their car was hit by a tractor-trailer driven by Jamie Reeves. Reeves was employed as a trucker by Alco of Wisconsin, Inc. The three families filed lawsuits, which were eventually consolidated, against companies including Alco of Wisconsin and Alco, Inc. They alleged that Reeves was speeding, had gone over his hours of service and didn’t brake until four seconds after the crash; the corporate defendants were held vicariously liable for Reeves’s actions as an employee. On the day trial was to start, four defendants including Alco of Wisconsin and Alco, Inc. moved for and received a change of judge. Defendants objected, pointing out that Alco, Inc. was nothing more than the former name of Alco of Wisconsin and thus they were the same entity and not entitled to two changes. Alder Group, Inc. then requested a new judge, but the judge ultimately denied it because she had already ruled on a substantive issue. The case went to trial and more than $20 million was ultimately awarded to the three families.

Alder Group appealed, arguing that it should have been permitted to request a new judge, and thus all further orders in the case were void. The Illinois appeals court agreed, finding that the trial judge’s ruling on the motion to reconsider the previous substitution of judge was not a substantial issue under Illinois law. It also held that all parties had standing to challenge the ruling because all orders after that ruling were void, and remanded the case for new trial under another judge. Plaintiffs appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

That court reversed again, but on the grounds that no plaintiff but Alder Group had standing to appeal. The judgment against Alder Group had been vacated, and plaintiffs moved successfully to dismiss the company as a defendant, with prejudice. Once that company was dismissed, the Illinois high court said, no defendant left had standing to appeal. In so ruling, it sided with an earlier appeals court ruling finding that each litigant is a separate party; each has standing to challenge decisions on only its own motions. It found arguments that the other defendants were prejudiced by the outcome unpersuasive, noting that this would mean any defendant in any case has standing to seek a reversal of any error against any party. Because Alder Group is now dismissed, the court said, there’s no need for a new trial. Thus, it let the ruling stand.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I’d like to note that part of the confusion in this case stems from Alco’s attempt to get two substitutions of judge. This was rightly not permitted, but the attempt shows how the deck can be stacked against plaintiffs in cases pitting them against much richer and more powerful corporations. After all, the average person cannot legally appear twice in court under the same name, thus getting twice as many chances to influence the case. Nor would the average person be able to pay for two attorneys. In general, when our St. Louis big rig accident lawyers handle these cases, we prefer to step in as early as possible to prevent any attempts at exploitation by the trucking company or its attorneys. Injured people aren’t necessarily experienced in the law, and just after a catastrophic accident, they may be in no position to realize their rights are threatened.

Continue reading "Illinois Supreme Court Denies New Trial in Lawsuit Over Trucking Accident That Killed Three – Powell v. Dean Foods" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I know that the sheer size and weight of semi trucks can make them serious threats even when they aren’t directly responsible for causing a crash. For example, in a chain-reaction crash that recently took the life of a Wildwood woman, the likely cause was a rear-end crash by another driver, but the rear-end accident alone may have been less important than what happened next. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Laura Dunn, 48, was killed after a rear-end accident pushed her car into the path of a big rig, which sent it into another vehicle and into a ditch. In all, four vehicles were involved, but no other serious injuries were reported. News reports mentioned no investigation.

Dunn was east of Clarkson road in Chesterfield at about 3:30 p.m. when she was rear-ended by a 2011 Volkswagen driven by Jeffrey Dobner, 25, of Foristell. Reports did not describe the circumstances of the crash, except to say that Dobner’s car was totaled in the accident. That crash pushed Dunn’s Hyundai into the path of a Freightliner semi truck driven by 57-year-old James Saale of Chillicothe. The impact with the semi drove the Hyundai into a Toyota minivan driven by Courtney Birkel of Chesterfield, 41, and then off the side of the road. Emergency personnel from the Monarch Fire Protection District pronounced Dunn dead at the scene. All four of the drivers were wearing seat belts. No other injuries were reported, but the crash shut down all westbound lanes of the highway but one for two hours, and traffic continued into the evening as police worked at the scene.

The articles did not announce charges against any driver, and it’s possible that the death will ultimately be deemed accidental. But as a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I know that if charges are filed, they are most likely to be filed against Dobner, the driver of the car that originally rear-ended Dunn’s. In almost all rear-end accidents, police and auto insurance companies start by assuming that the person in the rearmost car is at fault, and their minds may only be changed in very specific circumstances (and with well-documented evidence). The rear-end accident was likely less harmful than the impact with the 18-wheeler, because large trucks like Freightliners are so much larger than the typical sedan that they can do far more damage in a crash. But the trucker, and by extension, his trucking company, may be legally at fault only if their safety choices made it unreasonably difficult to get out of the way.

At Carey, Danis & Lowe, we focus our practice on accidents involving large commercial trucks, because we know how devastating they can be. As this crash shows, a crash between a tractor-trailer and an ordinary-sized passenger car is not a fair contest; the greater size and weight of the large truck means it can do substantially more damage than another car, even at the same speed. For the people inside the smaller car, this means serious injuries, sometimes leading to permanent disability or death. Our southern Illinois big rig accident attorneys help victims of these types of crashes and their families hold the people at fault for the accident legally and financially accountable for the harm they caused. That includes all financial damages, such as lost income and medical bills, as well as compensation for their pain, suffering and losses.

Continue reading "One Killed After Chain Reaction Crash on Highway 40 Pushes Driver Into Semi’s Path" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I was very interested to read a decision out of Connecticut that restored the full amount of a jury verdict that was reduced by the court. In Saleh v. Ribiero Trucking, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that a Hartford-area trial court had abused its discretion when it ordered a remittitur that reduced a trucking victim’s award by more than $500,000. Ghassan Saleh sued Ribiero Trucking after its truck driver caused a chain-reaction crash that ended in a rear impact to Saleh’s sedan. In post-trial motions, the trial judge set aside most of the non-economic portion of the damages awarded to Saleh as excessive. The Connecticut appellate court reversed this, finding the decision was an abuse of discretion, and the state’s high court agreed.

At trial, a jury awarded Saleh $12,132 in economic damages and $687,838 in noneconomic damages, for a total of $700,000. Ribiero made post-trial motions to set aside the verdict, order a new trial and order a remittitur for the noneconomic damages. The trial court ordered a remittitur of $508,608 after a hearing, reasoning that the jury could reasonably have awarded $191,392 for economic damages, permanent injury and pain and suffering until Saleh’s injuries were rated for permanency. Saleh was given the choice of remitting the $508,608 or having a new trial ordered, and he declined to remit the money. Instead, he appealed to the Connecticut appeals court, which reversed. The appeals court found that the trial court improperly attempted to apply a formula to the award, and improperly ignored life expectancy and pain and suffering after the permanency rating. Ribiero appealed, arguing that the appeals court should have shown more deference to the trial court’s finding that these were exceptional circumstances.

The Connecticut Supreme Court disagreed, siding with Saleh. In its decision, it said the case balances two basic legal principles: the broad authority of the trial court and the right to trial by a jury. Under Connecticut caselaw, remittitur should be ordered only in exceptional circumstances, such as when the jury was prejudiced or corrupt, or ordered a result contrary to the facts, law or its own instructions. In fact, one case expressly says trial courts should not set aside judgments merely because they would have awarded less. The high court took the opportunity to rule expressly what it said was previously implicit: Trial courts ordering a remittitur should set forth “clear, definite and satisfactory reasons” for their decisions, in a memorandum of decision, to aid reviewing courts in their work. In this case’s memorandum, the court found the jury’s award so excessive as to shock the conscience. But when reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the existing verdict, the high court disagreed. The jury’s award did not fall outside the limits of reasonable given the evidence presented, it said. Thus, it upheld the appellate court.

This decision is interesting to me as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer because it’s very common for trucking accidents to create serious injuries. Commercial trucks are many times the size and weight of a Nissan Altima like Saleh’s, which means they can do substantial damage just by virtue of size, even in an indirect rear-end crash like this one. The opinion notes that Saleh’s car was badly deformed by the crash and that he continues to take pain medication throughout his day in order to function, yet cannot do many of the things he previously enjoyed. This kind of soft tissue pain is unfortunately common among people who have suffered serious rear-end accidents, but may not be appreciated because there’s no objective way to measure it like there is with a motion disability. That’s why, as a southern Illinois big rig accident attorney, I’m pleased the high court laid down clear standards for revoking jury decisions.

Continue reading "Connecticut Supreme Court Restores Original Jury Verdict After Reduction by Judge – Saleh v. Ribiero Trucking" »

As a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I was interested to read about a case of a trucker claiming to be injured by a company’s negligence. Most of my cases involve negligence that harms innocent drivers and passengers who just happen to be in the way of an out-of-control truck. However, the same negligence that causes truck accidents can put truckers themselves, who are the trucking company’s own employees or contractors, in harm’s way. In Swearingen v. Momentive Specialty Chemicals, truck driver Paul Swearingen of Illinois suffered permanent injuries after falling from the top of the truck, where he was trying to follow directions to unload the cargo. He alleged that Momentive negligently failed to provide a proper harness and failed to warn him about hazards waiting at the top, but the Seventh Circuit disagreed.

Swearingen delivered a truck full of chemicals to Momentive in March of 2010, and employees there asked him to open the dome lid on the top of his truck. He testified that when he climbed the ladder on the side of the truck, he noticed low-hanging fire-extinguisher pipes near the top of the truck, but “had been in these kind of situations before” and knew that even if he complained, he was “going to have to do it in the end anyway.” He wished for a safety harness but did not have one, and Momentive employees did not offer any or stay around to assist or supervise. As Swearingen attempted to open the lid, he hit his head on the pipes, fell and suffered what he said were serious permanent injuries. He sued in July of 2010, but Momentive moved for summary judgment. The district court found for Momentive, ruling that the hazards Swearingen encountered were open and obvious and that the deliberate-encounter exception did not apply.

In Swearingen’s appeal to the Seventh Circuit, he argued that there was a genuine issue of material fact in the case as to whether the deliberate-encounter exception applies. The open and obvious doctrine says defendants are not liable for hazards that are open and obvious; the deliberate-encounter exception says the defendant can be liable if it can reasonably foresee that the plaintiff will deliberately encounter the hazard at issue, and should warn or provide him with mitigation like a safety harness. The district court had found no evidence suggesting that Momentive knew Swearingen would climb on top of the truck, and the Seventh Circuit agreed. Swearingen’s employer had trained him to open the truck from the ladder and maintain three points of contact with the truck at all times. He said he violated this rule because the lid was secured too tightly to open from the ladder, but the Seventh said Momentive had no reason to foresee this or indeed, that any driver would climb on top of his truck. Thus, the court agreed that the deliberate-encounter exception did not apply and upheld the summary judgment ruling.

This case is disappointing for Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers like me because it continues a trend toward low regulation of the trucking industry. Like all businesses, trucking companies are in business to make a profit. When no one is watching closely, this can mean cutting corners on safety in order to speed things up and protect profits, especially since payment often depends on the delivery date. For truck drivers, the result can be an unsafe work environment and unsafe trucks that are missing out on basic maintenance. For the people who share the roads with truckers, this means a deadly risk they cannot control or even anticipate. As a St. Louis tanker truck accident attorney, I routinely look at the safety choices of the trucking company in the cases I handle.

Continue reading "Trucker May Not Sue Company for Injuries Incurred Opening Truck, Seventh Circuit Rules – Swearingen v. Momentive Specialty Chemicals" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was interested to see a case out of Idaho that allowed a lawsuit against the employer of an allegedly negligent truck driver. In Nava v. Rivas-Del Toro, Beatriz Nava and her minor daughter, Sarai Victorino, sued truck driver Christian Rivas-Del Toro as well as his employer, Cranney Farms. Nava alleged not only that Cranney Farms liable because Rivas-Del Toro was a permissive user, but that they failed to adequately maintain the truck. The farm successfully moved to be dismissed because Rivas-Del Toro was outside the scope of his employment during the crash, but the Idaho Supreme Court reinstated the farm as a defendant, finding that this is not a defense against Nava’s allegations. It also reversed a grant of summary judgment on negligent maintenance.

Rivas-Del Toro is a Mexican citizen in the United States illegally. In June of 2007, he asked for and received permission to replace two tires on the truck’s trailer before using it to haul bales of hay. The truck also had an inaccurate speedometer, and to avoid a potential stop for speeding, Rivas-Del Toro took local streets rather than the highway. During that trip, he failed to stop at a stop sign and hit a car driven by Nava, with Victorino as a passenger. Rivas-Del Toro contends that the brakes on the trailer malfunctioned. Nava sued over unspecified injuries and property damage, alleging that Cranney Farms permitted Rivas-Del Toro to use the truck and also had recklessly allowed the truck to become unsafe. The trial court found that because Rivas-Del Toro took a longer route for personal reasons (to avoid the police), he was acting outside the scope of his employment and Cranney Farms was not vicariously liable. It dismissed the farm from the lawsuit with prejudice. Both Nava and Rivas-Del Toro appealed.

The Idaho Supreme Court started by finding the trial court’s analysis of Rivas-Del Toro’s scope of employment erroneous. Idaho courts may find employers liable even when the employee deviated from the most direct route for personal reasons, and Rivas-Del Toro was on work-related business at the direction of his employer. However, it went on to say that this analysis is irrelevant because Nava did not allege causes of action to which it would apply. Her tort claims were not based on an employer-employee relationship, the court said, but on Rivas-Del Toro as a permissive user and on the alleged disrepair of the vehicle. Furthermore, the trial court’s summary judgment grant was incorrectly applied to the negligent repair claim as well as the claim for Rivas-Del Toro as permissive user — for which the defendants had not moved for summary judgment. The plaintiffs brought the issue to the trial court’s attention, the high court noted, but fruitlessly. For those reasons, the Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment grant and remanded the case.

I’m pleased to see that the plaintiffs in this case will get a chance to prove their allegations, despite apparent failures by the trial court. While a permissive user claim is not common for a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney like me, Nava’s other claim, about negligence in allowing the truck to fall into disrepair, is quite common. Trucking companies have a legal responsibility to make sure their trucks are roadworthy, and in fact, must pass inspections by the federal government. Nonetheless, some of them choose to save money by failing to fix repair problems. The most serious resulting maintenance problems on large trucks include brake and tire problems, both of which can trigger a serious accident. In addition to putting innocent passenger car drivers in danger, these maintenance flaws can also endanger the company’s own employees. As a southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident lawyer, I aggressively research safety records when there’s an allegation that a big rig crash was caused by a maintenance flaw.

Continue reading "Idaho Supreme Court Resurrects Trucking Accident Lawsuit Against Driver’s Employers – Nava v. Rivas-Del Toro" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I was disappointed to read that a Missourian was involved in a high-profile truck crash that killed one at the Yale-Harvard football game. The New York Times reported Nov. 19 that Brendan Ross, a Yale student from O’Fallon, was driving a U-Haul truck that plowed into a crowd of people tailgating before the game. The crash killed 30-year-old Nancy Berry of Salem, Mass. and injured two other women. Ross was driving a truck full of beer kegs to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity party, but police say he took a breath test and did not appear to be intoxicated at the time. Ross is not charged with a crime, and his attorney suggested that the crash could have been caused by a vehicle malfunction.

A student told the Times that Ross had stopped the truck at a checkpoint to determine who was of legal drinking age. Beyond the checkpoint was an open field full of U-Haul trucks parked in a way that allowed tailgaters to treat them as small rooms. As the truck started to pull away, witnesses said it accelerated and the driver lost control, hitting three people before crashing into another truck and stopping. In addition to Berry, the injured victims were Yale graduate student Sarah Short and Harvard employee Elizabeth Dernbach. Witnesses said Ross looked shocked and dazed when he climbed out of the truck. Yale announced after the crash that it would review its tailgating policies; Harvard declined to allow U-Haul tailgating when it hosted the game in 2010. Attorneys told the Litchfield County Times that Yale and the City of New Haven may both be held liable for insufficient security.

As a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I would be interested to know what the results of the police investigation are. If Ross truly did pass a blood-alcohol test, the most obvious cause of the accident can be dismissed. There actually is some evidence that U-Haul trucks can malfunction. A series in the Los Angeles Times a few years ago looked at litigation against U-Haul and found evidence that it rented aging trucks with major mechanical problems or unattended maintenance, which sometimes resulted in fatal accidents. To make matters worse, the series found a pattern at the company of spoiling evidence against it in lawsuits. This isn’t to say that some other factor, including panic and inexperience by the driver, couldn’t be responsible for the crash. But I hope the New Haven police take the mechanical malfunction allegation seriously.

When trucks crash into smaller vehicles, they can do massive damage that wouldn’t be possible in a crash between two cars. That’s why Carey, Danis & Lowe focuses its practice on representing clients who were seriously hurt by a negligent trucker or trucking company. These are among the most serious accidents because they often cause catastrophic, permanent disabilities or death for their victims. In an instant, families can lose a loved one and often also a breadwinner, leaving them scrambling to make ends meet as high medical bills roll in. Our Missouri 18-wheeler accident lawyers help victims like these claim financial compensation from the people who harmed them — the negligent trucker or the trucking company that sent an unsafe vehicle or driver out on the road.

Continue reading "Yale Student From Missouri Reportedly Drove Truck Into Tailgating Crowd at Football Game" »

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was interested to read about a trucking accident case in which the family of three deceased victims had to fight through a trucking company’s bankruptcy to get the compensation they claimed. In Casaccio et al. v. Curtiss et al., Harold Curtiss sued trucking company Hartley Trucking over the deaths of his parents and sister. Hartley Trucking was bankrupt but had insurance through Converium. Another insurer, National Indemnity Co., later agreed to buy all or part of Converium, but failed to appear at the court-ordered mediation in the lawsuit filed by Curtiss. National Indemnity and its general counsel, Joseph Casaccio, were eventually sanctioned for failure to appear at these meetings — but the high court overturned the sanctions.

No details were given about the accident that killed the Curtisses. About two years after it, in May of 2005, Harold Curtiss filed a wrongful death lawsuit in his capacity as the executor of all three estates. The trial court ordered mediation between Curtiss and Converium to be concluded by mid-November. In mid-October, before the mediation, National Indemnity agreed to buy part or all of Converium, an agreement that included a clause gave Converium no authority to settle for more than $500,000. However, no one but Converium’s representative was aware of this, and the representative made a successful settlement offer of $900,000. The representative then revealed that she had no authority, but promised that the offer would not be used as leverage if National Indemnity refused the offer. The insurer refused the offer and made a counteroffer of $350,000, which was rejected.

The trial judge ordered another mediation and instructed the mediator to require the presence of Casaccio as a representative from National Indemnity. He did not appear, claiming that he missed a flight, but appeared by telephone. The judge issued a third mediation in his chambers for the next day, at which Casaccio did appear, and the case ultimately settled for $850,000. At the settlement hearing, the judge sua sponte set a sanctions hearing and eventually awarded a total of $225,000 in sanctions, plus attorney fees, against Casaccio and National Indemnity. As soon as that order became final, they appealed.

On appeal, the West Virginia Supreme Court narrowed the issues to two: Whether the trial court had the authority to impose sanctions in this case, and whether the conduct was sanctionable. West Virginia rules require insurance carriers for insured parties to appear at court-ordered mediations, where that representative has full decision-making discretion. Following precedent from California, the court construed the rule’s authorization of sanctions against parties to include non-party insurers, whose presence is vital for any settlement to be reached. Thus, it held that West Virginia rules require insurance carriers for insured parties to be construed as parties, and thus may be sanctioned for failing to send a fully authorized representative to mediations. However, in this particular case, it found that the conduct of Casaccio and National Indemnity was not sanctionable. National Indemnity received no notice of the first mediation, the high court said, and notice for the second was not “reasonable” because it was effectively only three days’ notice. And National Indemnity’s offer to settle for $350,000 was not made in bad faith because it didn’t know about the first mediation at the time, the court found. Thus, it reversed the sanctions order against Casaccio and National Indemnity.

Despite the reversal of the sanctions order, our St. Louis semi truck accident lawyers still believe the court still scored a major victory for mediation in West Virginia by bringing insurance companies and their representatives under the umbrella of “parties” to a case. As the court noted, the presence of an insurance company representative with authority to settle is vital to the success of a mediation. Insurance companies are usually funding the settlement in injury cases — and especially in trucking accident cases, which often involve very serious injuries carrying high price tags. In this case, the wrongful deaths of three people could have run much higher, depending on any medical costs and loss of income the family suffered. That’s why, as a Missouri big rig accident attorney, I press hard for a fair and full settlement for clients affected by the negligence of a trucker or trucking company.

Continue reading "West Virginia High Court Reverses Sanctions Against Trucking Insurer That Failed to Appear – Casaccio v. Curtiss" »

One frequent theme in my work as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer has been truck drivers who aren’t paying enough attention. Due to fatigue, distraction substance abuse and other problems, truckers occasionally cause devastating high-speed crashes by failing to slow or stop for traffic ahead. This was the case for several recent high-profile commercial truck accidents, including the June 2009 crash that took 10 lives in Oklahoma and the 2008 crash on Interstate 40 here in Missouri. Now, the Associated Press reports that inattention is responsible for another serious crash in upstate New York. Investigators into an accident near the Finger Lakes last July concluded that a trucker could easily have avoided the rear-end crash that killed him and wounded 52 people on a tour bus.

The bus was taking insurance company employees from Canada to New York City, but had encountered mechanical problems requiring it to pull over. When the bus driver pulled back into traffic, state police investigators believe it was going no more than 25 mph and had its emergency lights flashing. Another truck driver who witnessed the crash said he pulled into the passing lane after noticing the bus pulling into the right lane more than a quarter-mile ahead. But then, he said, trucker Timothy Hume of Michigan sailed by in the right lane, apparently without noticing the slow-moving bus. Hume reportedly failed to brake before plowing into the back of the bus, causing both vehicles to bust into flames. Hume died at the scene and almost all 52 people on the bus were injured, at least two seriously. A passing motorist, a soldier on leave, ran into the burning bus several times to rescue passengers. The state police do not plan any criminal charges.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I wonder if those plans would be different if Hume had lived. Failing to brake to avoid a rear-end crash is a classic example of negligent driving. In fact, insurance companies often just assume the driver of the behind vehicle in a rear-end crash is at fault. It’s telling that the truck driver who witnessed the crash told state police he thought Hume might be asleep at the wheel or otherwise incapacitated. Truck drivers are required by law to rest for a certain amount of time per day and per week, and part of the reason why is the risk of accidents from fatigued driving. Other explanations could include a distraction like a cell phone, drug or alcohol abuse or mechanical problems with brakes. Though Hume cannot answer these questions, investigators — or victims interested in filing a legal claim — may want to put them to the trucking company that employed him.

If you’ve been hurt through no fault of your own by a crash with a large truck, you should call Carey, Danis & Lowe to discuss how we can help. Our southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident lawyers focus our practice on accidents involving large commercial trucks because we know how catastrophic they can be. The vast difference in size and weight between a passenger vehicle and a big rig means the people in the smaller car are far more likely to be killed or seriously hurt, regardless of who was at fault. To make matters worse, because accidents are just another part of business for trucking companies, those companies know what to do after a crash to minimize their liability at the expense of the victims. That’s why it’s absolutely vital not to sign anything or take any money from a trucking or insurance company until you talk to an experienced lawyer.

Continue reading "Accident Investigators Conclude Trucker Failed to Brake in Fatal Accident With Tour Bus" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was interested to read a court decision about how arbitration affected recovery for one serious truck accident. In IFA Insurance Co. v. American Trucking and Transportation Insurance Co., IFA sought to recover the considerable costs incurred by its insured, driver Donika Lamcaj, after she was hit by a negligent trucker. A judge compelled arbitration between the two companies, but American Trucking didn’t like the outcome and sought to vacate the award. The New Jersey trial court declined to do so, and after consideration, the Appellate Division agreed, but for different reasons.

Lamcaj was hit by Harold Mercer, who the arbitrator found was negligent and proximately caused the accident. No accident details were provided, but the total paid to Lamcaj by IFA, her PIP insurer, was $101,914.48. IFA sought to recover the same amount from American Trucking, the insurer covering Mercer’s truck. The arbitrator found Mercer negligent and denied American Trucking’s claim for comparative negligence, saying that principle did not apply to IFA’s reimbursement claim because it was not a subrogation claim. IFA then moved in New Jersey Superior Court to confirm the award, but American Trucking opposed this and sought to vacate it, arguing that state law requires a finding of comparative negligence. The Superior Court ultimately confirmed the award, finding no legal authority for the comparative negligence claim and saying arbitration awards must be confirmed unless there’s fraud or other wrongdoing. American Trucking appealed.

The Appellate Division affirmed the lower court’s ruling, though not on exactly the same grounds. As a preliminary matter, it agreed with American Trucking that the trial court applied the wrong standard, using a law about arbitration of collective bargaining rather than New Jersey’s version of the Uniform Arbitration Act. However, the appeals court said, the laws have “essentially identical standards” for overturning arbitration awards. American Trucking argued that the arbitrator overstepped his authority (a violation of both laws) by failing to consider comparative negligence. Nonetheless, the appeals court said, the trial court found no legal authority for that argument and indeed, American Trucking provided none. And New Jersey caselaw is clear that courts have only narrow authority to overturn arbitration awards when those awards are tainted by fraud, corruption or other wrongdoing. As no such factor exists in this case, the appeals court upheld the award in favor of IFA.

This case may be a good example of the lengths to which insurance companies will go to avoid paying what they owe. As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I know that this can be a big and unexpected problem for people who have suffered serious injuries through a trucker’s negligence. Most individuals don’t have the financial resources to take a case all the way through the appeals system, which means even an apparently baseless appeal like American Trucking’s might be enough to scare away a plaintiff without IFA’s money. And even before any legal action is taken, some trucking companies have been known to approach the victims to offer small financial settlements, knowing that the settlement will be enough to prevent them from pursuing more money later. If you’re in this position, never take the money or sign anything before speaking to our experienced southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident lawyers.

Continue reading "New Jersey Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Requiring Trucking Company to Cover Accident – IFA Insurance Co. v. American Trucking" »

A semi truck collided with a train early in the morning of October 25th in the town of Fairbanks, Minnesota.

The St. Louis County Sheriff's Department is investigating the cause of the crash. Semi truck driver Shane Mumm was traveling westward on Townline Road at the time. He reported to police that his brakes malfunctioned as he was approaching the moving train, apparently at a railway crossing. Mumm said he tried to avoid the impact by steering his malfunctioning truck into a ditch, but his momentum carried his vehicle into the last few cars of the train. The train suffered minor damage, and the front of Mumm's truck was reportedly destroyed in the impact. Shockingly, however, nobody was hurt in the collision, not even Mr. Mumm.

This is a happier result than a similar accident which took place earlier this year, in which a semi truck continued forward to crash into the side of a passing train, partially derailing the larger vehicle. The driver, a train engineer, and several others were killed in the impact, and many more were injured as well.

Semi trucks are massive vehicles, and while a train surpasses them on several orders of magnitude, the fact that they travel on narrow tracks means a semi truck is quite capable of derailing one.

There are a number of questions that remain to be answered in the Sheriff's investigations. Did the brakes actually fail? This question could be tricky to answer because of the damage to the front of the truck. If they did fail, what do the vehicle's maintenance logs say? Were all maintenance requirements scrupulously followed according to schedule and properly logged as a result? Neglected maintenance is a leading cause of equipment failure in semi trucks, particularly as companies push drivers to spend more total time on the road and less time "down" for sleep or vehicle repair.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I very frequently am called upon to handle semi truck crash cases where the correct venue for the lawsuit is in doubt. A crash that takes place here in Missouri might easily involve residents of southern Illinois, a trucker from Arkansas and a trucking company incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Texas. All of these states are potential venues for a lawsuit, and parties will sometimes push for one or another to gain a perceived or actual advantage. A dispute over venue and choice of law brought Edwards et al. v. Erie Coach Lines et al to the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court). Ultimately, the court decided that New York was the correct venue to hear the case, but its courts should respect Ontario provincial law in cases between the Ontario plaintiffs and the bus defendants, also from Ontario.

The case arose out of a serious accident in which a bus carrying a women’s hockey team from Ontario crashed into the back of a parked tractor-trailer in New York. The crash killed the trucker and four passengers from the bus; several other passengers were seriously hurt. The survivors of the crash and their families brought six New York lawsuits against the trucking company, the trucker’s estate, the company that hired the trailer, the bus driver’s employer and the company that leased the bus. This choice was in part because Ontario has a cap on noneconomic damages in personal injury cases caused by negligence, and New York does not. The cases were consolidated in New York, and defendants successfully moved for an order that Ontario law applies. The parties eventually reached a settlement on liability, but the choice of law issue, which would govern damages, was appealed to the Appellate Division. The Appellate Division affirmed the ruling in favor of Ontario law, then granted the plaintiffs leave to appeal.

The New York Court of Appeals ultimately agreed as to the bus defendants, but not the trailer defendants. The plaintiffs argued for a single choice-of-law analysis as to all the defendants, but the high court disagreed that this was appropriate, pointing to past caselaw. Indeed, under 1972’s Neumier v. Kuehner, past cases demand that the court consider each plaintiff vis-à-vis each defendant, it said. That case also says that when a plaintiff and defendant share a common domicile, that area’s law should prevail — thus, the Court of Appeals found that Ontario law should apply to the liability of the Ontario-domiciled bus defendants to the Ontario-domiciled plaintiffs. The trailer defendants are a different story, the court said; they are domiciled in Pennsylvania. Under Neumier, the law of the place of the tort — New York — applies when that place is different from either party’s domicile. Thus, it reversed the lower courts only as to the trailer defendants and affirmed as to the bus defendants. Judge Ciparick, dissenting, argued that a single analysis should apply to all defendants, and their case is governed by New York law.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I sympathize with the Ontario plaintiffs who have fought this case through the New York state court system for so long. They have already settled liability, so there’s no serious dispute that the defendants caused their injuries or the deaths of their family members. Rather, the dispute is over whether the defendants have a chance to pay less than the full amount of damages because of a technicality of Ontario law. The court says New York law must respect Ontario’s choices, but the situation creates a somewhat arbitrary distinction based on where plaintiffs happen to live. A bus full of New Yorkers in the exact same wreck would have a much greater chance of collecting damages. This is why, in my work as a southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident attorney, I work hard to locate disputed cases in venues that are both proper and fair to plaintiffs.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Applies Different Jurisdictions’ Laws to Defendants in New York Truck Accident – Edwards et al. v. Erie Coach Lines et al." »

One challenge I face as a Missouri semi truck accident attorney is where to sue when the defendants come from multiple states. Trucking companies are mobile by definition, so they may be headquartered in a state very far from the state where a crash takes place. Truck drivers may be from yet another state, and sometimes, the drivers who are hurt are away from their home states as well. Courts in the state where the accident took place will usually agree to hear a case, but for reasons of convenience or as a way to draw out the case, either side may try to relocate it. Whether Alabama was the proper venue to hear a semi truck crash case was the issue in In re Ivey v. Lewis Trucking Company. In that case, the Alabama Supreme Court found no personal jurisdiction over three of four defendants from other states.

In early October of 2008, American Timber & Steel Company sold some lumber from a Texas lumber yard to a Florida fencing company. To arrange shipping, ATSC used a website called Getloaded.com, which allows truckers and trucking companies to bid on jobs, to find and hire Lewis Trucking. The contract was honored even though ATSC discovered through independent research that Lewis had a federal safety rating of 98.22 out of a possible 100, with 100 being the lowest possible score. On Oct. 3, 2008, as the driver made his way through Alabama, he attempted to pass another truck driver, who reportedly signaled that it was clear. It was not clear; the lumber truck hit a van head-on as it tried to pass. The resulting fire killed six applicants for jobs at the Alabama Department of Corrections, as well as a driver. Their families sued both truck drivers, both trucking companies; the driver and trucking company that gave the incorrect all-clear signal settled early. They consolidated in July of 2010 and added ATSC and several companies related to Getloaded. The amended complaint alleged that ATSC negligently hired Lewis despite knowing its terrible safety record and negligently loaded the truck, and that the Getloaded defendants negligently failed to investigate the safety record of the carriers it listed. These new defendants moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, which the trial court denied, finding they had sufficient minimum contacts with Alabama. The defendants appealed.

The Alabama Supreme Court reversed in part, finding no personal jurisdiction over the Getloaded defendants but jurisdiction over ATSC. Assuming without comment that the claims against ATSC are viable, the court said ATSC could reasonably have assumed its truck would travel through Alabama in the journey from Texas to Florida. Similarly, it said ATSC could reasonably have assumed that if the truck driver was unsafe or the truck had been loaded negligently, this could cause problems while the truck was in Alabama. Thus, it would not be unreasonable or unfair to require ATSC to respond to a lawsuit located in Alabama. However, the high court declined to make the same ruling about the Getloaded defendants. Assuming the viability of the plaintiffs’ allegations that Getloaded and its relatives failed in a duty to screen carriers, the court said there was still no reasonable expectation that this failure would cause problems in Alabama. Indeed, the court noted that the Getloaded defendants were not even aware of the job. Thus, the high court dismissed the charges as to the Getloaded defendants and denied a dismissal to ATSC.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I suspect we will be seeing more cases involving businesses like Getloaded.com. Online companies arguably operate in every state, since they are available to clients located anywhere there’s a working Internet connection. However, there’s a difference between arranging shipping in every state and actually doing the shipping in every state. That difference may be what underlies the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in this case. In trucking cases, which involve defendants and insurers from many states, there are occasionally disputes over which venue is correct, even when no Internet businesses are involved. Sometimes these are real disputes and sometimes, they are attempts to prolong the case and strain the resources of the plaintiffs, who are usually individuals or families struggling with a serious injury or death in the family As a St. Louis commercial truck crash attorney, I represent clients whose crashes or residences are in Missouri or Illinois, and can team up with attorneys in other states when necessary.

Continue reading "Alabama Supreme Court Rules Against Personal Jurisdiction over Defendants in Truck Accident – In re Ivey v. Lewis Trucking Co." »

A semi truck accident left one woman seriously injured and part of New York's state Route 19 near the thruway and the town of LeRoy shut down.

The accident took place just north of where Route 19 meets Interstate 90 and is reported to have involved a tractor-trailer and two other cars on the highway.

According to Genesee County Sheriff's officials, the accident took place just before 8 a.m. on September 30. The tractor-trailer, carrying a large supply of ground stone or gravel, was heading south on Route 19 toward I-90. For reasons unknown, the vehicle abruptly swerved, hitting two nearby cars before overturning and landing on its side in the middle of the highway.

Moments after the accident, the driver managed to jump out of the cab, which had already started burning; after the driver got out, the cab became engulfed entirely in flames.

One of the women in the cars that the semi truck hit was injured, and trapped in her vehicle following the wreckage. Rescue crews had to pry the car open in order to get her out, and her injuries were severe enough that she was transported by medical helicopter to the nearby Strong Hospital. She is still listed in serious condition as of this writing.

The others involved in the accident were not seriously hurt. However, the driver of the semi truck and two other women who were in vehicles hit by the semi were all taken to nearby hospitals by ambulances as a precaution.

Cleanup of the highway took several hours to complete, as ground rock was covering large portions of the highway. This of course shut down the highway for some time, as large piles of loose material can be difficult to quickly clean up. The semi truck itself was reported to have landed in the front yard of a nearby bed and breakfast.

Most of the wrongful death cases I read about as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney have to do with victims in other vehicles or on foot. In Nin Kao v. Alvarez, a case out of New York Supreme Court in Queens County, the controversy was over the death of a worker who was knocked out of a cherry-picker after a truck drove across the machine’s arm. Michelle Nin Kao, administrator of the estate of Xihui Ding, sued truck driver Neil Alvarez; his employer; the owner of the trailer he was pulling at the time of Ding’s death; and several defendants involved in the construction project Ding was working on. The Supreme Court of New York granted summary judgment to the construction defendants but denied it to the trucking defendants.

Ding was an employee of Star Window & Design who was installing windows in a construction project in Queens. While he was sitting in the bucket of the cherry picker, the arm was retracted in a way that left the arm extending into the road. Alvarez was driving past the arm at the time, and a part of his semi truck hit the arm of the cherry picker, causing the bucket to shake and drop Ding to his death. Nin Kao sued for common-law negligence and in the case of the construction defendants, for violations of New York labor laws. The defendants moved and cross-moved for summary judgment, with the trucking defendants arguing that they owed Ding no duty other than a common-law duty of reasonable care. Construction defendant NY Preferred also argued that the equipment was not under its control.

The court first dispensed with the trucking defendants. Alvarez and the trucking companies relied on deposition testimony from Alvarez and from an official with NY Preferred. However, the court said, this deposition testimony failed to establish how exactly the accident occurred. Without that testimony, the court said, there remains a genuine issue of material fact, which is enough to survive a summary judgment motion. The court also rebuffed arguments from Lease Line, the trucking company employing Alvarez, that it cannot be held vicariously liable for actions by Alvarez because it failed to submit evidence showing that an exception called the Graves Amendment applies. Next, NY Preferred argued that it cannot be liable because it was not an owner, agent or general contractor of the premises where the accident took place, a requirement under the New York labor law in question. On this issue, the court said, NY Preferred has submitted contradictory evidence as to who was the general contractor — again creating an issue of material fact as to some parts of the labor law. However, the court found summary judgment was appropriate as to another area, and common-law negligence, because it demonstrated that it was not in control of Ding’s work. Finally, the court denied summary judgment on a host of indemnification claims, finding they were premature.

This case is a good window into the legal complexities of dealing with deaths and serious injuries that take place when one or more participants are working. The trucker, his employer and the company that owned his trailer are all separate entities; and it’s not unusual for all three to have separate trucking insurance policies. Even if the victim had been an individual driver who was not at work, that still means at least four insurers arguing over liability and percentage of responsibility. This is one of the reasons it’s important to get help from an experienced St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer as soon as you realize you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim. Another reason is that trucking insurance companies can sometimes be very aggressive very early in the case, sometimes even contacting victims’ families on the day of the crash. This early start allows them to make a financial offer to people who are shocked and unable to think about their true financial needs, even if those needs are already clear. I strongly recommend to all victims that they politely turn this kind of offer down and contact our southern Illinois big rig accident attorneys for help.

Continue reading "New York Court Grants Partial Summary Judgment in Trucking Wrongful Death Case – Nin Kao v. Alvarez" »

As a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I was interested to read about a jurisdictional issue affecting an Illinois family. In Daly v. Central Refrigerated Service, an Illinois woman sued the trucking company whose driver hit her car and one other in southern Iowa. Barbara Daly was injured in the crash and her husband, James Daly, was killed; also injured in a separate car was Todd Iagulli. Iagulli sued in Iowa, but Daly sued in northern Illinois, where she lives. Defendant Central Refrigerated Service moved to transfer Daly’s lawsuit to Illinois, and after consideration, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed to do so.

Truck driver Anthony Johnson was near Iowa’s border with Illinois when his tractor-trailer crashed with vehicles driven by Daly and Iagulli. The opinion did not give details or assign fault. However, the crash was serious enough to kill James Daly and inspire the two suits filed by Iagulli and Barbara Daly. Daly’s case originally named Johnson as well as Central as a defendant, but when Central moved to transfer the case to Iowa, Daly voluntarily dismissed the case and re-filed without naming Johnson. Central again moved to transfer the case to Iowa. It argued that Iagulli’s case is already pending in the same Iowa federal court; and the accident took place in Iowa. (Central is incorporated in Nebraska and headquartered in Utah.)

In its analysis, the district court first noted that venue is proper in both northern Illinois and southern Iowa. The next part of its analysis focused on the convenience of each forum to the parties. While the plaintiff has chosen Illinois, the court said, the other factors weigh more heavily for Iowa. The material events in the case — the crash — took place in Iowa, it noted, and it does not matter that Johnson was close to and traveling to Illinois at the time. Most of the non-party witnesses would prefer Iowa as well, it said; this includes witnesses living in Iowa as well as Texas resident Johnson, who said he would come to Illinois but prefer Iowa because he is already involved in Iagulli’s suit. The district court found that neither venue offered superior access to sources of proof, in part because the road where the wreck took place was under construction and has been changed. Thus, it found that the convenience of the parties weighs in favor of moving the case. It went on to find that the convenience of witnesses does too, because most non-party witnesses live in Iowa. And the interests of justice would be served by a transfer, the court said, because the Iagulli case is already pending in Iowa and because Iowa’s docket is less crowded. Thus, it granted the motion to transfer to southern Iowa.

As a Missouri 18-wheeler accident lawyer, I understand why the plaintiff fought to keep the case in Illinois. The Iowa courthouse is literally three times the distance from her home that the Illinois courthouse is. And after all, this is an action about her own damages and losses. However, I do not believe that a transfer to southern Iowa will necessarily harm Daly’s case. Iowa law recognizes negligence and wrongful death claims just like Illinois law, and may be able to provide just as good a recovery. This may be less true when choosing between two states that have a cap on the financial recovery — such as a medical malpractice damages cap. That’s why, if you do have a choice between two equally valid venues, it’s always best to talk to a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney like me about the smartest move.

Continue reading "Suit Over Death of Illinois Resident in Iowa Tractor-Trailer Crash Transferred to Iowa – Daly v. Central Refrigerated Service" »

Because commercial truck drivers are almost always at work when they get into serious crashes, I am accustomed to workers’ compensation issues being involved in my work as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney. But it’s much more rare to have a multi-vehicle accident in which two victims were at work for the same employer in separate cars. That situation raised an unusual workers’ compensation defense in McDaniel v. Lee and PP Trucking, Inc., a decision of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. Jeffrey McDaniel and Fernandino Devers were both working for Sprint/Nextel when they were involved in a chain-reaction crash caused by Man Wai Lee, a truck driver who failed to brake in time for a red light. Lee appealed to the court for an opportunity to sue Devers for alleged negligence contributing to the crash.

McDaniel was driving a Sprint/Nextel vehicle when he stopped at a red light in Newark. Devers was stopped directly behind him in another Sprint/Nextel vehicle. Lee, in an eighteen-wheeler, approached from behind but did not stop in time, so it rear-ended the vehicle driven by Devers, which was pushed into McDaniel’s vehicle. McDaniel and Devers testified that they suffered a second impact as well. Devers was taken to the hospital in an ambulance; McDaniel drove himself. They both made successful workers’ compensation claims and also filed separate claims against Lee and his employer, PP Trucking. The two suits were later consolidated for trial. In McDaniel’s case, Lee also filed a third-party complaint against Devers, arguing that Devers was negligent and contributed to McDaniel’s injuries. McDaniel’s attorney, who also represented Devers, moved to dismiss on the grounds that it was frivolous and sought sanctions. Lee moved to disqualify the attorney, arguing he had a conflict of interests. The court denied both motions and both were appealed.

The Appellate Division ultimately found that Lee’s third-party claim against Devers was barred by New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act. Under most circumstances, that Act bars lawsuits by injured employees against both their employers and their colleagues. No precedent existed on whether it also bars third-party actions against a colleague, but the court applied precedent on third-party actions against the employer. In those cases, courts found that under workers’ compensation law, the employer cannot ever be lumped in as a tortfeasor by a third party. The same, it found, is true of a colleague. It rejected claims that workers’ compensation law does not apply because the two men were in separate cars. The court also briefly addressed the merits of Lee’s claim that Devers contributed to McDaniel’s injuries. Lee made several speculations, the court noted — that they staged the accident, Devers was drinking, the two were not at work or Devers was negligently entrusted with the vehicle. All are without factual basis in the record, the appeals court said. In fact, Lee acknowledged that he had no facts to support a third-party claim. Thus, the third-party claim was dismissed. And because Devers and McDaniel may not sue one another, the court found no conflict for their attorney.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I’d be pleased to see a similar ruling in Missouri. From the information contained in the opinion, it seems likely that Lee had no case against Devers and was merely trying to escape liability for a crash that he allegedly caused. (Though the case was not decided when the opinion was written, most officers will apportion 100 percent of the fault to the party who fails to stop for a signal and causes a rear-end crash.) Workers’ compensation law, by design, allows injured workers to collect payments regardless of fault, in exchange for not suing their employers. However, those workers may still sue a third party whose actions directly caused their injuries — and as a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I’m happy to say that trucking companies and truckers are no exception.

Continue reading "Workers Compensation Law Bars Claim by Negligent Trucker Against Victims Colleague – McDaniel v. Lee" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I sometimes handle trucking accident claims in which the client sues the trucking insurance company directly, in addition to or instead of suing the trucker and trucking company. Until recently, this was only possible in Wisconsin when the trucking insurance policy in question was issued for delivery within the state of Wisconsin. But in Casper v. American International South Insurance Co., the state Supreme Court overruled that precedent and allowed the Casper family to sue American International. The court also ruled that plaintiffs in general may sue corporate officers for non-intentional actions, though it did not allow a claim against the trucking company’s COO in this case.

The Casper family’s minivan was stopped at an intersection in 2003 when a tractor-trailer driven by Mark Wearing rear-ended it at 40 mph. All four Caspers and passenger Sara Janey were injured. Michael Casper, a minor, was rendered a quadriplegic; Janey suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost the use of one kidney. Investigators found that Wearing was abusing three prescription drugs at the time of the crash. Wearing also testified at trial that his employer, Bestway Systems Inc., had given him a route he had objected to as too long to fit federal hours of service restrictions, but a supervisor had told him to lie about his hours or face firing. Bestway’s COO, Jeffrey Wenham, allegedly approved a route that the Caspers’ expert later said was illegally long. The Caspers sued Wenham as an individual for negligent training and supervision and violations of federal trucking laws.

In trial court, Wenham successfully moved for summary judgment, arguing that he could not be held personally liable for actions at work. After consideration, the trial court let stand only a claim that Wenham should not have approved the route Wearing took. Wearing was co-employed by another trucking company named TLC, whose insurance company the Caspers sued directly. In a separate cause of action, that insurer, National Union, successfully moved for summary judgment because its policy was not issued for delivery within Wisconsin. Both sides appealed and the appeals court affirmed, giving rise to the instant appeal.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court first dispensed with a procedural question, then turned to the issue of whether National Union could be sued directly under Wisconsin law. The law says parties may sue insurers for “all insurance policies … delivered or issued for delivery in this state, on property ordinarily located in this state, on persons residing in this state when the policy or certificate is issued, or on business operations in this state.” A previous Court of Appeals case had interpreted this to mean the policy must be delivered or issued for delivery in Wisconsin. But the Supreme Court, construing a long legislative history, unanimously held that the law applies to any liability insurance policy “so long as the accident or injury occurs in this state.”

It next examined whether Wenham could be held personally liable for negligently approving the allegedly illegal route taken by Wearing — and decided that he could. The Supreme Court noted that employees and officers can be personally liable regardless of whether their employers are also liable. It dismissed an argument by Wenham that finding him liable would create bad public policy that would hold any corporate officer of a trucking company responsible for any accident based on any negligence claim. This is overstatement, the court said. However, it agreed that the facts of this case — Wenham never even met Wearing — make holding Wenham responsible against public policy. Thus, it upheld the circuit court but made new law in Wisconsin on both issues.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I am pleased by this ruling. Trucking accident attorneys in Wisconsin have been handed two powerful new tools to help their clients recover damages. Making insurance companies directly liable may do no more than suing their insureds would do, but it skips the middle man. And having the ability to hold corporate officers personally responsible helps expand the pool of potential defendants. This matters in a case like Michael Casper’s and Sara Janey’s because they have suffered permanent, severe disabilities that will require a lifetime of treatment. In addition to changing their lives forever, practically and emotionally, this will require a lifetime of expensive medical care. That’s why, as a St. Louis 18-wheeler accident attorney, I work hard to get my clients the maximum possible compensation for their injuries.

Continue reading "Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Trucking Accident Victim May Sue Insurer With Out of State Policy – Casper v. American International South Insurance Co." »

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I’ve written here many times about the importance of strong regulations and strong enforcement to keep unsafe drivers off the road. So I was interested to see a July 7 article about a woman in North Carolina who is suing the agency responsible for those regulations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, for allowing a known law-breaker to continue driving. Jackie Novak lost her son, Chuck Novak, last October when a truck driver slammed into a line of cars on Interstate 26 in western North Carolina. After the crash, Jackie Novak’s claim says, it was revealed that driver Rouman Velkov had multiple safety violations.

Velkov worked for Globe Carrier Co. when he slammed into nine cars last Oct. 24, killing Chuck Novak, 22, and four others. At the time, he was not medically cleared to drive a commercial truck. He also had a record of safety violations, including going over the maximum allowable hours of driving per day as well as falsifying his hours of service logs. A safety audit conducted Nov. 9, after the crash, found that he had violated HOS rules that day as well. Jackie Novak’s claim against the FMCSA faults the agency for failing to take Velkov off the road despite Globe Carrier’s record of safety violations. She asked for a panel at the FMCSA to review truck safety policies, and also for $1 million, but told the newspaper that she would rather have the panel, because “They could pay me $20 million and I would never get my son back.”

This is a sentiment I commonly hear in my work as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer. Grieving families know all too well that a lawsuit will not bring their loved ones back, but hope to make the roads safer. In most cases, they sue the trucking company responsible for the safety violations. Jackie Novak’s case is unusual in that it asks the FMCSA to better enforce its own rules and, as an afterthought, for money. She and her attorney know very well that they will not be able to sue the FMCSA in court (because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity), which means this claim is essentially a cry of protest against the FMCSA’s lax enforcement. I strongly agree that the agency can do better than it did with Globe Carrier.

At Carey, Danis & Lowe, we represent clients who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in a trucking accident that was no fault of their own. Not every driver is unsafe, but when drivers are allowed to drive without a valid license, speed, ignore drug tests and more, they put everyone around them in unnecessary and unreasonable danger. In many cases, the trucking companies know about or even create the unsafe situation, but allow it to continue because breaking the law is less expensive than complying. Our St. Louis 18-wheeler accident attorneys represent people who suffered injuries, permanent disabilities or a death in the family because of these policies. We help victims claim financial compensation for their losses, pain and suffering and all costs of the accident, especially high medical bills.

Continue reading "North Carolina Mother Files Wrongful Death Claim Against FMCSA for Keeping Unsafe Driver on the Road" »

As a Missouri semi truck crash lawyer, I was interested to read about criminal consequences for a trucker who allegedly killed two people with negligent driving. According to a June 9 article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, truck driver Jay Valentine of Texas pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of careless driving. Valentine, 33, was accused of causing a crash on Interstate 55 near Herculaneum in June of 2010 when he took his eyes off the road too long. The truck crashed into a line of traffic, triggering a chain-reaction crash that ultimately involved eight cars and killed two people, one of whom was dragged inside his car for the length of a football field.

On June 2, 2010, Valentine was heading north on Interstate 55 when something distracted him. He told investigators he couldn’t remember exactly why he looked to the right, but when he turned his attention back to the road, he saw that traffic was slowing and it was too late to stop in time. Instead, his big rig hit a 2005 Ford Focus driven by Charles Martin, 52, of Perryville. This was the car that was ultimately dragged a very long way; one trooper at the scene said it looked like scrap metal. The semi then hit several more vehicles, causing a pileup that badly injured Alana McKnight, 28, of Festus. McKnight was airlifted to the hospital but later died. Prosecutors said they reviewed the facts thoroughly and did not believe more serious charges were appropriate. However, Valentine and his former trucking company face four lawsuits from crash victims and their relatives.

Some observers might be disappointed that prosecutors didn’t file more serious criminal charges against Valentine. I am a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, not a criminal attorney, but I do know that prosecutors generally prefer not to file charges they don’t believe will hold up in court. Although the driving described here is certainly inappropriate and unsafe, it may not be a crime worse than careless driving in Missouri. However, that doesn’t mean the victims of this accident have no recourse. As the article notes, families of both of the people killed are suing Valentine and his trucking company, Western Express Inc. They also face a claim by three people who were seriously injured in the crash, all of whom are claiming compensation for neck and back injuries; one also cites a head injury with permanent scarring.

Continue reading "Truck Driver to Serve Probation for Causing Herculaneum Crash That Took Two Lives" »

A crash from mid-Missouri caught my eye as a Missouri big rig accident attorney. As KRCG reported June 6, a woman from Jefferson City suffered moderate injuries after an accident sandwiched her SUV between a John Deere tractor and a tractor-trailer. The truck reportedly changed lanes without noticing that traffic in the right lane had slowed to accommodate the tractor and was unable to stop in time. Fortunately, 56-year-old Kent Schmidt of Russellville, the tractor’s driver, and 68-year-old Benjamin Schroyer of Sunrise Beach, the trucker, were not injured. Jenna Surface of Jefferson City, 38, was treated and released from the hospital a few hours after the crash. Traffic backed up for about an hour after as crews cleaned up the wreckage.

The article suggests fault may lie with Schroyer, who was working at the time for Scott’s Concrete in Camdenton. Schmidt’s tractor was in the far right lane of the Missouri River Bridge in Jefferson City, going about 20 mph, and Surface was following behind at around the same speed. Schroyer’s truck was in the middle lane when he tried to change lanes to the right. According to the News-Tribune of Jefferson City, Schroyer told local police that he knew Schmidt and Surface were going slowly, but misjudged their speed when he changed lanes and couldn’t slow down in time. The resulting crash pushed Surface’s Tahoe into Schmidt’s truck and the bridge’s guardrail. It also spilled fuel from the tractor onto the road. The article said the police have not yet said whether they will cite Schroyer for the crash.

If the events took place as reports said, I suspect that they will. As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I know police agencies are cautious about handing out tickets or criminal charges right after a crash, because they want the full story. But if Schroyer simply wasn’t paying enough attention to notice he needed to reduce his speed, which seems likely, authorities will probably determine that he caused the crash. Not only could this get him a ticket, but it would likely make his employer and its insurance company legally liable for the results of the accident — because he was at work at the time of the crash. Those results are much less serious than they could have been, fortunately, but they still include the bills for Surface’s medical treatment as well as repairs to her vehicle and the tractor.

Continue reading "Jefferson City Crash Involving Tractor and Semi Sends One Woman to the Hospital" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was disappointed to read about a crash that was apparently caused by a truck driver’s failure to stop or slow for traffic in time. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, six people, including the trucker, went to the hospital with mild to moderate injuries after the crash in the afternoon of June 1. The crash took place as traffic slowed on Highway 63 to accommodate another crash that had taken place about 15 minutes earlier. Truck driver Pearl Anderson, 61, of Pine Bluff, Ark., apparently did not notice the stopped traffic, then swerved into the next lane. The resulting crashes knocked three cars off the road, entrapping two people inside and causing the truck to lose its load of rebar.

According to the Columbia Missourian, no one suffered life-threatening injuries, but emergency responders needed 15 to 20 minutes to extract the most severely trapped person from her car. Anderson was reportedly northbound in the highway’s left lane when traffic started slowing, with some cars ahead trying to merge to the right. When she noticed the slowdown, Anderson reportedly swerved and hit the rear ends of three different vehicles, forcing all three off the left side of the road. Her Freightliner then traveled off the road itself, lost its load and came to a stop upright. Driver Janice Palmer, 62, suffered moderate injuries; other occupants suffered mild injuries, including a one-year-old girl. A spokesperson for the Missouri Highway Patrol said the cause of the accident was still under investigation.

I’d be very interested in the Highway Patrol’s conclusions, as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney. We have recently seen several similar failure-to-slow accidents, including the Highway 40 accident in St. Louis that took three lives and injured 14 other people; and the Oklahoma crash, just over the border from Joplin, that took ten lives. In the Oklahoma case, investigators never did find a clear cause, but in St. Louis, the trucker was eventually accused of distracted driving because he was using his cell phone just before he plowed into stopped traffic. And unfortunately, distraction remains a major problem among truck drivers. In addition to cell phones, truckers are frequently encouraged to drive longer than the law allows to save money, exposing other motorists to dangerously sleep-deprived drivers or drivers using stimulant drugs.

Continue reading "Trucker Who Failed to Slow For Traffic Crashes Into Three Cars, Putting Six in Hospital" »

A semi truck overturned recently on Arizona State Route 347, spilling out a massive amount of diesel fuel. The accident injured multiple people, required hazmat intervention to secure and clean up the scene and resulted in the closure of the highway for several hours.

According to Arizona police officials, more than 2,000 gallons of diesel were spilled onto the highway. While diesel is less likely than gasoline to accidentally combust and start an uncontrollable fire, the risk is still there. Regardless, however, it still poses a risk to the local environment. As said above, a state hazmat team had to come in and spend several hours cleaning up the immediate area and securing what fuel they could to prevent it from pouring into the local ecosystem and water table.

Plus the fumes of the stuff are known to be unhealthy for humans to breathe. While no announcement has been made about the matter, it is quite probable that some of the hospitalizations that occurred at the accident were in response to exposure to the diesel.

There were ultimately seven people hospitalized following the accident, again for reasons that have not yet been released to the public. Details on the accident remain unusually sparse even days after the event. There is no word about the exact cause of the semi tipping over, whether alcohol was involved or whether there was a collision between the truck and other drivers.

But by their very nature, tractor-trailers are a disruptive influence on the road. Normally accidents like this don't happen, but when they do, the effect ripples outward immediately. A mishap involving one truck caused significant impact to emergency services, other drivers on the road and the local environment — all in the space of a few seconds. People are regularly injured in accidents involving semi trucks, because there's just no good way to come out of a tractor-trailer accident.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was surprised to see an article about a crash that took place almost entirely between interstate trucks. According to a May 21 article from the Springfield News-Leader, the four-vehicle crash killed Anthony Butler, 44, of Memphis, Tenn. Butler was a passenger in a semi that ran off the road on eastbound Interstate 44 in Phelps County, hitting two separate parked semi trailers as well as a passenger car. None of the people in those vehicles suffered serious injuries, but the driver of the runaway truck, Kevin Cavanaugh, 23, suffered serious injuries. The two men from the trucks were treated for minor injuries at the Phelps County Regional Medical Center.

The crash happened around 2:55 a.m. near a rest area on Interstate 44 around mile marker 178. It was unclear why Cavanaugh, of Phoenix, ran off the road, but his rig first hit a parked semi truck driven by Cody McKee, 35, of Fort Smith. Cavanaugh’s truck then hit another parked truck with Troy Coffelt, 51, of Springdale, Ark. McKee and Coffelt both suffered minor injuries as a result. Cavanaugh’s big rig also hit a 2011 Volvo, but the article said no one in that vehicle was injured. Butler was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead after the accident; he was not wearing a seat belt. Cavanaugh was airlifted to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis with serious injuries. The article did not specify whether authorities planned to ticket or charge Cavanaugh.

Of course, figuring out the cause of this crash is for the Missouri Highway Patrol, and the truckers’ insurance companies, to do. But as a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer, I suspect the lateness of the hour had something to do with it. Federal law requires truckers to get a certain amount of rest in between stints of driving, because fatigued driving causes bad decisions that can kill or seriously injure other people in traffic. If Cavanaugh was trying to push too far past his fatigue, and especially if he was past his hours of service for the day, he may have caused exactly the kind of accident that those laws are intended to prevent. It’s lucky that he hit the parked trucks — whose drivers were probably following the rules about rest — rather than cars, which a runaway big rig could easily have crushed in an accident.

Continue reading "Crash Between Several Large Trucks Near Rolla Kills Passenger and Hospitalizes Driver" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I was interested to see a truck crash that fortunately caused no serious injuries, but left about 250 buildings in Kansas City temporarily without power. As the Kansas City Star reported May 13, the truck ran into a power pole after the driver’s girlfriend jumped onto the side of the truck. The couple apparently had a dispute, possibly over ownership of the coat the driver was wearing. The scuffle caused the driver to lose control and eventually hit a power transformer belonging to Kansas City Power & Light. The woman suffered minor injuries in the crash but will be arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant; the man may be ticketed for careless driving.

The dispute started outside the unnamed driver’s house, when he was walking to his rig. He said the woman approached him on the street and accused him or wearing her coat. He declined to give her the coat and instead got into his big rig. As he drove away, however, the woman jumped onto a protruding area of the truck and continued arguing with him through the window, which was open. The driver told a KMOV reporter that he drove very slowly as the woman attempted to get into the truck, hitting the side of the truck. The Star said they were punching each other. The driver lost control near the intersection of 31st and Walnut streets and hit a pole, disabling a transformer and knocking out power to the region. The crash also knocked power lines down onto the truck. The woman was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I’m pleased that no one was seriously hurt by this accident. However, that may be nothing but good luck, given the chaos that apparently gave rise to the crash. A driver distracted by a physical fight could easily run into an occupied building or another vehicle rather than a power pole, putting the people inside at risk of serious injuries or even death. Thanks to the great weight of a commercial truck, even a slow-speed crash could do serious damage to a structure or a smaller car. Police were reportedly considering a reckless driving ticket for the driver, but under the circumstances, we wonder if a similar citation would be appropriate for the other person involved in the fight.

Continue reading "Trucker’s Dispute With Girlfriend Leads to Crash Causing Power Outage in Kansas City" »

As a St. Louis semi truck crash attorney, I was interested to see a short item about a crash between a big rig and a car full of travelers from New York state. According to a May 10 article from the St. Joseph News-Press, a Freightliner hit a 1995 Dodge late on Monday night near Rock Port, Missouri. The crash overturned the Dodge and ejected all four of the people inside, all of whom were listed as from Cold Springs, NY. Christopher Darman, 20, had moderate injuries, while the three others in the car all sustained serious injuries and were airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Omaha. The truck driver, David Hollenberg of Cameron, Missouri, was not injured.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s accident report suggests that Hollenberg was at fault. As both vehicles went north on Interstate 29, the report said, the tractor-trailer overtook and rear-ended the Dodge. The crash caused the Dodge to roll over onto the driver’s side and into the path of the semi, which struck the car again and pushed it off the highway. None of the four people inside were wearing seat belts, and all four were thrown from the car. Seriously injured were Joseph Darman, 54, the driver; Rebecca Darman, 18; and Amanda Playford, 24. All were taken to the same hospital as Christopher Darman, but later moved to Omaha. The 18-wheeler also overturned and landed on its passenger side.

The accident report and the article are short and leave many questions unanswered. As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I would like to know whether the rear-end accident was caused by anything other than ordinary negligence by the trucker. This matters because if the truck driver was at fault, these families may be able to collect financial compensation for the medical treatment they now need. And that matters because the airlifting suggests that they were seriously injured enough to require more help than a closer hospital could provide, possibly including a trauma center. Traumatic injuries like these are usually life-altering, leaving victims with at least some disability for the rest of their lives. They are also more expensive to treat than most ordinary families can afford, which is why many victims ultimately consider a lawsuit.

Continue reading "St. Joseph Tractor-Trailer Accident Sends Four New York Residents to the Hospital" »

Late last week, a collision between a 45-foot fire truck and a semi tractor-trailer caused a major shutdown of the Ohio Turnpike, a closure lasting more than five hours.

The trucking accident occurred shortly before midnight on April 19th. The ladder truck was in the process of responding to reports of a fire on the westbound lanes of the turnpike at the time of the accident. Due to a miscommunication, the fire truck had to use one of the emergency turnaround exits, and in the process of doing so was hit in the side by the semi truck. There is some question about whether the fire truck's lights were on in sufficient time to warn the semi's driver.

Fortunately, the accident did not produce any serious injuries, although one firefighter did ultimately require stitches to close a wound to his head.

According to reports, the collision caused a major shutdown. The center and outside lanes of the highway were closed completely for five hours. Multiple emergency vehicles, including another fire truck and ambulances, were dispatched to the collision site, further tying up personnel who could have responded to the original fire reports.

The accident further illustrates just how difficult it is to avoid a collision with a semi when things do unfortunately go wrong. Neither a semi nor a fire truck is easy to control, and when circumstances dictated that the fire truck use the emergency lane, the semi apparently had no time to correct its course, fire engine lights or no lights.

The exact circumstances of the accident are still under investigation, according to Ohio highway patrol personnel who responded to the scene. The shutdown was finally alleviated in the early morning hours of the 20th, when large commercial towers were brought to the scene to move the rigs. The fireman who was injured was released from the hospital after his treatment and is doing well, according to reports.

In January, as a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I wrote here about a rear-end truck accident that killed a father, a son and the son’s pregnant girlfriend. Truck driver Robert Carmona, 37, is accused of rear-ending a car driven by Frank Weber, 56, of De Soto, Missouri as Weber was stopped at an intersection. The crash killed Weber and Bonne Terre residents Aaron Weber, 20, and Rachel Sharp, 18. On April 19, KDSK reported that a judge ruled that there’s enough evidence against Carmona, a New York resident, to go to trial. A trial date will be set at a hearing next month; Carmona is being held on $300,000 bail.

Frank Weber was stopped at an intersection on Highway 67 when the crash took place. Around 1:30 p.m., Carmona’s tractor-trailer slammed into the back end of their Ford Crown Victoria. None was wearing a seat belt. The crash pushed both the car and the big rig several hundred feet away and off the side of the road. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. Carmona was not hurt. After the crash, reports said he was driving with a suspended license at the time, with court filings indicated that his license had been suspended for stealing fuel. When Carmona is tried, he will face three counts of involuntary manslaughter as well as one count of driving with a revoked license.

As a St. Louis 18-wheeler accident lawyer, I am especially interested in the suspended license. No trucking company should hire a driver without a license, but a few unscrupulous companies prefer to save a little money by hiring these unqualified drivers on the cheap. When the license was suspended for safety reasons, this practice puts everyone on the road, including the unlicensed trucker, in danger. Stealing fuel is not exactly a safety issue, of course, but it does raise questions about what else Carmona might be willing to do. When trucking companies knowingly break the law, or intentionally turn a blind eye to drivers’ law-breaking, they may be legally and financially liable for any accidents that result.

Continue reading "Judge Rules Truck Driver Will Stand Trial for Bonne Terre Crash That Killed Three" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I was pleased to read that no one was seriously hurt by a potentially serious crash here in St. Louis last week. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported April 1, a diesel fuel tanker truck crashed into a truck owned by the Missouri Department of Transportation that day, briefly closing Interstate 70 completely in both directions. Fortunately, the crash didn’t cause a fire or a serious diesel spill, which could have caused an explosion. It did, however, send MoDOT employee Brian Heintzelman to the hospital with a minor injury. No information was available about the condition of the trucker. Parts of the interstate were reopened 20 minutes after they were closed, but all westbound lanes were closed again as a precaution when the fuel was removed from the tank.

According to the article, MoDOT was on the highway to fill potholes, with warning signs posted for the traffic behind. Two MoDOT trucks were there: one doing the work, and another positioned behind it to protect the working truck. The tanker truck apparently could not stop as it descended a hill between Zumbehl Road and Highway 94 around 11:15 a.m., and struck the protecting truck driven by Heintzelman. The crash pushed the protecting truck into another lane and sent the tanker truck into a wall, where the cab of the truck caught fire. Luckily, the fire did not spread to the 8,500 gallons of diesel fuel the truck was carrying, and a hazmat crew was able to clean up the scene without further injuries. A spokesperson for MoDOT reminded drivers to watch out for work crews.

When fuel tanker trucks crash, ruptured tanks can cause catastrophic fires and explosions, as residents of Florida’s Space Coast have unfortunately seen firsthand. That’s why, as a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I’m very pleased that this crash was so minor. The article didn’t report anything about the tanker truck’s driver, but the description of the accident suggests that he or she lost control, which invites questions about the driver’s actions as well as the condition of the truck. If the truck was out of control because of problems with the brakes or other mechanical failures, the trucking company responsible for maintaining it in safe condition may be responsible. The trucker may also be responsible, if he or she failed to take necessary and ordinary precautions when coming down the hill.

Continue reading "Runaway Diesel Tanker Truck Collides With MoDOT Work Truck, Injuring One" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was disappointed to see that a trucker and another driver were both hospitalized in serious condition after a bad truck accident near Columbia, Missouri. The Columbia Missourian, the newspaper attached to the Missouri School of Journalism, reported March 9 that both were upgraded to fair that day, after the March 7 accident. According to the report, truck driver Abdi Farah, 52, of Columbus, Ohio crashed through guard cables on Interstate 70 Monday night, hitting a minivan head-on. That minivan was driven by Vander Coltrane, 61, of Columbia. Charges are pending the results of an investigation.

The Missouri Highway Patrol says Farah lost control of his big rig in the eastbound lanes of I-70, overcorrecting for reasons it couldn’t immediately say. The truck crashed through the guard cables in the middle of the highway and ended up in the westbound lanes, where it hit Coltrane’s minivan before overturning. The Boone County Fire Protection District had to work to extract both victims from their vehicles. A spokesperson for the Missouri Highway Patrol said it also had to untangle the tractor-trailer, which had been entangled in the cables, before it could get the truck off the road. The Highway Patrol said it was clear that Farah failed to stay in his lane, but no charges would be filed until it finished its investigation.

Those results will be interesting to me as a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer. Departing from your lane in traffic almost always puts you at fault for any accident that results. That is not to say that being legally at fault is the same as committing a crime. For example, if Farah had a heart attack, he may not have been capable of controlling his 18-wheeler. Thus, he might not be considered responsible for reckless driving or other crimes. However, that doesn’t mean he would escape liability in a Missouri trucking accident lawsuit. Even if his behavior wasn’t criminal, it may still have been unreasonably careless for him to go out on the road, or his trucking company to let him, if he knew he had a heart problem that could cause this kind of crash.

Continue reading "Semi Truck Breaks Through Guard Cables Near Columbia, Sending Two to Hospital" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was interested to see news reports about a crash that could have become a tragic pileup. As the News-Leader of Springfield reported Feb. 27, a big rig carrying mayonnaise overturned on Interstate 44, spilling its slick load across the road. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt in the crash, although authorities were surprised that the trucker was able to walk away. But the accident closed the highway’s eastbound lanes near U.S. 65 for several hours as crews worked to clean up the road. One responder described walking on the mayonnaise slick as similar to walking on ice.

Reports say the truck was carrying mayonnaise in bags for Subway restaurants. However, the driver apparently lost control as he reached the junction of I-44 and U.S. 65, driving through a cable guardrail and into the median. There, the truck crashed through a guardrail and into a bridge support for the 65 overpass. The accident opened the trailer, spilling its 40,000 pounds (20 tons) of mayonnaise all over the highway. Fortunately, all of the drivers following the truck managed to stop before they could crash as well. MoDOT has inspected the bridge supports and decided they don’t need repair, and the driver was not harmed. However, the road was closed for several hours and traffic rerouted as MoDOT cleaned up.

This accident is giving people across the country some giggles at the thought of 20 tons of mayonnaise on the road. But as a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer, I know it could have been much worse if the drivers behind the semi hadn’t been able to stop in time. Mayonnaise is slick like ice, as the police spokesperson said; it could easily have caused cars following the big rig to slip, as we’ve seen in recent ice-related accidents. To make matters worse, those drivers would have had very little opportunity to prevent their crashes. That is, the crashes would likely have been the fault of the trucker who drove into the bridge in the first place, but the people in the following cars would have been just as injured. That’s why it’s so important for truck drivers to be careful on the road.

Continue reading "Semi Truck Accident in Springfield Spills 40,000 Pounds of Mayonnaise on Highway" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer, I was sorry to read about a serious accident in Springfield involving a victim from neighboring Kansas. As KWCH in Wichita reported Feb. 9, 15-year-old Dillon McKee suffered massive brain trauma Jan. 18 after he was sideswiped by a semi truck on Highway 44. McKee and his uncle were on their way home from Springfield, Mo. when their vehicle broke down. McKee was helping the tow truck driver when the trucker apparently drove too close to the disabled vehicle. Something on the truck hit McKee in the right side of his head, causing massive trauma that doctors expect to leave him permanently disabled.

McKee and his uncle weren’t far out of Springfield when their truck broke down. Neither had a mobile phone, so the uncle, who was not named, left to get help. McKee stayed in the cab of the truck while he waited, but got out when the tow truck arrived. That’s when a semi passed too close to the other trucks and hit McKee, then the disabled pickup truck. According to cousin Jamie Bell, the object that struck McKee took off much of the right side of his skull; doctors say he will never walk or talk again. The trucker then sideswiped the pickup. Family members say the white semi may have red paint on it from the sideswipe. They’re asking anyone with information about the truck to get in touch with the Missouri Highway Patrol at 417-895-6868.

Bell said her family is looking for information and some closure. But as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I know the family may also soon face the more practical problem of how to handle McKee’s care. Unfortunately, severe brain injuries like this often require full-time care for the rest of the victim’s life. That can get expensive very quickly for an ordinary family, especially when budget cuts constrain public health programs like Medicare. If the trucker in this accident is identified, he or she – and the trucking company he or she was working for – could be held legally and financially responsible for all of those costs and others. In addition, the trucker might face charges for leaving the scene or failing to move over in the first place.

Continue reading "Wichita Family Publicly Begs Trucker to Acknowledge Accident That Disabled Youth" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was very pleased to read about a trucking accident that could have ended much worse than it did. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Feb. 5, Stacey Spies, 37, suffered a mild concussion and a major fright after a sheet of ice fell from a semi ahead of her on Interstate 70. Spies, of St. Peters, was traveling about 60 mph when the ice broke the windshield of her car and hit her in the side of the head. Luckily, she was able to stop without being involved in another accident, and suffered only minor injuries. No one else was injured, but another motorist stopped and helped her stay calm until help arrived. It wasn’t reported whether the truck driver stopped or even noticed the accident.

Spies said she felt “very, very lucky” that the accident was not worse. She was traveling east on Interstate 70 on the afternoon of Feb. 3, several lanes to the left of the semi truck. From there, she was able to see the sheet of ice come off the top of the truck and head through the windshield of her Chevy Cavalier. She said she grabbed the wheel and screamed, but came to a complete stop in her own lane, then called 911 to get help from the Missouri Highway Patrol. The Missouri Highway Patrol reminded all drivers to clear as much ice and snow as possible from their vehicles, because even a small piece of ice can weigh several pounds. A spokesperson for the AAA of Missouri said ice on the roofs of vehicles can also fall on the vehicle’s own windshield, blinding the driver.

I’m pleased that Spies and other passers-by on the interstate were not badly hurt. But as a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer, I’m disappointed that no mention was made here of the truck driver’s culpability in this accident. In many states, state laws specifically require drivers to clear snow and ice from their roofs, often in response to accidents worse than this. That’s not the case in Missouri and Illinois, but both states do make drivers responsible for maintaining their vehicles and ensuring they’re safe to drive. In addition to any citation or criminal charges, drivers and their auto insurance companies could face lawsuits from anyone they injure by failing to make sure their vehicles are free of ice before they get on the road.

Continue reading "St. Peters Woman Shaken but Only Mildly Injured After Ice From Truck Roof Hits Windshield" »

As a Missouri trucking accident lawyer, I was interested to read about an accident in Claycomo, Mo. recently that caused an unusual cargo spill: live pigs. According to the Kansas City Star, a truck overturned on the ramp from Interstate 435 to Interstate 35 on the morning of Jan. 24. A spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol said the truck driver took the curve too fast, causing him to lose control, go off the road and overturn the truck. The accident killed several of the 700-plus live pigs that were the truck’s cargo, and caused 35 to 40 to get loose on the interstate. The driver was not injured, but the crash closed the ramp for about five hours.

The Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman said the trucker was “just too fast for the curve,” causing the crash at around 8:30 a.m. The crash flipped the truck over at the side of the interstate, spilling its cargo of pigs. The pigs reportedly wandered loose on the road and adjacent areas after the crash, until emergency responders were able to corral them. The spokesman said rounding them up was challenging, because “they go every which way but the way you want them to go.” A veterinarian from Kansas treated injured pigs, and they were loaded onto another truck as emergency crews tried to turn the original truck back upright. The job would have been more challenging if the hogs had been full-grown, the patrolman said, but they were only the size of dogs.

KCTV had footage of emergency crews at the scene.

This story is provoking some giggles online because of the image of pigs “running wild” on a highway junction. But as a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I know how easily this accident could have been a tragedy. Any rollover involving a large truck is a cause for concern because large trucks could literally crush anything they fall on, thanks to their huge size and weight. A cargo spill on the interstate could also be a serious hazard. A large load of anything falling on the highway creates a reason to brake quickly or take evasive action, which could cause problems if not every driver is paying attention, A load of uncontrollable live animals makes that problem significantly worse. It’s fortunate that this crash didn’t cause any of those problems, but the crash is a reminder that all truckers, and especially those with live or hazardous cargo, need to be careful on curves.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Overturns on Kansas City Ramp and Spills Cargo of Live Pigs on Road" »

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 " »

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" »

As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I was disappointed to see that a Missourian is being criminally charged in connection with a crash that killed two people in Wisconsin. The Sheboygan Press reported Dec. 21 that trucker Curtis Hawkins of Dexter, Mo. is criminally charged in Wisconsin with the deaths of two people and injuries of two others in October of last year. Hawkins is accused of taking his eyes off the road too long and failing to stop for stopped traffic ahead, causing his big rig to hit at least two vehicles at 70 mph. He faces two counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle in the deaths of 80-year-old Mary J. Parker of Cedar Grove, Wis. and Donald J. Sherman, 78, of Stickney, Ill. He also faces two felony counts of reckless driving causing great bodily injury. In all, he could be sentenced to as many as 13 years in prison.

Wisconsin state police say Hawkins was driving even though he had already reached the limit for how long he could drive under federal safety laws. Rather than stay off the road, the article said, he falsified his logbook and kept driving. He was on Interstate 43 that day and had just reached traffic that was bottlenecked due to a construction-related detour, at Cedar Beach Road near Belgium, Wis. Investigators say he was driving a steady 70 mph despite three signs warning about the detour, then took his eyes off the road to reach for a snack. His 18-wheeler first plowed into a car driven by Jimmie Juhasz, 64 and of Cedar Grove, where Parker was a passenger. Their car was knocked over and into a ditch. The semi then rear-ended an SUV occupied by Sherman and his wife, Roberta Sherman, 75, pushing it 150 feet. Donald Sherman died at the scene and Parker died of her injuries five days later. Roberta Sherman and Juhasz were both seriously injured, but Hawkins suffered only minor injuries.

What struck me about this case, as a Missouri trucking accident attorney, was the inclusion of information about Hawkins falsifying his log. This is unfortunately a common practice in the trucking industry. Meeting deadlines helps determine the driver’s and trucking company’s compensation, so some drivers are willing to lie in order to stay on the road longer. In fact, some trucking companies actively encourage drivers to do this, even though it’s against federal law. More importantly, driving longer than the federal hours of service limits can mean driving while too tired to make good decisions. That seems to be what police believe happened with Hawkins. As this case shows, it’s a serious problem because it puts everyone on the road at risk -- including people who just had the bad luck to be near the negligent trucker.

Continue reading "Missouri Truck Driver Criminally Charged for Falsifying Logs Before Fatal Accident" »

An unusual trucking accident here in St. Louis caught my eye recently as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Dec. 11, Michael Whitmore, 46, died last week when he was hit by a semi truck. Whitmore was on foot, pushing his disabled car off the Chain of Rocks bridge on Interstate 270 near Riverview Drive. There was no shoulder and it was still dark at 4:45 that morning, so Whitmore and several others called 911 to help. However, the dispatcher apparently mistook the location for Interstate 70 rather than 270, delaying the response by about six minutes. Whitmore’s family and his girlfriend said they understood that this was a mistake, but believed an earlier response could have lit the area enough to prevent a crash.

Whitmore was apparently going to work at a trucking company on Dec. 8 when his car broke down. Because there was no shoulder, his car was stuck in the westbound lanes of the Chain of Rocks bridge, with its emergency lights on but dim. His girlfriend, Monica Lewis, said she thought he moved it because he knew it could cause an accident just sitting there. An approaching truck driver saw Whitmore and his car in time to swerve away from the car, but hit Whitmore himself. The truck then hit the median and burst into flames, badly burning Whitmore. Witnesses at the scene said the trucker was distraught at having hit someone and had to be pulled from the burning truck. After initially claiming the 911 callers gave the wrong information, the police acknowledged that the mistake was theirs, but said correct information would not have prevented the crash.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I think Whitmore’s loved ones would be well advised to test that for themselves. This is an unusual case, in that it doesn’t sound like the truck driver bears much fault. However, if the family can show that the dispatcher’s mistake could have made a difference, they may have a lawsuit against the police department. It’s perfectly possible to sue a government agency for negligence. However, because police agencies and government agencies both have special legal protections, this is not as simple as suing an individual or private company. Typically, you must go through an administrative process before you can sue, and the deadline to start this process is often very short. That’s why experts suggest that you have an attorney’s help from the beginning.

Continue reading "Family of Driver Killed in Semi Accident Believes 911 Mistake Was Partly Responsible" »

As a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, I was interested to see a report about a bad trucking accident down in Louisiana. According to the Associated Press, 21 children and two adults were injured Dec. 3 when a truck driver slammed into the back of a school bus in Port Barre, a small town west of Baton Rouge. The crash left the bus driver -- a substitute who is also the town’s mayor -- and the trucker with minor injuries. Among the students, 18 had minor to moderate injuries and three students, ages five to 15, were critically injured. Both vehicles were heavily damaged in the crash. A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police said the truck driver had not yet been cited, but an investigation continues. The driver’s trucking company, J.B. Hunt, had no comment for the AP.

The bus was being driven by Port Barre Mayor Gil Savoy, a retired bus driver who was filling in for the regular driver. According to the Louisiana State Police, Savoy had the stop signs extended and lights flashing when the crash took place. Savoy’s wife told a local television station that he told her he saw the truck coming in the rearview mirror and yelled at the students to brace themselves. The school bus had no seat belts, as is standard for their school district and many others. Savoy’s wife said he managed to keep the bus on the road throughout the crash and stopped a few hundred feet away. However, the back end of the bus was badly deformed and one child was trapped until rescuers could cut away a bus seat. The front of the tractor-trailer was also badly damaged; the cab had to be towed away.

As a southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident attorney, I’m not surprised to hear that the trucking company declined to comment. In this situation, the trucker is almost certainly at fault, which means both he and the trucking company would be liable in any trucking accident lawsuit the victims and their families choose to pursue. In fact, given the number of victims in this crash, they could be sued multiple times, or hit with a class-action lawsuit costing millions of dollars. A lawsuit may not be on the minds of these families right now, but in the future, the costs of their injuries could become a serious consideration -- especially for the students who were most seriously injured. Those kids are likely to have very high medical bills, and if the injuries are permanent, they may continue needing care far into the future.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Rear-Ends Stopped School Bus in Louisiana, Hurting 21 Students" »

As a St. Louis 18-wheeler accident attorney, I was surprised and disappointed to read about a rare accident involving a large truck and a pedestrian. According to the Alton Telegraph, 80-year-old Robert Schaefer died Nov. 18 after he was hit by a semi truck while crossing the highway. Schaefer was crossing Illinois Route 3 at West Chain of Rocks Road, the road where he lived, in Granite City, around 3 p.m. The article says the truck was stopped for a red light when Schaefer began crossing, but the light changed and the truck driver pulled out. The driver said he did not see Schaefer, and a Granite City police officer said there is no crosswalk at the intersection. Schaefer was airlifted to Saint Louis University Hospital but pronounced dead the same evening. The article said the incident is still under investigation, but no criminal charges are expected.

I am very interested, as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer crash lawyer, by the statement that there will probably be no charges. This is not normally true in accidents involving pedestrians who were legally crossing at an intersection. In fact, the officer’s statement about the crosswalk is technically not true -- there is no marked crosswalk at the intersection in question, but Illinois law creates unmarked crosswalks between curbs or the edges of the road at any intersection. Illinois law requires vehicles to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks in most situations. Of course, it’s possible that there were special circumstances here -- for example, the truck driver would not be legally responsible if Schaefer stepped out in front of the truck suddenly.

But regardless of whether prosecutors believe there was a crime or traffic infraction, Illinois law also gives all drivers a responsibility to “exercise due care” to avoid hitting pedestrians. That’s true for all drivers, not just truckers. However, it’s especially important for truck drivers to watch for pedestrians and generally take care, because their vehicles are many, many times the size and weight of a human being. In a collision, that means they can do very serious damage -- almost certainly killing pedestrians or leaving them with catastrophic and permanent injuries. Truck drivers already have special obligations to make sure their driving is safe, including strict limitations on intoxicated driving and how many hours they may drive without rest. Failure to take this basic care can lead to terrible accidents even with other vehicles -- and with someone on foot, it’s no contest at all.

Continue reading "Southern Illinois Pedestrian Killed by Semi Truck While Crossing Highway Intersection" »

As a southern Illinois tractor trailer accident lawyer, I was disappointed to read that two men were killed in a apparently head-on trucking accident near Windsor, Ill. According to Illinois State Police, James W. Adair, 65, of Troy caused the crash when he attempted to pass by moving into oncoming traffic. Instead of passing, his armored truck collided with a tanker truck coming the other direction, tipping over both trucks. The crash killed Harold E. Keck, 70, Adair’s passenger, as well as 49-year-old James Painter of Teutopolis. Adair was hospitalized for undisclosed injuries and ticketed for improper passing.

Adair was driving west on Illinois 16 on the afternoon of Nov. 1. Near the intersection with Shelby County Road 1290 East, he tried to pass a stopped vehicle on the left, but smashed into Painter’s tanker truck. Both trucks overturned into a ditch on the east side of the road, and Painter’s truck burst into flames, killing him at the scene. The tanker truck was designed to carry chemicals such as ammonia. Fortunately, it was empty at the time of the crash, preventing a more serious explosion or a hazardous materials spill that could have threatened the community. Keck, the passenger in Adair's armored truck, was ejected from the truck even though he wore a seat belt and also died at the scene. The Illinois State Police, Shelby County Sheriff's Department, and Shelby County Coroner are investigating the accident and the deaths.

At the surface, this seems to be yet another very preventable trucking accident that nonetheless ended in deaths. Unfortunately, that’s something I see a lot in my work as a St. Louis semi trailer crash lawyer. It’s the law, and obviously also the safer choice, that drivers should check for oncoming traffic before passing in an oncoming traffic lane -- if passing is allowed at all. Drivers of large, heavy trucks have a special responsibility to make sure that they drive safely because they can do so much more damage than a typical passenger car. Where a collision between two passenger cars could end with survivors, a collision involving a car and a tractor-trailer rarely does. When a truck driver is careless about his or her responsibility to keep other drivers safe, this constitutes negligence -- something for which that driver can be held responsible by law. If negligence by the trucking company also contributed, that company can and should also be held accountable.

Continue reading "Police Attribute Fiery Head-On Semi Truck Collision to Driver’s Careless Passing" »

As a southern Illinois tractor trailer crash attorney, a recent story about a semi truck crash caught my attention. According to KFVS, Two semi trucks and a John Deere tractor collided near Anna, Ill. on the morning of Friday, Oct. 29. The tractor’s driver was essentially caught in the middle as the two Mack trucks collided and suffered head injuries. The truckers were not seriously harmed. One of them was ticketed for failing to slow down for the other, suggesting that driver was at fault.

The accident occurred as the tractor and both 18-wheelers were traveling east on Lick Creek Road. Lloyd D. Newman, 61, of Anna, was driving a green 1977 John Deere tractor. Joshua R. James, 33, of Mount Vernon, tried to pass Newman’s tractor in his red 2003 Peterbilt tractor-trailer. While James was in the passing lane, Dann Kraatz, 43, of Anna, rear-ended the tractor in his blue 1995 Mack semi truck. Kraatz's truck knocked the John Deere into the path of James's semi truck in the passing lane. Newman had to be airlifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau for treatment of head injuries resulting from this collision. The article did not go into detail about his injuries or his condition. The truck drivers were both treated at the scene for their injuries, and Lick Creek Road was closed for three hours following the crash.

In my experience as a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident is usually the result of a driver who isn't paying attention to traffic or road conditions. This can result in horrific crashes like the one that took place in Oklahoma last summer, killing ten people. Unfortunately, failure to pay attention to the road is implicated in a large percentage of accidents caused by large trucks, according to
the federal government’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study. That study found that twenty-nine percent of crashes were caused by drivers who were distracted or daydreaming. State and federal regulations of truck drivers and trucking companies are meant to minimize dangers like this by requiring drivers to get enough rest, get training, follow the rules of the road, and take care of their vehicles. Failure to do any of these things constitutes negligence, or carelessness that could hurt someone.

Continue reading "Illinois Tractor Driver Suffers Head Injuries in Collision With Two Semi Trucks" »

As a St. Louis semi trailer crash attorney, I noticed a recent news item in the Marshfield Mail about a tractor-trailer accident that happened Oct. 19, a mile west of Marshfield. The article does not definitively blame one driver or the other, but statements from the Missouri State Highway Patrol suggest that they see the crash as the trucker’s fault. Two men were injured when a Mack truck clipped their pickup truck on the highway. Thankfully, no one was killed, but the passenger suffered serious injuries and the driver suffered moderate injuries.

The driver was Johnny P. Heckman, 36, of Fordland. He and his passenger, William P. Hilles, 45, also of Fordland, were in a 1999 Ford F350 as they drove eastbound on Highway 38 after midnight on Oct. 19. A 2009 Sterling tractor-trailer was coming toward them on a curve. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the semi truck's driver, Bryan D. Wells, 44, of Lonoke, Ark., was driving slightly over the center line as Heckman’s pickup truck approached. Wells swerved to the right to avoid hitting the pickup truck, but his trailer did not swerve fast enough to get out of he way. Instead, the trailer crossed into the oncoming traffic lane, smashing the pickup truck. The pickup was totaled, according to the article. Heckman suffered moderate injuries and Hilles suffered serious injuries. Neither man was wearing a seat belt. Both went by ambulance to Cox South Hospital in Springfield.

Unfortunately, the size and weight of large trucks means that even a sideswipe can cause serious damage, as this article shows. A loaded semi weighs up to 22 times more than other vehicles on the road, allowing it to do much greater damage to other vehicles than a passenger car would -- if their drivers aren't careful and responsible. We don't know exactly why the driver of the semi truck near Marshfield crossed the center line, but semi truck accidents frequently involve the same few causes -- distraction, exhaustion, and aggression. One might think that drivers of enormous, extremely heavy vehicles on public roads would use extra patience and caution when driving, especially since federal law gives them special responsibilities intended to make sure they are safe drivers. Unfortunately, as I know well from my work as a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, some truck drivers get sloppy, or don't care in the first place. A few trucking companies also cut corners by hiring drivers who are unsafe or even unlicensed.

Continue reading "Tractor-Trailer Clips Pickup Outside Marshfield, Causing Serious Injuries" »

As a Missouri semi truck crash attorney, I have continued following the stories about last year’s terrible trucking accident next door in Oklahoma. So I was interested to see an article about the settlement of a lawsuit brought by families of eight of the ten victims of a tractor-trailer accident in Oklahoma last summer. According to the Tulsa World, the victims' families agreed to a total of $62.7 million as financial restitution for the suffering that they and their loved ones endured because of the crash. The families' attorney said that the settlement helped to bring them closure after over a year of grieving for their lost loved ones. The other two families who lost loved ones in the crash reached their own confidential out-of-court settlements earlier.

According to the newspaper, the settlement was reached the day before jury selection would have begun for a trial in their wrongful death lawsuit. The suit was filed a year ago in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, by relatives of eight of the ten victims of the crash. The defendants were driver Donald Creed, 77, of Willard, Mo., whose semi trailer plowed into stopped traffic at 70 mph, killing the ten victims; Creed's employer, Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., of Kansas City, Kan.; two insurance companies; a California company; and Rajeev Sharma and Erin Alf, whose vehicles caused the original traffic stoppage when they collided. However, Creed was reportedly too upset to appear in court. In August, he pleaded guilty to ten counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide and was sentenced to a year of probation on each count. He also served 30 days in a county jail, will use an electronic monitoring device for his first year of probation, and can no longer obtain a commercial driver's license, ending his trucking career.

In my work as a St. Louis tractor trailer accident lawyer, I often see people devastated by preventable accidents like this one -- victims as well as at-fault truck drivers. It's terrible to see what can happen when a truck driver makes what might seem like a small mistake. Because semi trucks are so large and heavy, a small mistake in a big rig can have much worse consequences than it would for a driver of an economy car or even an SUV. In Creed's case, his mistakes are being attributed to driving while exhausted. The investigation after the crash showed that he didn't even try to brake when he approached the stalled traffic on the interstate. He was apparently so tired from having been on the road since 3 a.m. that he didn't notice what was going on around him. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Creed's employer, told the victims' relatives in court that the company had decided to pay "closer attention to fatigue when it comes to driving" and to examine its driver training and safety programs.

More attention to this deadly issue obviously is warranted. However, it's sad that it took an accident that killed ten people to get the company to take it seriously, especially since driver fatigue has been one of the National Transportation Safety Board's top concerns for years. The federal government has failed to follow through with strict regulations and steep penalties for violating them, showing how important civil suits like this one can be for public safety. The NTSB has been urging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to address driver fatigue for ten years, since 31 percent of all heavy truck crashes are caused by driver fatigue, but the FMCSA has not done so. Now that a serious accident has caused several defendants $62.7 million, those defendants are taking the issue more seriously. They don't want to have to pay out settlements like this anymore, and they may finally do what's necessary to prevent accidents.

Continue reading "Families Win $62.7 Million Settlement in Oklahoma Semi Truck Crash Tragedy" »

Drivers are required to slow down in construction zones for a reason: People at work in those areas are on foot and can be badly hurt even by a small car. Truckers who don't pay close enough attention to traffic and road conditions can be especially dangerous when they enter construction zones. A recent semi truck crash in Saint Robert, Mo., is one of the latest in a string of deadly construction zone accidents in Illinois and Missouri. Two people were injured and the highway's eastbound lanes were shut down for hours, but thankfully no one was killed. As a Missouri semi truck crash attorney, I know how dangerous these accidents can be, and I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that William A. Pratt, 72, of Anderson, suffered minor injuries in a rollover accident that totaled his 2007 International semi truck. He attempted to change lanes near a construction zone and hit the impact attenuator attached to a piece of construction equipment. On impact, the semi skidded, crossed the center line into westbound traffic, and flipped over. The front of his truck landed on the trailer of a parked 1993 International tractor, and his towed unit flipped over and slid into the construction equipment, knocking it into a pedestrian. That pedestrian, Dennis T. Berger, 55, of St. Louis, suffered moderate injuries. Both Berger and Pratt were taken by ambulance to Phelps County Regional Medical Center in Rolla. The 1993 International tractor was damaged and towed away.

As a St. Louis tractor trailer crash lawyer, I am always dismayed to read about preventable accidents that cause so many injuries, deaths and other damage. Amazingly, the construction equipment that Pratt's truck initially ran into was unharmed, but Berger, who was injured, and the owner of the tractor-trailer and its destroyed cargo will now have to pay bills related to an accident that they didn't cause. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but now Berger will bear the expenses of medical care to heal from his injuries, and the owner of the truck will have to replace or repair it, and probably will lose money while the truck is out of commission. There is very little room for error in construction zones, when workers are attempting to repair or construct roads just a few feet from fast-moving traffic. Unfortunately, not all truck drivers take these situations as seriously as they should.

Continue reading "Construction Zone Semi Truck Accident Sends Two to Hospital and Wrecks Big Rigs" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer crash lawyer, I have been following the news about the Oklahoma crash last year that took 10 lives. Donald L. Creed, then 76 years old, was working for Kansas City-based Associated Wholesale Grocers when he crashed his rig into stopped traffic. The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that Creed's acute fatigue was to blame for the crash, the Associated Press has reported. Creed, who has retired from truck driving, recently pleaded guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 10 years of probation. He also faces several lawsuits filed by families of the victims.

Creed suffers from sleep apnea, a disorder that can prevent restful sleep and is unfortunately common among truckers. According to the Associated Press, Creed probably only slept for 5 hours before beginning work at 3 a.m. on the day of the accident. He had just returned from vacation and was no longer in the rhythm of starting work at that hour, so he was probably very tired. By the time of the crash, he had been on the road for over 10 hours. Reports at the time said Creed apparently didn't brake or take evasive action to avoid hitting the stopped traffic, and investigators said he may have been so exhausted that he didn’t even see the traffic stopped ahead of him. His 40,000-lb. truck crashed into a Land Rover and drove over three other vehicles at 70 mph. In all, ten people were killed and several others were injured.

This crash has significance well beyond the families devastated by the loss of their loved ones. The NTSB leveled serious criticism at the trucking industry and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for their failure to implement simple accident-prevention measures that it has been recommending for a decade. In 2001, the NTSB recommended that life-saving warning systems be installed on all heavy trucks. The systems would alert drivers visually and aurally when their trucks come within 350 feet of colliding with another vehicle. Some systems would automatically brake in these situations too, without needing any action by the driver. That way, a truck whose driver is asleep at the wheel could stop before causing an accident. These systems would cost about $1,000-$2,000 per truck, and could prevent a estimated 4,700 accidents and 96 deaths each year. Unfortunately, truck operators are not required to install the systems, and not many have done so voluntarily.

Similarly, the NTSB has been urging the FMCSA to address driver fatigue for 20 years, and the FMCSA has not done so even though 31 percent of all heavy truck crashes are a result of driver fatigue. Ten years ago, the NTSB recommended that trucking companies be required to use fatigue risk management programs. The programs should include screening of truck drivers for sleep apnea, the Board said, so that drivers with the disorder could receive appropriate treatment. But the FMCSA has moved slowly on this recommendation as well. It expects to produce a model risk management program in two years, and the program would not be mandatory for trucking companies.

As a St. Louis semi truck crash lawyer, I work with families who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones in preventable accidents. All of these families want to know why their loved ones had to die, and it is painful to recognize that there is no good reason -- other than that the trucking industry doesn't want to lose profits to regulation. Because the FMCSA and Congress are reluctant to hold trucking companies responsible for being safe, the rest of us have no choice but to drive as defensively as we can. Drivers should also educate themselves about their rights. Even though the rules that truckers must obey are not nearly as stringent as they could be, some truckers still manage to ignore them, including rules about driver fatigue.

Continue reading "Oklahoma Tragedy Prompts NTSB to Fault FMCSA for Not Addressing Driver Fatigue" »

As a Missouri semi truck crash attorney, I was happy to read that fatal accidents are on the decline, and I hope that this trend continues. According to the Kansas City Fox affiliate, the Missouri Department of Transportation says deadly crashes involving semi trucks have decreased by almost half since 2005, from 173 to 88. MoDOT released a report about the decrease in fatal semi truck accidents in honor of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 19 through 25.

MoDOT cites several reasons for this decline. Some of the credit belongs to MoDOT itself for engineering efforts like visibility improvements and rumble stripes that keep drivers in their own lanes. Fatal crashes caused by lane departure fell by more than half in the period under study -- from 136 to 62. Even more promising, there was a particularly steep decline in fatal crashes caused when a vehicle crosses the median of a divided highway and veers into oncoming traffic. Those crashes declined by 85 percent, from 20 to 3.

MoDOT pointed to several other factors that helped to reduce fatal semi truck crashes. Because of the bad economy, both passenger cars and commercial trucks are traveling slightly less. Fewer cars on the road means fewer accidents. And when accidents do occur, emergency response personnel are doing a better job of responding to them. MoDOT says emergency response time has improved in both Kansas City and St. Louis. Tom Crawford, president of the Missouri Trucking Association, added that some of the credit also belongs to professional truck drivers who practice defensive driving and pay attention.

Unfortunately, as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I know that not all truck drivers are as careful as the ones Crawford describes. From the Large Truck Crash Causation Study carried out by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, we know that many fatal accidents involving tractor-trailers result from unsafe and illegal behaviors by truck drivers. Aggressive driving, speeding, tailgating, illegal turns and other maneuvers, and even alcohol use, were involved in many of the accidents under study. Laws and regulations governing how truckers drive and maintenance of their rigs are meant to keep everyone on the road safe. Sadly, some unscrupulous trucking companies and their employees can see laws and regulations as impediments to their profits, and ignore as many of them as they can get away with -- sometimes with tragic results.

In my work with victims of accidents caused by negligent truck drivers, I have seen many families devastated by the physical, emotional, and financial costs of these accidents. Medical costs, funeral costs, replacement of destroyed property such as the family car, and lost income can add up quickly. These financial costs are on top of the physical, emotional and psychological injuries that can come from crashes involving large trucks. Family relationships are often strained by the chaos that can result from the injury or death of a loved one and the stress of long-term medical treatment.

Continue reading "MoDOT Report Says Fatal Tractor-Trailer Crashes Are Declining in Missouri" »

Twenty-six people were injured in a Missouri highway crash involving 18 vehicles, including a semi truck that rear-ended traffic stopped because of thick smoke. A Missouri Highway Patrol officer said that the accident would have been even worse if a second semi truck's driver had not stopped in time to avoid crashing into the other cars. As a Missouri 18-wheeler collision attorney, I commend the driver who was able to avoid worsening an already terrible accident, and I hope that those who were injured recover quickly and easily.

According to KAIT-8, a Jonesboro, Ark., ABC affiliate, the crash occurred in Stoddard County, Mo., near Essex, around noon on Sept. 6. A farmer had been burning trash near some equipment and accidentally caught a field on fire. The thick smoke from the fire left some drivers on nearby U.S. 60 unable to see the road in front of them. Several cars came to a stop as drivers attempted to cope with the smoke, and other vehicles crashed into the motionless cars. A semi truck was among the vehicles that rear-ended the stopped traffic. A second semi truck driver braked hard to avoid the 18-vehicle pileup. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Dale Moreland said that the truck driver “did an excellent job of controlling his truck, maintained it in his lane… [There were] several feet of skid marks, but he stopped before he got to them.”

Four of the 26 injured people suffered serious injuries: Jaclyn King, 18, of Poplar Bluff; Melissa Reeser of St. Louis; and Jackie Chamness, 51, and Lana Chamness, 61, both of Creal Springs. Among the others injured, one victim was as young as three years old. At least two people were airlifted to hospitals in Cape Girardeau and Memphis, and many others were transported by ambulance.

In my view as a St. Louis semi trailer crash lawyer, the only good news about this crash is that seven people involved in it managed to escape injury and that no one was killed. Police had not yet assigned fault in this accident at the time of the news report, but pile-up accidents like this often involve drivers who are following too closely and not paying enough attention to the traffic ahead of them. This is dangerous behavior for any driver, but for semi truck drivers, it’s much more so. Because large trucks weigh so much more than passenger cars, they can do much more damage than would result from a collision of two sedans. That means collisions involving semi trucks often result in grave injuries and death. The detailed regulations for truck drivers that govern their driving habits, the maintenance of their vehicles, and even their mental alertness, are part of state and federal governments’ efforts to keep all drivers on the road safe. Unfortunately, some truck drivers and trucking companies ignore these safety rules for convenience or profit, putting people’s lives at risk.

Continue reading "26 Injured, Four Seriously, in Missouri Pileup Including Truck That Failed to Stop " »

Two recent pileup accidents involving semi trucks snarled traffic for eight hours on Interstate 80 in Illinois. As a southern Illinois tractor trailer crash attorney, I frequently read about accidents like this, and I was especially sad to read that one of these accidents resulted in very serious injuries to a 13-year-old girl and her father. Such accidents should remind all of us of the need to be careful while driving, but people who drive large, heavy trucks have a special responsibility to exercise caution, since their vehicles can do so much more damage than a passenger car can.

At 2:10 p.m. on August 10, the first accident occurred when one semi truck hit another near Utica, Ill. Karolis Bogusas, 28, of Elmhurst, was driving a tractor-trailer that became disabled, so he pulled onto the shoulder. Then, another tractor-trailer driven by Kevin G. Haeffner, 38, of Lincoln, Neb., struck Bogusas's truck and jackknifed. Haeffner's trailer was full of packaged raw beef, which spilled out across the Interstate as the trailer was smashed open by the collision. Haeffner was taken to Ottawa Regional Hospital, treated, and released. Meanwhile, the mess created by that accident left traffic nearly at a standstill.

Just 20 minutes after the first crash and a mile away, another crash occurred, this one with even worse results. Rex Davis, 50, of Montpelier, was driving another semi truck that he plowed into several cars ahead of him, tossing them aside to the center median. The tractor-trailer stopped atop a Pontiac Grand Am, crushing the car flat with 37-year-old Thomas Bolin and 13-year-old Corren Bolin, of Princeton, inside. The father and daughter were severely injured, but thankfully they were not killed. It took rescuers about an hour to extricate the two of them from their flattened car. Then, Corren was rushed to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, Ill. Her father was airlifted to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where Corren was later airlifted. After emergency treatment and surgery, both were listed in critical condition.

News reports about the accident said that the state police were investigating the two crashes and that no citations had been issued as of press time. Even as the investigation goes on, the data presented in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Large Truck Crash Causation Study helps us to think about what could have caused these crashes and how to prevent them in the future. This study found that 29% of fatal crashes in which truck drivers were at fault were attributed to driver distraction and inattention; 23% of truck drivers in the crashes under study were speeding; 9% had made illegal maneuvers; 7% were driving aggressively, 5% were following too closely, and 1% had used alcohol.

Sadly, any error a truck driver makes can have terrible consequences for drivers of smaller vehicles, which cannot protect their passengers from the tremendous force of large, heavy tractor-trailers. That's why there are important rules that truckers are legally required to follow, such as restrictions on the number of hours they can drive before having a rest period, or inspecting the condition of their trucks before setting out on each day's drive. Failure to respect and abide by these rules is not just illegal -- it also puts innocent people's lives at risk, as the study demonstrates.

As a Missouri 18-wheeler crash attorney, I emphasize preventing accidents by being careful on the roads. But when truckers ignore regulations and common sense, that's called negligence. If their negligence causes innocent victims, such as the people in a nearby car, to get hurt or killed in an accident, the victims and their families can hold them legally accountable. Victims hurt in accidents with large trucks often sustain serious injuries that are very expensive to treat and that significantly disrupt their lives. The costs for those injuries and disruptions should come out of the pockets of those who are responsible for their injuries -- the truck driver, his or her employer, and their insurance companies.

Continue reading "Teenage Girl and Her Father Airlifted to Hospital After Semi Truck Accident" »

A fiery crash involving several heavy trucks and an SUV on Interstate 64 in southern Illinois left two people injured, one critically. The crash took place near New Baden, at a scene police described as "absolute chaos." According to Illinois State Trooper Mike Link, the accident happened as traffic slowed down for a construction zone. As a southern Illinois 18 wheeler collision attorney, I have seen many accidents involving semi trucks, like this one, and I am glad that no one was killed in this one. I hope that those who were injured recover quickly and fully.

The accident involved an eighteen-wheeler, a pickup truck hauling a trailer, a U-Haul truck pulling a trailer, a flatbed semi truck and a Chevy SUV. According to WJBD radio, the U-Haul and the pickup truck had slowed or stopped because of the construction zone, and the eighteen wheeler crashed into the U-Haul, smashing it into the pickup. The SUV managed to stop, but the flatbed semi truck rear-ended it and pushed it into the crash. Fire spread through the U-Haul, pickup truck, and eighteen-wheeler. The eighteen-wheeler’s driver was extricated from the wreckage by ten people who pulled him out through the moon roof.

"We had to pull him out through the moon roof cause the semi was trapped on its side," said James Sheppard, a driver who was able to stop before the crash and got out to help. "He was kind of a big guy, so he was hard to get out. He was a little beat up. I think he was conscious. We were able to walk him to the stretcher and he left. He was bleeding."

The truck driver was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville in critical condition, and later moved to St. Louis University Hospital in fair condition. The driver of the flat-bed semi had less severe injuries and was treated and released the same day at St. Elizabeth's. The westbound lanes of I-64, where the crash occurred, were closed for several hours.

As a St. Louis semi trailer crash lawyer, I'm struck by how often preventable accidents like this happen. We don't know why the eighteen-wheeler and flatbed semi drivers crashed into the traffic ahead of them, but as I discussed last week, studies show that crashes like this are often caused by the same few mistakes, such as driving too fast, following too closely, and failing to pay attention. It’s also worth noting that large trucks need longer distances to stop from highway speeds, which may be why the flatbed semi couldn’t stop when the SUV could. It's distressing to think of how many people have been injured and killed because of bad judgments that truckers have made on the road. Trucking industry voices often emphasize that drivers of smaller vehicles need to exercise caution around large trucks, but we don't hear as much commentary from them about their own responsibility to obey the speed limit and avoid tailgating cars ahead of them in traffic.

Continue reading "Truck Driver’s Failure to Stop Ignites Fiery Five-Vehicle Crash in Southern Illinois" »

Two men died in a fiery tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 70 near Highland, Ill., on August 9. As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer crash attorney, I am always distressed to hear about preventable accidents like this one. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the wreckage from the crash was so great that the highway's westbound lanes were closed for more than nine hours. The crash killed truck driver Jerald D. Jaynes, 52, of Seymour, Ind., and his passenger William T. Burleson of Greensburg, Ind. Two other motorists, the drivers of a semi and a pickup truck, were taken to the hospital with injuries. In all, the crash involved three tractor-trailers and the pickup.

Jaynes was driving a tractor-trailer that slammed into a line of traffic stopped for an earlier accident. The crash caused a fire that trapped Jaynes and Burleson inside the rig, killing them at the scene. That crash started a chain-reaction crash involving two other tractor-trailers and a pickup truck. One of the semi truck drivers and the pickup driver were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Highland for treatment of minor injuries. Jason Scott, the driver of the other big rig, was unhurt. He said that he saw the other trucks explode in a fireball and become engulfed in flames. In addition, he said, their tires were exploding, so he was unable to get out and help the other drivers as he had wanted to. Police said that they still weren't sure why Jaynes wasn't able to stop before hitting the traffic in front of him. An investigation is ongoing.

As a St. Louis semi truck wreck lawyer, I have worked on many cases involving semi truck crashes, and they frequently can be attributed to one of a few common causes. In fact, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Large Truck Crash Causation Study looked at the causes of large truck crashes and determined which causes are the most common. Drivers making poor judgments, like driving aggressively or too fast, following too closely, or making illegal maneuvers, accounted for a whopping 38% of large truck crashes. Another 29% of crashes were caused by drivers who were distracted or daydreaming. The many state and federal regulations of truck drivers and trucking companies are meant to minimize these issues by requiring drivers to get enough rest, get training, follow the rules of the road and take care of their vehicles. Failure to do any of these things not only violates regulations, it constitutes negligence, or carelessness that could hurt someone. Unfortunately, 23% of the crashes that the Large Truck Crash Causation Study considered were fatal, and another 29% involved incapacitating injuries.

Continue reading "‘Fireball’ Tractor-Trailer Crash Claims Two Lives in Southern Illinois" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer crash attorney, I've kept up with the news about a horrifying crash that happened last summer in Oklahoma. According to an Aug. 3 article from the Associated Press, the criminal case against the trucker who was allegedly at fault in the accident has been resolved. Donald L. Creed, 77, of Willard, Missouri, was sentenced to 10 years of probation and will serve 30 days in the Ottawa County, Oklahoma, jail for his guilty plea to 10 counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide. Those ten counts represent ten people who were killed in the June 2009 crash near Miami, Oklahoma, not far from the Oklahoma-Missouri border.

In the crash, Creed's tractor trailer slammed into vehicles that had stopped for another accident on Interstate 44. The investigation into the crash did not turn up any evidence that Creed tried to brake or avoid hitting the other vehicles, nor that he was under the influence of alcohol or any other chemical interference with his ability to drive. At the scene, Creed said he thought the other vehicles had driven under his truck, suggesting he was confused or simply not paying attention. For the first year of his probation, Creed will undergo electronic monitoring. He will not be allowed to possess a commercial driver's license either, although he has already retired from his job as a driver for a Kansas City grocery company. At least three families of victims of the crash have filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma court, which was scheduled to be heard in September.

In my experience as a southern Illinois semi trailer accident lawyer, victims sometimes get the sense of closure they need when criminal proceedings end against an at-fault truck driver. No doubt some families also feel that nothing is enough penalty for taking away their loved ones. But, as the news reports about this case suggest, there is more than one avenue that families can take to demand justice for someone injured or killed in a semi truck crash. In civil lawsuits, victims and their families can seek financial compensation from the insurance companies of drivers and their employers. A financial settlement or judgment can't make their lives go back to the way they were before the crash, but it can at least pay for the costs imposed on victims because of the crash -- costs like funeral expenses, medical bills, replacement of destroyed property like the family car, and lost past and future wages. It can also compensate victims for the less tangible costs like diminished quality of life, pain and suffering, and damage to their closest relationships.

Continue reading "Trucker Pleads Guilty to 10 Counts of Negligent Homicide in 2009 Oklahoma Tragedy" »

As a Missouri 18 wheeler collision attorney, I hear about more fatal accidents involving semi trucks than most people. Sadly, a St. Joseph man recently lost his life in such an accident. According to the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Michael A. Hart, 44, died July 14 in an accident caused by a tractor-trailer that pulled in front of his van. The article does not assign blame, but if the police report says the trucker pulled in front of Hart, it’s very likely that that trucker will be assigned the fault for the accident. My sympathies go out to Hart’s loved ones, and I hope they are treated fairly and protected from the worst excesses that trucking insurance companies are capable of.

The article says Hart was driving eastbound on U.S. Highway 36, a mile east of Hamilton, a small town northeast of Kansas City. Dale O. Hazzard, 38, of Gallatin, was driving his 1995 Volvo tractor trailer southbound on Spring Hill Road. According to the police report, Hazzard pulled out in front of Hart's 1989 Chevy van, and the van hit the rear right side of the semi truck. The vehicles became entangled. There was no mention of whether Hazzard was hurt in the crash, or why he pulled onto the highway without stopping for oncoming traffic. A map of the area shows that the roads come together in a T intersection, so Hazzard would have had to slow down to turn from the gravel Spring Hill Road onto Highway 36.

In my work as a St. Louis semi trailer crash lawyer, I have seen far too many crashes that may have been entirely preventable, like this one, because they are caused by careless, negligent behavior. That includes cases where semi truck drivers were distracted by maps or phones, illness, exhaustion from overwork or simply not paying attention. I’ve also seen cases where the driver did everything right, but his or her trucking company failed to maintain the truck and its equipment properly. All of these mistakes can lead to a terrible, sometimes fatal, accident -- and all of them are completely preventable. Because trucks have the potential to cause this type of serious accident, purely based on their size and weight, there are numerous state and federal laws and regulations governing drivers of large trucks.

Truck drivers and their employers are subject to penalties from the state government and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for breaking those rules. But those penalties can’t do much for people who suffered devastating injuries or lost a loved one in a crash, which is why negligent truckers and trucking companies are also liable in any lawsuit filed by trucking accident victims. This means that victims or their survivors can sue truckers and trucking companies for financial compensation, requiring those who caused the harm to pay for it. Financial compensation cannot return the victims' lives to the way they were before the accident, but it can help the victims begin to get their lives back on track by taking care of medical costs, funeral costs, replacement of destroyed property such as the family car and lost past and future wages. It can also compensate them financially for their pain and emotional suffering.

Continue reading "St. Joseph Man Killed After Semi Truck Driver Drove Into His Path on Highway" »

A recent serious accident in southern Illinois involving several vehicles demonstrates how important it is for drivers of heavy trucks such as tractor trailers to use the utmost caution. Fox2 Now reported July 16 that two people were killed and three were hospitalized with injuries in a chain-reaction crash involving four semi trucks on I-57. As a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer, I am also troubled to note that this wreck was probably entirely preventable. Like several other recent tractor trailer accidents, this one allegedly started because several drivers failed to stop in time to avoid hitting traffic sitting on the highway.

The crash took place on I-57 between Benton and West Frankfort in southern Illinois, around 2 p.m. last Thursday. The cause of the accident has not yet been established, but we do know that traffic on the highway was stopped because of a construction zone. WJBD reported that a semi truck driven by Carl Jones, 52, of Florissant, Mo. rear-ended a vehicle stopped in the construction zone, which was pushed into three other vehicles ahead of it. Then Jones's truck was rear-ended by another tractor-trailer, driven by Randy Reynolds, 54, of Herrin, Ill. A third semi truck, driven by Damon Stahlhut, 39, of Marion, Ill, rear-ended Reynolds' truck. Both Stahlhut and Reynolds were hauling asphalt. Reynolds' truck caught fire and the fire spread to Jones' truck. Both Reynolds and Jones lost their lives, but fortunately, the occupants of the other involved vehicles were not seriously injured. I-57's northbound and southbound lanes were closed for about five hours while emergency crews responded to the wreck.

Fox 2 in St. Louis had a video report:
 

In this case, we don't know whether driver distraction, equipment failure, medical issues or something else caused the problems that led to this terrible accident. But we do know that there are now two families who have lost loved ones, and in my experience as a Missouri tractor trailer accident attorney, it's important for these families to protect their rights as victims while the accident investigation takes place and responsibility is assigned. Sorting out crashes involving this many trucks and this many drivers can be very complex, especially because each trucker may be insured separately from his or her trucking company. In addition to being complicated, this can create many opportunities for insurance companies to minimize their liability by violating the victims’ rights. That’s why it’s essential for victims to get help from an experienced attorney as early as possible.

Trucking regulations require trucks to be maintained in good working condition and truckers to be rested, reasonably healthy and careful on the road. As the accident investigation progresses, the police may find that one or more of the truckers or trucking companies involved failed to live up to these obligations. That's why it's important for victims and their families hurt in accidents involving large trucks to talk with an experienced semi truck accident lawyer as soon as possible after the crash. The families of the men killed in this crash may have depended on them for financial support. If someone else's negligence, or failure to be appropriately careful and obey the law, caused their deaths, then the families can sue the negligent parties for financial compensation. This could include compensation for lost income and funeral expenses as well as compensation for the loss of a loved one’s care and companionship. Money cannot restore their lives to the way they were before the accident, but it can at least make it easier for these to move forward.

Continue reading "Southern Illinois Crash Involving Multiple Semi Trucks Kills Two, Hospitalizes Three" »

Last year, I wrote about a horrifying trucking accident that happened in Oklahoma, just over the border from Missouri, last summer. A tractor-trailer driver failed to slow or stop for stalled traffic on the interstate and plowed into a line of cars at 71 mph, killing ten people and injuring at least three more. The driver, 76-year-old Donald Creed, of Willard, Mo., did not appear to slow down or swerve as he approached the stopped cars. Creed was charged with ten counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide, and The Oklahoman reported at the end of June that a plea agreement may be near. Three families of victims who died in the crash have filed a lawsuit to be heard in September, and two of the injured have filed their own lawsuits as well. As a Missouri semi trailer crash attorney, I hope that these legal processes will help the families to heal, even though their lives can never be the same.

Neither side will discuss the terms of the plea agreement, including whether Creed could face any jail time, but Creed's attorney said that discussions with the Ottawa County district attorney are going well. The cause of the crash also remains unclear. Investigators found no mechanical problems, visual obstructions or intoxication that could explain the crash. But The Oklahoman suggests that driver inattention and exhaustion could have contributed to it. Creed had finished a 22-minute phone call just eight minutes before the crash, and he had also been working since 3 a.m. The crash happened at about 1 p.m., and the heat on the road was extreme, measuring between 110 and 115 degrees. Creed told investigators after the crash that he didn't know what had happened, and he thought that the cars he ran over had driven under his truck on their own. It took three to five hours to rescue those who were injured and killed, as traffic stood still for seven hours, backed up for three miles. Highway patrol spokesman Lt. George Brown said it was the worst traffic accident he had ever responded to, and that he couldn’t remember one with a higher death toll.

As a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I will be especially interested to learn about the progress of the lawsuits filed by the victims and their families. Creed has retired in the wake of the accident, which could make some observers wonder how the victims will get any compensation, even if they win. But as a southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident attorney, I know that in a claim like this, any financial compensation typically comes from the driver's insurance company, if any, and the employer's insurance company. In fact, the chance of a serious accident like this is one of the main reasons that drivers and businesses carry liability insurance. The law holds negligent truck drivers and their employers responsible for harm that they cause, and unfortunately, so many preventable accidents occur that liability insurance is a must.

Continue reading "Trucker for Kansas City Company Nears Plea Agreement for Horrific Oklahoma Crash" »

A recent story in the Belleville News-Democrat caught my interest. An 18-wheeler slammed into a guardrail in East St. Louis after its driver lost control of the truck, and several cartons of liquid that the truck was carrying spilled across Interstate 55/70. I am glad that no serious injuries resulted from this accident, but I am very troubled, as a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer, that the trucker was reportedly driving on a suspended or revoked license. Regulations on truckers and trucking companies, such as requiring them to be licensed, are not onerous and exist for the sake of public safety. As this accident shows, flouting these regulations is dangerous to everyone on the roads, including unlicensed or otherwise unsafe drivers.

According to the article, trucker Larry Weissman, 55, of California, lost control of his rig just before midnight on June 24. He was taken in an ambulance to St. Louis University Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Illinois authorities cited him for improper lane usage and driving on a suspended or revoked license. The article did not say what type of liquid Weissman was carrying, but the Environmental Protection Agency and an environmental cleanup company inspected the liquids that spilled across the interstate and determined that they were not hazardous. Even though this crash was minor compared with recent tragic accidents involving semi trailers and multiple cars, traffic on the Interstate had to be diverted and was backed up for several hours.

We don't know from the news report why Weissman's license was revoked or suspended, but generally, driver's licenses are revoked or suspended because of unsafe driving behavior including speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or reckless driving. That makes me wonder, as a southern Illinois tractor trailer crash attorney, whether Weissman was also ignoring other important trucking safety laws. This could incude restrictions on the number of hours that a trucker can drive before having a rest period, or inspecting the condition of his truck before setting out on each day's drive. If he was employed by a trucking company that knew that his driver's license was not in good standing, that company could also be considered negligent -- and it could face administrative or criminal penalties as well as a lawsuit from anyone hurt by its negligence. Putting a potentially dangerous driver in charge of a truck that weighs up to 22 times more than other vehicles on the road risks public safety.

Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt in this accident. But if an innocent victim, such as a motorist in a nearby car, had been hurt or killed, they or their family members would do well to talk to an experienced Missouri 18-wheeler accident attorney to learn about their rights. Negligent truck drivers and their employers do not have the right to ignore the law, and if they do it anyway and other people are hurt, they should be held accountable. Victims of accidents with large trucks often sustain serious injuries that are costly to treat, and the law says those costs should come out of the pockets of those who are responsible for their injuries. That's why the law allows victims to sue negligent truck drivers and the trucking companies that employ them to recover financial compensation. Victims can claim medical costs, pain and suffering, lost quality of life, lost past and future wages, damage or loss of personal property such as a vehicle, and damage to close relationships.

Continue reading "Trucker Driving on Suspended or Revoked License Loses Control of 18-Wheeler" »

As a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawyer, I was dismayed to read about a fatal accident allegedly caused by a semi truck near the border of Illinois and Iowa on Interstate 80. The trucker who allegedly caused the wreck was employed by trucking company VGS Express, which has nearly the worst record of compliance with trucking regulations that any company can have. Possibly as a result, an accident took the life of Abby Lynn Vermeire, 24, just weeks before her wedding. The same accident injured her fiance, Erik Hayek, a passenger, and another driver, Jacob Harris.

According to news reports, Hryhoriy Kozachok, 53, of Brooklyn, N.Y, was driving a semitrailer for VGS Express on I-80 near Davenport, Iowa when police records say he tried to make an unsafe and illegal U-turn from the eastbound to the westbound lanes of the highway. Hayek, 30, and Vermeire, 24, both of Bettendorf, Iowa, were in a car that ran into and then under the 18-wheeler. Their car was then rear-ended by an SUV driven by Harris, 19, of East Moline. Vermeire, the front-seat passenger in the car, was taken to Genesis Medical Center in Davenport and was pronounced dead about 24 hours later. Hayek, who was Vermeire's fiancé, and an unidentified backseat passenger were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Harris was treated and released.

VGS Express has one of the worst records in the country for compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration driver regulations. On a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being the best and 100 being the worst, the FMCSA rates the company a 99.64. Over the last 30 months, VGS violated driver regulations 100 times, including ones regarding log books; driving while disqualified, ill or fatigued; and requirements that drivers speak English. VGS drivers violated regulations far more often than drivers for other companies: 21% of VGS drivers were in violation, compared with 6.6% nationally. The company’s score for vehicle inspection only barely clears a "deficient" rating and is several percentage points higher than the national average, with 72 vehicle violations over the last 30 months. Those problems include failing to secure vehicle equipment, flat tires, defective brakes and broken turn signals, among others. Drivers and vehicles that violate these regulations are taken "out of service," or off the road, until the problems are corrected. Thanks to this accident, the FMCSA will do a compliance audit of the company, reviewing its driver log books, licenses, medical certificates, maintenance records and results of random drug and alcohol tests.

This record suggests that VGS has been given many, many second chances to uphold its legal responsibilities to drive safely and avoid endangering other drivers -- yet it has continued to violate important safety regulations. As a Missouri tractor-trailer crash attorney, I am concerned that the FMCSA is unable to protect the public from negligent truckers and trucking companies. Truckers who violate regulations as frequently as VGS apparently does are choosing to put others in harm's way, and those who get hurt should not have to suffer in silence. Victims like the ones from this accident have had their lives turned upside down through no fault of their own. All of the victims of this accident will have a long road to emotional and physical recovery from this crash, and Hayek has called off his wedding for the most reason imaginable. In addition, the victims will probably see their financial costs mount as they undergo medical treatments, lose income from having to take time away from work and replace their vehicles that were totaled in the crash. It’s only fair to require that those who caused the wreck with their recklessness pay for the costs.

Continue reading "Trucking Company Involved in Death of Bride-to-Be Had Bad Safety Record" »

After last week's semi trailer accident in Mattoon, Ill., I was dismayed to read that a similar accident occurred just two days later in Missouri. In this case, two people were killed south of St. Louis because a semi truck driver took his eyes off the road and did not notice slowing traffic in front of him. As a St. Louis semi trailer crash attorney, I know how tragic the consequences of these accidents often are, and I hope that truckers will do everything that they can to avoid preventable accidents.

According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, a tractor-trailer driver from Texas was driving down I-55 near St. Louis when he took his eyes off the road to look off to the right. The driver admits that he took his eyes off the road. When he looked back at the road, he wasn't able to stop for the traffic slowed in front of him, and his truck barreled into the cars. Cpl. Jeff Wilson of the Missouri Highway Patrol said the semi truck ran over the top of a Ford Focus and dragged it 100 yards, killing Charles Martin, 52, of Perryville, Missouri. Then, the tractor-trailer swerved right and hit more cars, killing Alana McKnight, 28, of Festus. Wilson and a Jefferson County prosecutor said the driver’s inattention may or may not lead to criminal charges. If charges are filed, they would most likely be charges of criminal negligence or reckless driving. Both noted that the comparatively huge size of the truck may or may not influence the decision to file charges. An accident reconstruction team is expected to take two weeks to complete its investigation.

As Wilson pointed out in the article, someone vehicle weighing 80,000 pounds on public roads could put others in great danger -- if he or she doesn't drive with utmost caution. This is why federal and state regulations restrict semi truck drivers from driving unless they are reasonably well rested and their vehicles are in good mechanical condition. Properly followed regulations would keep drivers not meeting these conditions off the road, because anything less is negligent driving. Drivers of trucks that are up to 22 times heavier than other vehicles on the road have a special responsibility to look out for others' safety. As distracted driving becomes an increasingly notorious cause of traffic accidents and fatalities, all drivers should be careful to focus their attention on the road. But truck drivers have a special responsibility to be careful, considering their capacity to do greater damage to others. As this article shows, a semi truck can run over and drag a Ford Focus, but a Ford Focus can't do the same to a semi truck.

Continue reading "St. Louis Area Sees Yet Another Trucking Crash Caused by Distracted Driving" »

As a southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident lawyer, I was saddened to read about a horrible accident near Mattoon, Ill. on Memorial Day. Holiday weekends often involve more tragic accidents than usual because so many people take road trips, and this means that we all have a duty to use extra caution in our holiday travel. Unfortunately, a semi truck driver allegedly was not paying attention as traffic ahead of him slowed down to accommodate road construction, and three people lost their lives.

According to the Champaign News-Gazette, a Louisiana semi truck driver was on Interstate 57 about two miles north of Mattoon when he reportedly looked down to find his map. Traffic ahead of him was slowing because two lanes were merging into one due to road resurfacing, and he didn't realize it until it was too late. His 18-wheeler hit the back of a red Trailblazer in front of him, which was almost stopped, and a chain reaction with eight other vehicles ensued. An SUV that was hit caught fire. Three people in the SUV were killed, and a fourth person was taken to the burn center at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield. At least two of the 13 people hurt in the accident were critically injured. The truck driver was not injured, but was taken to a hospital for intoxication tests. The northbound lanes of the interstate were closed for more than seven hours while dozens of emergency personnel attended to the accident.

The longer I handle cases like this in my work as a Missouri tractor-trailer crash attorney, the more I am dismayed that preventable accidents like this continue to happen. Drivers depend on each other to drive carefully and make good decisions. This is especially true of semi truck drivers, who can kill or catastrophically injure people in smaller vehicles if they simply fail to pay attention. If the initial reports are accurate and the truck driver in this case really had taken his eyes off the road, the driver and his company may be held liable for the injuries, damage and death caused by the accident. Pulling off the road to look for and read the map might have cost the trucker some time, which might not please his employer, but it would have saved lives. It may be that the driver was under pressure to get to his destination quickly, or that he was fatigued from driving for many hours, or that he was not feeling well, and these conditions could have impaired his judgment about what risks were worth taking as he drove. Trucking regulations make it clear that if a driver's ability to be safe on the road is compromised in any way, the driver needs to avoid driving until that condition has been resolved.

It may be a while before the exact cause of the accident has been determined, but it is very important that all the victims contact a St. Louis semi truck collision attorney immediately in order to preserve their rights. In many cases, the trucking company’s insurance company starts working right away to limit its losses by trying to convince victims to accept an unacceptably low amount of compensation. Insurance companies know that victims often aren't aware of their rights, and they exploit this to save money by denying victims the full settlement they are entitled to. In fact, the law allows victims to claim all financial costs related to the accident from the trucker and trucking company that caused them, along with compensation for their injuries, physical and emotional pain and lost quality of life.

Continue reading "Allegedly Distracted Semi Truck Driver Plows Into Slowed Traffic Near Mattoon, Ill." »

The Alton Telegraph reported recently that a semi truck rear-ended a school bus full of special needs children from the Alton School District recently in East Alton, Ill. The children were taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure. I am glad that no one appears to have been seriously hurt in this accident. As a southern Illinois tractor trailer crash lawyer, I know how easily the outcome could have been much worse. This accident underscores how important it is for tractor-trailer drivers to carefully watch traffic ahead of them, as they are legally and ethically required to do.

The truck driver, Russell Farmer, 58, of Jerseyville, rear-ended the First Student bus just before 9 a.m. The bus had stopped at the railroad crossing near the intersection of Illinois Route 3 and St. Louis Avenue, as it was legally required to do. Luckily, none of the six students on board were injured, but a teacher's aide complained of back pain after the crash. She and the students were taken to Alton Memorial Hospital for evaluation, after being transferred to another bus with a paramedic on board. The back window of their original bus was cracked by the big rig's impact, and bus company officials felt that students should be moved to a new bus to prevent their breathing any exhaust fumes. Farmer was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I would like to point out how lucky everyone involved in this crash was. Over the last year, I've written about other big rig rear-endings that have resulted in serious injuries and deaths, caused by the tractor-trailer's enormous weight and force. Loaded semi trucks are heavier than a school bus carrying six children, and semi trucks can weigh up to 22 times more than a typical car. That's why 98% of fatalities in car-truck collisions are the deaths of people in the cars. That's also why there are federal and state laws regulating trucks and truck drivers. Tractor-trailers have tremendous potential to harm others on the roads, and their drivers need to follow the rules carefully to make sure that others stay safe. Failing to pay attention to traffic conditions, and thus failing to stop in time to avoid hitting stopped vehicles, is very likely to be interpreted in court as negligent driving.

Innocent people harmed by a truck driver's negligence can require the truck driver, and possibly the truck driver's employer, to pay for the harm that the negligence caused. For example, the teacher's aide who was suffering back pain immediately after the crash could suffer long-term chronic pain, even with medical treatment. Truckers' insurance companies know that crash-related injuries can do this, even getting worse as time goes on, so some try to get victims to sign away their rights to sue, in exchange for far less compensation than they may be entitled to. That practice could leave a victim with chronic pain on the hook for expensive medical treatments for years after she receives a pittance from the insurance company. If the victim doesn’t have good health insurance, he or she could end up suffering, without the financial resources to get the treatment necessary to lead a full and pain-free life.

Continue reading "School Bus With Special Needs Kids Rear-Ended by Semi Truck in Southern Illinois" »

Last week, I wrote about the death of a young man killed by a wheel that came flying off a semi truck on Interstate 70 in St. Louis. Now that an investigation into the accident has been completed, the Missouri Highway Patrol say that equipment failure caused the accident and no charges will be filed against the truck driver. This finding is of interest to me as a St. Louis tractor trailer accident attorney because it shows how important it is to maintain semi trucks well in order to keep all drivers on the roads safe.

The Missouri Highway Patrol reports that the equipment failure leading to the accident was caused by a mechanic's failure to tighten the bolts of the semi truck's wheels properly when working on them earlier. The accident that took the life of Brandon Haskin, 24, of St. Peter's, occurred when lug nuts on the rear axle of a semi truck came loose and allowed two wheels to fly off. One of those tires crashed through Haskin's windshield as he was driving on the other side of the interstate in morning rush hour traffic. He died at the scene. Another driver, Jamie Duboise, 26, of O'Fallon, suffered moderate injuries when Haskin's SUV struck her sedan. The tractor-trailer driver, Wayne Knickmeyer, 48, of Wentzville, was not hurt. Knickmeyer will not face charges related to this accident. The article didn’t note whether the mechanic who failed to tighten the bolts, or Knickmeyer’s trucking company, could face criminal charges.

The Missouri Highway Patrol's finding that equipment failure caused this accident raises many questions about how the equipment failure happened. Many different parties bear legal responsibility to make sure that semi trucks are safe on the roads. Recognizing the disproportionately large damage that tractor-trailers can do to other, smaller vehicles, federal regulations require truck drivers to inspect their vehicles to ensure that they are properly maintained before getting on the road. Failure to notice a serious safety defect could make the trucker liable for any accident it causes. Trucking companies may also be liable, because they must see that their mechanics, drivers and other employees are properly trained and perform their work adequately. And manufacturers of truck parts -- like bolts, lug nuts, wheels, and tires -- can also bear responsibility. If the bolts that came loose were defective, for example, the company that manufactured them could be liable for damage caused when they failed.

Knowing this, as a Missouri semi truck crash attorney, I doubt that the Missouri Highway Patrol's decision not to bring charges against Knickmeyer will be the end of this case. The victims and their families will be picking up the pieces of their lives for a long time to come. They most likely have already incurred expenses for funeral costs, medical treatments and lost wages, and there will probably be more costs to come, including auto repair or replacement. The victims could sue those responsible for these costs as well as lost quality of life and pain and suffering. Financial compensation cannot turn back the clock and restore their lives to the way they were before the accident, but it can at least make it easier for the victims to move forward.

Continue reading "Equipment Failure Cited in Missouri Semi Truck Accident Caused by Falling Wheel" »

Last week, I discussed a lawsuit filed because of an accident caused by a wheel that detached from a semi truck and crashed into the semi truck directly behind it. The driver whose truck was hit by the wheel is suing, claiming that he suffered permanent, severe injuries. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that another accident like this has occurred, with an even worse outcome. A 24-year-old man was killed when a semi truck tire smashed through his windshield on Interstate 70 near McKelvey Road in St. Louis, during morning rush hour. The Missouri Highway Patrol said that two wheels came off a semi truck when the lug nuts on its rear axle came loose. As a St. Louis eighteen wheeler crash attorney, I am always saddened to hear of preventable accidents like this, and I offer my condolences to those who were hurt.

The accident occurred when Brandon Haskin, 24, of St. Peters, was driving his 2003 Dodge Durango east on I-70 at about 8:30 a.m. on May 3. Wayne Knickmeyer, 48, of Wentzville, was going west on I-70 in a 2008 Volvo tractor-trailer. Two wheels came off of the Volvo, and one of them bounced over the median wall and crashed through the windshield of Haskin's SUV. The Durango then hit Jamie Duboise's 1994 Nissan Altima. Duboise, 26, of O'Fallon, suffered moderate injuries. Knickmeyer was not hurt. Haskin, described by his grandmother as a young entrepreneur who loved fishing and his dog, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, Knickmeyer said that his truck had recently been serviced. Investigators planned to inspect the truck, but did not plan to bring charges against Knickmeyer.

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, it seems to me that there are a lot of unanswered questions about this unfortunate situation. First, how recently was the semi truck inspected? Truck drivers are legally required to inspect their rigs every single day before they drive, to ensure that they won't pose a threat to other drivers on the road. If they don't complete a thorough inspection each time they get ready to drive, and someone gets hurt as a result of their carelessness, they can be held legally and financially responsible. This inspection procedure may be more than is required of drivers of cars, but that's because truckers drive many, many more miles than the average car driver does each day. Large trucks that malfunction are also much more dangerous than rickety cars, because they are so much heavier and more forceful. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, part of the federal Department of Transportation, about 80% of those killed in two-vehicle accidents involving large trucks are people inside a smaller vehicle. There's just no real defense for a car or motorcycle occupant in the face of an 80,000-pound truck -- or even just one of its wheels.

Continue reading "Wheel Falling From Big Rig on Highway Kills St. Louis Man in Morning Traffic" »

A recent story about a semi truck accident lawsuit seeking more than $600,000 caught my eye, as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer crash lawyer, in part because it is a claim filed by one trucker against another trucker and his trucking company. The lawsuit was filed as the result of a tractor trailer accident in which a wheel came off of a semi truck and collided with another semi driving behind it. The driver of the second truck, Regis J. Jennings, alleges that the first truck's driver, Lawrence C. Haas, was inexperienced and poorly trained. Jennings and his wife, Sharon Bricker, seek compensation from Haas and Haas's employer, C. Grantham Co., for Jennings's allegedly severe and permanent injuries.

According to the Madison-St. Clair Record, Jennings and Bricker claim that on April 28, 2008, Haas was driving an 18-wheeler north on Illinois Route 127 in Bond County for C. Grantham Co. Jennings was behind Haas in his own semi truck. A wheel on Haas's truck came off and "came into violent contact with the front and underside of the semi-truck driven by the Plaintiff," Jennings and Bricker claim. They maintain that Haas and C. Grantham Co. failed to train Haas, or to properly inspect Haas's truck. They also allege that Haas was driving too fast, given the wheels' condition. Jennings seeks compensation for his medical costs and lost wages, pain and suffering, and loss of his ability to attend to his daily tasks and to conduct his professional life in the way he had been able to prior to being injured. Bricker seeks compensation for Jennings's medical costs; damage to her and her husband's quality of life together; and loss of the benefits of their marital relationship.

The Madison-St. Clair Record does not describe the defendants' response to these claims, and it's possible that Haas and his employer were not at fault. But this story is important because it illustrates vividly the kind of legal action victims of big rig crashes can take to help themselves when they are hurt by no fault of their own. As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I know how deeply accidents like this can affect victims' lives. The serious consequences of tractor-trailer accidents are why there are detailed laws and regulations concerning truck drivers' and trucking companies' responsibilities to ensure public safety. For example, every day before driving, truck drivers are required to inspect the last safety report on their vehicles, and then inspect the vehicle again from top to bottom to be sure that it is in safe operating condition and good working order. The driver is also required to sign the report to show that he or she personally was aware of the vehicle's condition upon beginning work. Failure to thoroughly inspect the vehicle could constitute negligence, meaning that the driver did not do his or her duty to keep other drivers safe. This is what Jennings and Bricker allege in their suit.

Continue reading "Trucker and Trucking Company Sued for Alleged Negligence in Truck Maintenance" »

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I've written several posts here about the fatal trucking accident that took place on Highway 40 here in St. Louis in July of 2008. Fourteen people were injured and three were killed when a tractor-trailer driven by Jeffrey R. Knight, 51, of Muscle Shoals, AL, plowed into stopped traffic at the beginning of rush hour. Knight said he had had been reaching for his cell phone and allegedly failed to notice traffic conditions in front of him. He was charged about a year ago with three counts of involuntary manslaughter. Now, almost two years after the crash, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Knight has pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and was allowed to go free. He was sentenced to one year for each death, to be served concurrently, and freed because of credit for the 371 days he had already spent in jail.

The crash killed Lydia Miller, 55, of Canton, Alvin Mast, 88, of Kahoka, and Charles "Keith" Cason, 55, of Caseyville. Miller and Mast were members of the Amish community who were heading to a funeral with the help of a hired driver; Cason was a copier salesman. Four of Cason’s relatives attended Knight’s sentencing, and prosecutors say the one-year sentence was settled on with the agreement of victims’ families. One of the 14 people injured was Mark Tiburzi, who was severely brain damaged by the crash and is unable to walk or talk. His wife, Cheryl Tiburzi of St. Peters, said she didn’t know the sentencing was happening and didn’t know what to think. Mark Tiburzi now lives in a nursing home where he can get the 24-hour care he now needs. The Tiburzis were awarded $18 million in a lawsuit against Knight and his former trucking company, Holmes Transport, Inc., but Cheryl Tiburzi says she doesn’t expect to see any of that money. Other families had filed their own claims against Knight and Holmes Transport.

As a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I know that avoidable accidents involving driver distraction and inattention like this one are unfortunately quite common. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Large Truck Crash Causation Study attributes 29% of fatal crashes in which truck drivers were at fault to driver distraction and inattention. This is true of smaller passenger cars as well; in fact, the federal Department of Transportation has made distracted driving a centerpiece of its traffic safety efforts over the past year. Sadly, it is all too common for any error by a truck driver to have terrible consequences for drivers of smaller vehicles, which cannot protect people from the tremendous force that large, heavy tractor-trailers wield in a crash. As a truck driver, Knight had a legal responsibility to live up to a higher standard than drivers of passenger cars do, because his mistakes had much worse repercussions.

Continue reading "Trucker in Massive Highway 40 Accident Pleads Guilty to Causing Three Deaths" »

Last month, I wrote about an accident in which a young southern Illinois couple suffered a devastating trucking accident on their wedding night. Their car collided with a grain truck that pulled out in front of them, leaving Kelli Wisneski, 20, paralyzed from the chest down. Her new husband, Chad Wisneski, 20, suffered seven shoulder fractures in the accident. The Belleville News-Democrat published a follow-up article about the Wisneskis on April 11 discussing Kelli Wisneski’s problems getting access to good medical care. On top of the debilitating health problems that she now suffers because of the accident, Kelli cannot find a doctor to help her stay current on the eighteen prescription medications she needs. As a southern Illinois semi truck crash attorney, I believe this article shows how important money can be for victims of very serious accidents.

According to the article, the eighteen primary care doctors Kelli has tried to see have rejected her as a patient, in part because she relies on Medicaid for her care. Medicaid rules require patients like her to use a primary care doctor to obtain prescriptions. But the Wisneskis have found it nearly impossible to find a doctor for Kelli, in part because doctors don’t want to deal with the paperwork that her Medicaid health coverage entails, or accept its payments, which are low compared with private insurance. They also don't want to handle her case because it’s so complicated. As a result, Kelli actually ran out of medicines she had been legally prescribed and can pay for. That includes a blood pressure pill that keeps her from passing out due to her paralysis, as well as pain medication that gives her relief from constant back and shoulder pain and lets her sleep. Generous members of their southern Illinois community have helped, but they had not found a long-term solution as of the article’s publication.

Accidents involving large trucks often involve serious harm, as I know all too well from my work as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer. Very few people confronted with a devastating injury think first about money, but it’s vitally important for helping people with new disabilities ensure that they’ll be taken care of. The article notes that Kelli spent months in the hospital and in a rehabilitation clinic. Now, Kelli's mother and Chad share the 24-hour-a-day job of caring for Kelli, who needs help with eating, bathing, and other basic functions. All of this costs the family money and time, including time they could spend at work. In cases like this, someone like Kelli and her family may be able to sue an at-fault truck driver, and the company that employed the driver, to pay for medical bills, caregiving, a lifetime of lost wages and other costs. They can also recover compensation for living with a permanent disability, physical pain, emotional suffering and other losses.

Continue reading "Woman Paralyzed by Truck Accident Cannot Find Doctor Who Will Accept Medicaid" »

Illinois drivers on the Dan Ryan Expressway must have seen quite a mess after a recent crash involving two semi trucks and a car. A full-size semi truck was unable to slow down enough for traffic ahead of it, and rear-ended a flatbed semi in front of it. The collision pushed the flatbed tractor-trailer into a passenger car in front of it. One of the tractor-trailers caught fire. A woman and three men were hurt and taken to hospitals. Two were in serious to critical condition and two in good to fair condition. The good news is that none of the injuries were considered life-threatening and no one was burned by the truck fire. As a southern Illinois semi truck crash attorney, I have seen many cases where crash victims were not so lucky. In 2006, accidents involving large trucks killed 157 people in Illinois.

The full size semi truck's driver was cited for following too closely. It is especially disheartening to me, as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer, to learn that this truck driver was driving so carelessly given the hefty responsibility that comes with operating a vehicle that can do massive damage. As I noted last week, crashes involving semi trucks that hit cars usually hurt the occupants of the car far more than the truck driver. All drivers should know that a safe following distance is necessary on the road, but truck drivers should be even more aware. It takes more time and distance to stop such a heavy and unwieldy vehicle. This is why truck drivers are required to undergo training and acquire special licenses to drive their vehicles. The greater danger posed by large trucks is also why there are more regulations that apply to them than to car drivers.

Even though their injuries are not life-threatening, the people who were hurt in this accident may have a long recovery from their injuries. They may lose income temporarily or even permanently if their injuries leave them unable to work. Even if they are able to work, they may still be financially hurt by the accident because of the high cost of medical care. Crash victims who have health insurance still have to come up with the money for co-pays, which can add up quickly over the course of numerous appointments and procedures. Those who do not have health insurance may face staggering medical costs. Since the police have already cited the truck driver for following too closely, I suspect that with the help of a Missouri big rig crash lawyer, the victims of this accident could hold that driver legally responsible for the accident and therefore for their injuries. In this way, the victims could recover costs for their medical treatments and procedures, lost wages, repair or replacement of their damaged vehicles, and compensation for pain and suffering. It's only fair that those responsible for hurting others make it right. It’s also the law in both Illinois and Missouri.

Continue reading "Four Injured When Two Big Rigs and One Car Crash on Illinois Expressway" »

The Belton Star-Herald recently published fifteen photos of a serious semi truck accident near Belton, Missouri. Miraculously, no one was killed in the chain-reaction crash involving several vehicles, but there were multiple injuries requiring the help of many emergency personnel, and the cars involved were mangled beyond repair.

As a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I paid close attention to the description of how the accident occurred, offered by the news article that accompanied the photos. Crashes like this often happen for specific reasons, like distracted or fatigued driving. The article reports that the tractor-trailer's driver lost control of his vehicle in slowing traffic and swerved to try to avoid the cars in front of him. Instead, the semi hit the rear of a car in front of it, and initiated a chain reaction among several cars. The truck crossed the median into oncoming traffic, with its trailer dragging a small car along with it and smashing it into the guardrail.

Accidents like this often have much more dire consequences, and I am glad that everyone survived. One woman, Mindy Osborn of Peculiar, Missouri, was reported to have serious injuries, and was airlifted to a local hospital. One man, Adam Moennig, also of Peculiar, had moderate injuries and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Another woman, Melissa McClay of Raymore, went to the hospital with minor injuries, and two men, Mark Vogt of Peculiar and Jose Valentin of Laredo, Texas, were not injured. The fact that Valentin, the driver of the tractor-trailer, was not injured underscores an important outcome that I encounter frequently in my work as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer crash attorney: when semi trucks crash into cars, those cars and their drivers bear far more serious injuries and damage than trucks do, because of their vast weight discrepancy. A loaded semi truck can weigh more than 22 times as much as the average car, so the force with which it slams into a car is far more devastating than an accident between two or more cars of similar weight.

Because 18-wheelers pose a greater hazard on the road than cars do, truck drivers have a responsibility to exercise especially great care. Although the Belton Star-Herald article doesn't provide a lot of detail, it does say that the driver lost control of his truck as he approached slowing traffic. This suggests that he might have been distracted by something inside the truck, or simply not paying close enough attention to notice traffic conditions ahead of him. Large, heavy trucks require extra time and distance to stop safely, so semi drivers have to pay close attention to traffic conditions in order to drive safely. Alternatively, perhaps his truck was not in adequate repair mechanically, making him unable to stop in time because he or the trucking company failed to maintain the truck. This is all speculation, but these are unfortunately common causes of serious big rig accidents.

When people are seriously injured in tractor-trailer accidents through no fault of their own, it is important that they consult a St. Louis semi truck accident lawyer right away. Drivers seriously injured by semi trucks are likely to run up huge bills in their medical treatment, possibly beyond the maximum coverage provided by their health insurance plans if they have them. They can also lose income if they are out of work while they are recovering from their injuries. Other expenses pile up after a serious accident too, like replacement of the car that was wrecked. All trucking companies know this, because accidents are a routine part of their work. Some of the most unscrupulous companies do their best to limit their financial payouts by pressuring accident victims to sign a waiver or take an inadequately small settlement, which eliminates their right to later sue for a fair settlement.

Continue reading "Out of Control Missouri Semi Truck Causes Chain Reaction Crash " »

The severe winter weather we've experienced here in Missouri has caused some dangerous road conditions. As a Missouri trucking accident attorney, this story about deaths on the road in our neighboring state of Kansas reminds me of the need for truck drivers to be especially careful during winter storms. Over one late February weekend, a couple lost their lives in a road accident involving semi trucks and icy roads. Kenneth and Diane Brown died after their car skidded on an icy bridge and was struck by a tractor-trailer in Marion County, Kansas, outside Kansas City.

It’s not clear whether this accident could have been avoided if the trucker had been driving slowly and safely for the road conditions, and allowing a safe following distance. But even most trucking companies would agree that missing a deadline due to cautious driving or pulling over in dangerous conditions is better than loss of life on the roads, especially with the dangerous weather we've experienced in Missouri this winter. We don't know whether the Browns were going too fast for the road conditions when their car skidded, but drivers of 18-wheelers have a greater responsibility to watch out for others on the road. Tractor-trailers cause much more damage to cars and their passengers than the other way around because semis weigh up to 22 times as much as cars. Trucking companies have an obligation to hire safe and experienced drivers, but they sometimes choose to overlook drivers' prior traffic citations, or even license suspensions, in favor of moving cargo as cheaply as possible.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Kills Kansas Couple Whose Car Skids on Icy Bridge" »

A recent article from the Belleville News-Democrat caught my eye as a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident attorney. The Feb. 16 article is about Kelli and Chad Wisneski, both 20, who were involved in a serious accident with a grain truck on the night of their Nov. 22 wedding. The crash left Kelli paralyzed from the chest down and in need of major medical care, including 18 kinds of medication. She and her husband spent their wedding night at St. Louis University Hospital, from which she was discharged Feb. 9. Now, they’re living with Kelli’s parents in Freeburg, and are planning a fundraiser to help the family build an addition to accommodate Kelli’s electronic wheelchair.

Neither the bride nor the groom remembers much about the night of the accident. They were traveling down Illinois 15 to Chad’s parents’ house when they hit a grain truck pulling out from a field. Both passed out and awoke calling for one another. Chad was originally ticketed for failure to slow down, but that ticket was dropped. Neither of them was drinking. The article didn’t say what role the truck’s driver played, or whether he or she was injured in the crash. Kelli had just quit a job as a bartender and Chad worked as a roofer, but has been laid off. Both had planned to go to school in Missouri before the accident, but now they’re working on Kelli’s health. The family is waiting for Medicaid payments to begin, but in the meantime, they have only enough medication for two weeks.

I see avoidable tragedies like this more often than most, through my work as a Missouri semi truck accident lawyer. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for trucking accident victims to leave the scene with permanent, lifelong injuries. And, like Kelli Wisneski, these victims often end up on shaky financial footing due to their very high medical bills, with no health insurance to cover them and no hope of going back to work and earning an income. The article isn’t clear about fault for the crash, but victims may sue at-fault truck drivers and their trucking companies for all of the injuries and financial costs they caused. Of course, this is far from an adequate compensation for having your health and your dreams snatched away in an instant. But it can help trucking accident victims get medical care and support themselves financially as they learn to live with a new disability.

Continue reading "Grain Truck Accident Paralyzes Young Woman on Her Wedding Night" »

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident attorney, I continue to follow the news about the fallout from the 2008 Interstate 40 crash. In that accident, trucker Jeffrey Knight plowed his semi truck into a line of stopped cars, leaving three dead and 15 injured, some permanently. Knight told investigators he was reaching for his cell phone at the time, which eventually led police to charge him with three counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter. He has been held in St. Louis County jail since April of last year. Now, according to a Jan. 29 post the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Crime Beat blog, trial for the involuntary manslaughter charges has been scheduled for June.

Knight was driving a load of scrap metal when he approached a line of stopped cars near the junction with Interstate 270. He failed to slow or stop in time, running into or over ten vehicles before stopping. The accident killed Charles “Keith” Cason, of Caseyville, 55; Lydia Miller of Canton, 55; and Alvin Mast of Kahoka, 88. Miller and Mast were Amish and had hired a driver to bring them to a funeral in Tennessee. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Knight had a clean driving record and didn’t seem to be using drugs and alcohol. However, in its report, the patrol said Knight admitted that he had been reaching for his phone and opening it just before the accident, opening him to distracted driving charges. If convicted on all three counts, he faces up to 12 years in prison.

This was a terrible, avoidable accident. But as a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I hope that we can at least use it as an example of why it’s so important for truck drivers to avoid driving distractions. Every driver should avoid distractions behind the wheel, of course, and public safety campaigners are starting to acknowledge that. But truck drivers are in charge of machines many times the size and weight of a passenger car, and that means they can do much more damage in a crash. For example, if Knight had been driving an ordinary sedan in this crash, it’s unlikely that he would have been able to hit ten vehicles or harm 18 people. Truck drivers are well aware of this greater danger, and I hope that means they also feel a greater responsibility to drive safely.

Continue reading "Summer Trial Set for Truck Driver in Massive Interstate 40 Semi Truck Crash" »

A serious truck accident happened in our St. Louis semi truck accident attorneys’ own backyard Feb. 1. According to an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a truck ran off the road and overturned around 9:15 a.m. that day. No other vehicles were involved in the one-truck accident, but a fuel tank ruptured, causing an explosion visible that the East St. Louis Fire Department safely put out. Emergency workers spent an hour getting the truck’s driver, 35-year-old Ladon A. Trigg of St. Louis, out of his truck’s cab. He was hospitalized at St. Louis University Hospital, with injuries described as serious when emergency workers helped him away from the scene.

According to the Illinois State Police, Trigg was driving a Freightliner Truck Tractor laden with trash when he crashed his truck just east of where I-64 meets Interstates 55 and 70. They said he took the curve too fast, causing him to run off the side of the road, hit a guardrail and overturn. Illinois law enforcement may charge him with a traffic infraction or a crime. Although the injuries were not extensive, the crash shut down the eastbound side of the highway until about 3:30 and the eastbound I-64 ramp until at least 6 p.m. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came to the scene to help Illinois officials dispose of the spilled diesel and hydraulic equipment. A witness told the newspaper that he saw a smoke ball to into the air and that the cab was caved in.

As a southern Illinois tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I’m glad that no more injuries were reported, and wish Trigg the best luck in his recovery. Given that the crash happened at 9:15 a.m., around the end of morning rush hour, it could easily have hurt random innocent southern Illinois commuters -- or even killed them. In fact, the fact that no other motorists were involved is also a bit of luck for Trigg and the trucking company that employs him. The article doesn’t give a final ruling on the cause of the crash, but it does say the Illinois state police believe Trigg crashed because he took the curve too fast. If this is the case, he, and possibly his employer, would have been legally responsible for any injuries or deaths that could have resulted.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Explosion Shuts Down Interstate 64 in Southern Illinois" »

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was disappointed to see that Kansas City suffered a major multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35 last weekend. A three-year-old died and at least six other people were seriously injured in a crash involving 30 vehicles, the Kansas City Star reported Jan. 16. The crash took place at around 7:40 a.m. near Wellsville, Kansas, and stretched disabled vehicles for a mile down the highway. The vehicles involved included multiple semi trucks, including some that hit other semis as well as trucks that hit passenger cars. More than 17 people altogether went to at least four hospitals in the region.

At least some blamed the crash on thick fog that settled over the highway. Cathy Jankovich said visibility was almost nil past the headlights of the vehicle her son-in-law was driving, even though other drivers were passing him. The exact cause of the pileup wasn’t known, but authorities said the chain reaction began with an accident involving a tow truck. Of the thirty vehicles involved, nineteen were involved in the largest crash, including six tractor-trailers. Another crash involved six vehicles. Crash survivor Mike McRoberts told the newspaper that he and his brother raced to get out of their pickup truck after it hit two vehicles. That’s when they saw an out-of-control 18-wheeler approaching and ran for their lives. They dodged the truck, but it hit another semi “and just bent in half.”

As a St. Louis trucking accident lawyer, I wonder how much effect the weather had on this terrible accident. The newspaper’s description suggests that conditions may not have been safe for any driver -- but that may be particularly true for the truckers. Under federal law, commercial truck drivers have a special duty to use “extreme caution” in hazardous weather conditions, including heavy fog, snow or ice that limits visibility and traction. This is above and beyond the ordinary standard of care that applies to all drivers. Federal safety laws like these are made in part because large trucks can do severe damage to smaller vehicles in a crash, beyond what another car might do. Unfortunately, they’re also necessary because trucking companies and their drivers have a financial incentive to disregard safety and drive through bad weather.

Continue reading "Thirty-Vehicle Pileup Outside Kansas City Leads to Multiple Truck Crashes" »

An unusual article in the Alton Telegraph caught my eye as a southern Illinois trucking accident attorney. According to the Dec. 18 article, a witness to a fatal crash between a car and a tractor-trailer called the newspaper to dispute the official law enforcement account, which put the blame on the driver of the car. Joshua Headrick, 19, was killed Dec. 17 when he proceeded straight through an intersection and into a semi truck turning left into a quarry. The resulting crash caused an explosion that killed Headrick. The truck jackknifed, but its unidentified driver was not injured.

Walters is a member of the Madison County Board, executive director of the Southern Illinois Industrial Association and a former insurance claims adjuster. He said he was waiting to make a left turn when Headrick drove by in his side of the road, then hit the left-turning truck. Both men had green lights, said Walters, but he was waiting to make sure traffic was clear before turning. Walters said Headrick was driving five to ten mph above the speed limit, but that this was not unusual for the area. And two other trucks in line to turn didn’t move, Walters said, suggesting that they didn’t have a green arrow. Under those circumstances, he told the Telegraph, “It was completely the truck’s fault[.]” However, the Alton Police Department initially assigned the blame to Headrick based on other witness accounts. The police department declined to comment.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I think this is powerful evidence that things are more complicated than they may initially have seemed to the police. I would be interested to know who the other witnesses are who implicated Headrick for the crash, and what their angles of vision might have been. The issue of who was at fault for the accident is important, because if police decide the truck driver was at fault after all, there will be important financial consequences for both parties. Not only could the truck driver face professional consequences, but Headrick’s family could have a strong claim in any lawsuit they choose to pursue. Depending on the circumstances, the truck driver, his or her trucking company and even the quarry could all be held legally and financially responsible for this terrible crash.

Continue reading "Witness to Fatal Semi Accident Disputes Official Account That Blames Car's Driver" »

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about a potentially quite serious accident in Kansas City, involving a tanker truck that overturned and spilled hydrochloric acid all over a bridge. As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I was surprised to see that another truck has overturned in the same spot -- the Paseo Bridge over the Missouri River. According to a Dec. 14 article from the Kansas City Star, the truck was carrying soybean meal that spilled across the highway, causing the road to be closed between 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 14 and 1:30 a.m. the next morning. No injuries were reported, but the driver of the truck was cited for driving too fast. Initial reports that the semi was leaking gasoline were not substantiated.

Television station KCTV followed up Dec. 15 with a report looking for reasons for the two crashes. Missouri Department of Transportation officials blamed excessive speed for both crashes. They reiterated that warning in an interview with the station, saying the bridge is easy to navigate if drivers stick to posted speed limits. However, the bridge is also currently under construction, which means drivers also have to contend with workers, equipment, detours and lane closures. Drivers interviewed for the piece said the construction was sometimes confusing; one driver added that the downhill slope at the end of the bridge didn’t seem safe. Some said they prefer to avoid the bridge altogether, which means detouring to bridges to the north and south, some far out of the way and none attached to an interstate highway.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I suspect that both MoDOT and the drivers are right. Speeding isn’t a factor in truck accidents as often as it is in accidents involving passenger cars. But when truckers do speed, they can do far more damage, simply because their vehicles weigh up to 100 times more than the average import economy car. That weight matters not only in a collision, but also in a curve, because it makes it easier for trucks to turn over like these two did. And because there is construction on the bridge right now, drivers must slow down even more than usual. They must also be extra careful about their route and lanes, which may have changed because of the construction, and keep an eye out for people and equipment. Drivers who use the bridge regularly, and professional truck drivers, may be lulled into a false sense of a security by their experience -- but failure to take extra care under these conditions can easily cause a crash.

Continue reading "Second Semi in Three Weeks Overturns on KC Bridge, Prompting Speed Concerns" »

Our Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers noted a particularly dangerous accident that happened in Kansas City just after the Thanksgiving long weekend. The Kansas City Star reported Nov. 30 that a tanker truck crashed on Interstate 35 at 7 a.m. that day, causing a rollover and a spill of its contents -- hydrochloric acid. The newspaper said the crash spilled up to 400 gallons of acid across the highway’s Paseo Bridge construction site, causing a toxic hazard that closed the road in both directions and put a nearby business on lockdown. At least 11 people reportedly went to the hospital, although no serious injuries were reported.

According to the Star, police said the driver of the truck was probably going too fast for the stretch of highway, which is part of a construction zone. The truck hit a concrete barrier and overturned, spilling acid from its tank. Hydrochloric acid has many uses in industrial processing, but corrodes human tissue and can produce toxic gas when mixed with common substances like bleach. To control this danger, the city threw down sand and dirt to stop the spreading puddle, following up with a special truck to siphon it away. It also had to call in a special road crew to repair holes the acid had eaten into the highway. The nearly Isle of Capri casino closed down its climate-control system and went on lockdown to minimize the risk of injury to staff and customers. Nonetheless, eleven people went to hospitals complaining of eye, nose and throat irritation, including the truck’s driver, two police officers and a construction worker.

As a St. Louis tanker truck accident attorney, I’m grateful that the damage was not worse. The federal government considers hydrochloric acid a toxic substance. Direct contact with human skin causes chemical burns that can lead to permanent damage if the exposure is strong enough. Contact with the fumes is even more dangerous, leading to death, circulation problems or permanent organ damage in high concentrations; or burning eyes, nose and throat in lesser concentrations. If the spill had gone differently, or the city had not been able to respond so quickly, everyone in the area would have been at risk for these serious injuries. And because law enforcement suspects that speed was the cause of the crash, the trucker -- and probably his trucking company -- would have been held responsible for those injuries.

Continue reading "Kansas City Police Blame Speed for Trucking Accident That Spilled Acid on Highway" »

As a Missouri trucking accident attorney, I was disappointed to read about an accident last week that took the lives of two members of Missouri’s Amish community. The St. Joseph News-Press reported Nov. 12 that three people died and four others were injured in a crash caused by a grain truck that lost a wheel outside of the northwestern Missouri town of Jamesport. The grain truck’s driver, David Leeper, 51, managed to steer the truck to the edge of the road, but a minivan following it hit the wheel lying in the road. The minivan skidded, rolled over and hit the grain truck.

The accident killed driver Maria Hostetler, 40; passenger Chester Gingerich, 48; and his son Perry Gingerich, 16. The elder Gingerich’s wife, Wilma Gingerirch, 46, was hospitalized in critical condition in Kansas City. Also hospitalized were their son, Steven Gingerich, 20, and son-in-law, Calvin Beechy, 25, as well as Leeper. Everyone involved but Leeper and Hostetler was part of the Amish community in Jamesport. The article does not mention a police report or investigation, but neighbor Bryan Carmenati speculated for the newspaper about whether the grain truck was roadworthy. Noting that the truck was 40 years old, he suggested that the crash could have been avoided if it had been retired or better maintained.

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I suspect that he’s right. Long-haul commercial trucks tend to be newer models because they get a lot of use. Grain trucks used for short hauls may spend more time parked, but four decades is old even for a passenger vehicle. To continue safely driving such a vehicle, owners must give it thorough routine maintenance and check for problems. Failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences like the ones described in the article. Just like long-haul trucks, farm trucks are much larger and heavier than ordinary passenger vehicles, which means they bring many times the force to any crash between the two vehicle types. And that means that even a slow-speed crash, grain trucks and other short-distance trucks have the power to kill or catastrophically injure people in the smaller vehicles.

Continue reading "Defect on Grain Truck Kills Three and Sends Four to Hospital Near St. Joseph" »

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I was disappointed to see that a young man died over this past weekend in a crash with a large truck. According to a Nov. 10 article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Suburban Journals, 20-year-old Kyle Lauders of O’Fallon died around 3:40 a.m. Saturday, after he crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer. Authorities suspect Lauders was drinking before he drove east in the westbound lanes of Highway 40. His vehicle hit the driver’s side of the truck before scraping down the side of the truck, puncturing the gas tank and causing an explosion. The truck’s driver, 48-year-old Danny Lanier of Kansas City, Kan., was not injured. However, the tractor unit and one of the trailers were demolished in the fire.

From the description provided in the article, it seems likely that this crash was not the fault of the truck’s driver, and I’m glad that he escaped injury. My sympathies go out to Lauders’ family and friends. But as a Missouri big rig accident lawyer, I am interested in whether equipment problems may have contributed to the ensuing fire. Large commercial trucks log thousands of miles on the road every year, and accidents are so common that trucking companies build them into their cost of doing business. That means trucks’ gas tanks should be well-reinforced in order to avoid an explosion like this one. If the truck’s manufacturer failed to sufficiently reinforce the tank, or its maintainers failed to ensure that those reinforcements were still working, they could be liable for any injuries or deaths that could have resulted.

Human error and bad decisions cause traffic accidents far more often than problems with defective or poorly maintained equipment. But truck defect accidents do happen. One federal study found that malfunctioning or failing brakes were blamed for 25 to 60 percent of all crashes, by crash investigators and safety inspectors. Other studies and real-life accidents have exposed problems with improperly inflated tires, missing or defective lights and other serious safety defects. Despite safety regulations requiring regular maintenance, some trucking companies still cut corners on maintenance in order to save money, gambling that nothing bad will happen. When they lose that bet, their own drivers and all of the drivers and passengers around them are exposed to an unreasonable, unnecessary risk of death and catastrophic injury.

Continue reading "Trucking Accident Causes Explosion on Highway 40 and Death of Young Man" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I was happy to read that no one was seriously injured in an early-morning crash between a school bus and a commercial truck. According to a Sept. 21 article from TV station KMBC in Kansas City, it was just 6 a.m. when the crash took place on the junction from Interstate 670 west to Interstate 35 south. The truck apparently overbalanced on the ramp, the article said, causing it to fall and slide into the bus. No children were on the school bus, and the drivers of both vehicles escaped with only minor injuries. However, the crash snarled traffic through the city’s downtown loop.

The accident also spilled the truck’s load of crushed cars intended as scrap metal. The Kansas City Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was called, but no toxic material was reported. However, as a St. Louis tanker truck accident attorney, I’m glad this crash took place so early, and the load spill is part of the reason why. A load of crushed cars may not cause a toxic spill, but it’s still a heavy load with the potential to do serious damage to anything it may land on. Furthermore, the slowdown from the crash can easily cause secondary accidents, as drivers are forced to slow and stop unexpectedly and sometimes very rapidly. And of course, school buses tend to be full of children later in the morning.

The load spill also invites the question of how the truck was originally loaded. Most trucking accidents are caused by bad choices by one or more of the drivers involved, but improper loading absolutely can play a part in crashes. In fact, an improper load can even cause accidents by causing trailers to go out of control, tipping over a truck or spilling goods into the traffic around the truck. When loads spill, experienced southern Illinois 18-wheeler accident lawyers should always check whether overloading, improper placement or improper securing of the load by the trucking company played a part. In many cases, both the trucker and his or her trucking company are ultimately found responsible for this type of accident.

Continue reading "No Serious Injuries After Tractor-Trailer Overturns Onto School Bus on Kansas City Highway" »

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I was not surprised to see that the Oklahoma authorities have charged Donald Creed with ten counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide in June’s Interstate 40 tragedy. As I have written here before, Creed was driving a truck for Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas City when he failed to stop for traffic ahead, plowing into six stopped cars near the Okalahoma-Missouri border. Now, the Oklahoman reported Sept. 22, prosecutors have charged Creed, 76, with ten counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide, one for each of the victims. Each charge carries a maximum of a year in jail. The newspaper said Creed planned to turn himself in Sept. 23.

A prosecutor for Ottawa County, Oklahoma, told the newspaper that his office would have considered felony charges for Creed if there had been evidence that Creed was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, investigators have not turned up any reason for the accident other than inattention, such as intoxication, distraction by a cell phone or equipment malfunctions. The Oklahoman reported that Creed was driving at 71 mph and had cruise control on at the time of the crash. Witnesses and physical evidence suggested that Creed never braked before he hit the stopped traffic. However, he told an officer at the scene that he had brought his big rig to a full stop, and that the cars he hit must have driven underneath the truck.

Barring any discovery by authorities that Creed was confused by a health problem, I can only assume he never braked because he was distracted by something. That’s why, as a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I hope that this terrible tragedy can do some good by teaching other drivers about the dangers of driving while distracted. Using cell phones and other mobile devices has become one of the most recognized driver distractions -- but anything from eating a sandwich to rubbernecking can take a driver’s eyes off the road. And, as noted in a recent study, trucks on the highway can travel the length of a football field when drivers take their eyes off the road for just five seconds. Given that a truck can literally crush a smaller vehicle at high speeds, that’s far too long.

Continue reading "Missouri Truck Driver Faces 10 Counts of Negligent Homicide in Oklahoma Highway Crash" »

Authorities in Lawrence County, Missouri, are still searching for a truck whose driver allegedly pushed another car into traffic, news station KY3 in Springfield reported Sept. 3. The station said the incident may have been caused by “road rage” on the part of the truck’s driver. According to the article, the victim’s car was stopped at the intersection of Missouri 39 and Missouri 96, waiting for traffic to clear, with the truck behind it. Allegedly, the truck driver intentionally hit the car’s bumper several times, then pushed the car into oncoming traffic on the road and drove away. Fortunately, the car was not hit, and its driver and all four child passengers were not hurt.

KY3.com has more in a video report:

Witness Tracy Daugherty said she hopes authorities can find the driver and take away his or her commercial driver’s license, because “If he’s going to do this to one person, he’s going to continue to do this.” In fact, authorities are actively searching for the truck and its driver and are asking the public for help. The truck has a black or dark blue tractor unit with “C&L Trucking” on its door. It was pulling a white colored grain huller bed. Authorities were originally given license plate number 1255CL, but now believe that number is incorrect; the plate is likely to have a similar number. Anyone with information should call Detective Chris Berry at the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department at (417) 466-2131 or send email to cberry@lawrencecosheriff.com.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I agree with Daugherty that this truck driver displayed extremely poor judgment. If the article is correct that the trucker hit the car intentionally, everyone involved is lucky that the accident wasn’t more serious. Because of their size and weight, trucks can crush cars in a collision. And because their bumpers tend to be much higher than the bumpers on cars, trucks tend to exert that strong force at the head and torso levels of the people sitting inside the car. That means even a slow-speed accident between a car and a truck can cause deaths and serious injuries. Causing this type of accident on purpose is an incredibly bad idea, at best; running away afterward makes the incident a crime. As a St. Louis big rig accident attorney, I would not be sorry to see this driver’s commercial license taken away if all the facts reported here are true.

Continue reading "Lawrence County Missouri Police Searching for Semi Truck That Hit Car and Ran" »

A police report says the driver in a catastrophic big rig accident was not paying attention, the Oklahoman reported Aug. 4. The June 26 crash took place just over the border from Joplin, MO, in northeastern Oklahoma. The report by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol says truck driver Donald Creed, 76, did not appear to slow down or swerve before he ran into stopped traffic at around 70 mph, setting off a chain-reaction crash. The crash killed ten people traveling from Oklahoma City, Texas and Arizona and injured at least three others, including a 12-year-old girl. Witnesses said it took three to five hours to rescue survivors and bodies from the wreckage.

Investigators have ruled out intoxication, mechanical problems or visual obstructions as causes of the crash. In this report, officers said a GPS device inside the truck showed Creed was traveling at consistent speeds before the crash, suggesting that cruise control was on. Creed declined to be interviewed about the crash, but officers said he was able to walk and respond to questions and showed no signs of visual impairment. However, at the scene, he asked officers if he had hit someone. He also said vehicles had driven underneath his truck while it was parked. Oklahoma law enforcement is waiting for the results of a criminal investigation before deciding whether to charge Creed criminally. If they do, he could face ten counts of negligent homicide and other charges.

As a Missouri semi truck accident attorney, I rarely find a case in which authorities can find no discernable reason for a crash other than simple inattention. Distraction by itself may be a realistic explanation -- a study by the Virginia Tech Traffic Institute showed that 80% of crashes of passenger cars were preceded by some type of driver distraction. But given Creed’s evident confusion at the scene and his age, 76, I wonder whether investigators are also looking into the possibility that he was mentally confused. Driving is an important part of independence for older people here in Missouri and throughout the Midwest, and driving privileges shouldn’t be revoked lightly. But as a Missouri tractor-trailer crash lawyer, I would strongly support mandatory testing for older drivers of commercial vehicles, which have the power to kill and maim the innocent people around them if the operator makes even a brief mistake.

Continue reading "Report on Oklahoma Trucking Accident Finds Driver Inattention Responsible for Tragedy" »

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 " »

A few days ago, I saw an article in the Marshfield Mail about a woman and her daughter who got into a wreck on I-44 because a tractor-trailer had failed to yield the right of way. Apparently in order to avoid colliding with the big rig as it unexpectedly moved forward, the woman swerved and ended up hitting a guardrail. She and her daughter sustained moderate injuries and were left there to wait for an ambulance. Meanwhile, the truck driver left the scene unscathed.

It is unfortunate that the two injured parties were apparently were in their right minds, on the right side of the law and did everything they could to avoid an accident, yet they still were injured and the truck driver who disobeyed the law was not. As a Missouri large truck accident lawyer, I see situations like this all too often, and unfortunately that's sometimes the way it goes. However, that doesn't mean that the woman and her daughter do not have the right to be compensated for their injuries.

The MSHP did catch up with the tractor-trailer and identified the driver. However, there has been no official report of citations for him. This may be because there was (thankfully) no contact between the two vehicles, but as a St. Louis tractor-trailer wreck attorney I must emphasize that just because there was no contact between vehicles doesn't mean that the truck did not cause an accident. Due to the danger of carrying large and heavy loads, commercial truck drivers should be held especially accountable for their actions when they break the law. If this woman or her daughter ended up with whiplash or other sustained injuries that negatively impact their quality of life, they would have a case and should talk to a Missouri 18-wheeler accident attorney as soon as they can.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, The Lowe Law Firm represents people in Missouri and southern Illinois who have been seriously injured in accidents that involve large trucks. If you or a loved one have been harmed or killed due to a commercial truck driver's carelessness, help is available. In a Missouri commercial truck lawsuit you can claim all financial losses incurred by the accident, including but not limited to hospital bills and lost income. You also can be compensated for any injury, pain, disability or wrongful death that came about as a result of the incident. To set up a free consultation and learn more about your rights and your claim, please do not hesitate to contact us online, or call our offices toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A tractor-trailer truck recently overturned in Shelby County, injuring a man nearby. Overturning is a particularly deadly hazard with commercial trucks -- a study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration called it the most common large truck driver fatality accident type. However, what I as a St. Louis tractor trailer accident attorney find remarkable about this story is that the injured party wasn't even close to the road -- in fact, according to reports, he was 200 feet away.

Let's take another look at the situation. The accident happened at nighttime, so the road was likely dark and traffic was probably light. Reportedly, all that the driver did was fail to stop at a stop sign before making a turn. All of this might sound harmless enough, but in a two-ton 18-wheeler, the stakes go way up, no matter how deserted the road appears. The smallest failure to follow traffic rules can result in the truck's load overturning, leading to serious injuries not only for the driver, but also for whomever and whatever might be nearby.

Fortunately, the victim reportedly only sustained only minor injuries as a result of this wreck. But as a Missouri commercial truck injury lawyer, I know that other victims aren’t always so lucky. Because large commercial trucks outweigh cars by as much as 200 times, they can cause very severe damage in an accident that pits the two vehicle types against one another. Victims can be killed or suffer catastrophic, life-changing injuries, including permanent brain damage or paralysis. Just like all drivers, truck drivers have a legal responsibility to take care on the road, and that includes obeying traffic laws. When they fail, victims have the right to hold them legally and financially responsible for their actions with a Missouri trucking accident lawsuit.

With law offices in St. Louis, Missouri and Belleville, Illinois, The Lowe Law Firm represents clients in Missouri and southern Illinois who were seriously hurt in a serious accident with a large truck. If you have been injured by a commercial truck, or lost a loved one in an accident that you believe was caused by a trucker’s carelessness, we can help. In a Missouri semi truck accident lawsuit, you can claim all of your losses related to the accident, including financial losses like hospital bills and lost income, as well as compensation for an injury, pain, disability or wrongful death. To set up a free consultation and learn more about your rights, please contact us online, or call our firm toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A few days ago I came across an article in the St. Clair Record about a particularly disturbing southern Illinois trucking accident. On May 22, Aisha Wright filed suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Reithoffer Shows truck driver Tina Hales. Wright cited severe head, neck and back injuries as a result of Hales’ attempt to turn left across the highway -- at a red light.

According to her statement, Wright was driving west on Illinois Route 15 in Alorton on July 21, 2008. As she approached the highway’s intersection with Race Horse Drive and Lakewood Place, the green light was in her favor, so she continued across. But at that same moment, Hales attempted a left turn onto Race Horse Drive, in violation of a red light. As a result, the Reithoffer Shows carnival truck that Hales was driving crashed violently into Wright’s vehicle.

Many wrecks involving commercial trucks can be traced to the driver not having had enough sleep, or having been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. But speaking as a southern Illinois trucking accident lawyer, I can tell you that the simple mistake of not stopping at designated intersections can have devastating consequences. Commercial truck drivers who do not heed basic road signs can wreak havoc on the innocent people sharing their roads, causing death, brain damage and other catastrophic injuries.

The suit charged Hales with several types of negligence: failing to stop the truck as she entered the intersection, failing to make a proper left turn, failing to yield the right-of-way, failing to pay attention, and failing to keep a proper lookout. It seeks a judgment in excess of $100,000 plus costs. But Wright’s injuries are just the beginning; her vehicle also was severely damaged and its value dramatically depreciated. In addition, she says she will suffer disability, pain and suffering, lost wages, incurred medical expenses and, ultimately, the loss of a normal life.

It is hard to put a price on how, in a single instant, one negligent truck driver can irreparably alter a person's life and the lives of their loved ones. However, as a southern Illinois trucking accident attorney, it is my job to make sure that whatever can be recovered, is. If you or a loved one has been in a serious trucking accident in Missouri or southern Illinois, you should call The Lowe Law Firm as soon as possible. Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., we represent people throughout Missouri and southern Illinois who have been injured by the carelessness of a truck drivers or trucking company. We can help you win the money you need to pay medical bills, replace income lost while you cannot work, and compensate you for a permanent disability or the loss of a family member. Please contact the Lowe Law Firm online today for a free, confidential consultation, or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A story in the Joplin Globe recently caught my eye because it involves legal issues very important to Missouri trucking accident lawyers like me. The story centers on a family of four from Joplin who were killed when their car, which was stopped for a red light, was struck by a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. The truck driver is now facing four counts of negligent homicide in the incident. Relatives would like to sue the trucking company over the deaths -- and in Missouri, this would be no problem. But the accident took place just over the state line in Pryor, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma law may block part of the relatives’ legal claim.

The plaintiffs in the case are older children of Robert and Melissa Hayes, siblings or half-siblings to Tyler and Colby Hayes. They filed their lawsuit in Missouri, where the Hayes family lived and where the trucking company is based. However, the trucking company has asked to move the case to Oklahoma, where the accident took place, possibly because of differences in the way the states treat siblings of wrongfully killed people. Under Missouri law, the plaintiffs may claim all the same damages for the deaths of their brothers as they would for the deaths of their parents. But Oklahoma law does not allow non-economic damages -- damages for the grief and pain of losing a loved one -- for anyone but the victims’ parents.

That difference is important, because the economic damages families may claim for the death of a minor are usually quite small. Economic damages are payments for financial losses related to the death, including the loss of an income as well as the cost of medical care and a funeral. Because minors don’t usually work, limiting wrongful death claims to economic damages means that families can collect next to nothing for the deaths of their children, even if their cases are strong. Sometimes, it means no attorney will even take the case, because wrongful death attorneys are paid from a percentage of the winnings -- and with only economic damages available, they cannot make enough money to stay in business. This essentially removes a wrongdoer’s legal liability for the death of a minor, no matter how clearly wrong that person’s behavior might have been.

It is unclear whether the effort to move the case to Oklahoma will succeed. Missouri courts have ruled that wrongful death cases should be heard in the state where the death took place -- but they have also ruled that Missouri courts should hear a case when moving it out of state would take away Missourians’ legal rights. As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I hope concern for Missourians’ rights wins. By seeking to move the case to Oklahoma and dismiss the claims as to Tyler and Colby Hayes, the trucking company is trying to limit its financial liability -- not trying to spare the family from the pain of testifying, as its lawyer told the newspaper. The plaintiffs must still prove the trucking company was careless, and their other claims are viable in either state, but Missouri courts should not condone end-runs around the rights of our citizens.

The Lowe Law Firm specializes in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in a serious accident with a commercial truck. Our Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers are based in St. Louis but serve clients throughout the state of Missouri, as well as those in southern Illinois. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless truck driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible to learn more at a free, confidential consultation. You can reach us through our Web site or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A chain-reaction crash in Southern Illinois left one trucker dead and another in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, The Southern reported April 21. The accident happened on Interstate 57 in Franklin County, between Benton and Sesser. According to police, trucker Lawrence Rich failed to slow down in time for stopped traffic in front of him. He crashed into another tractor-trailer driven by Donald Troyer, who was stopped at the time. The collision pushed Troyer’s truck into yet another semi driven by Dale Stumbo, whose truck hit a pickup driven by David Payne.

Fortunately, Payne -- the driver of the smallest vehicle in this southern Illinois trucking accident -- was not hurt in the crash. Stumbo and Troyer were also not seriously hurt, although Stumbo was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening. However, Rich was killed at the scene when the load of metal pipes he was carrying crashed through his trailer and into the cab of his truck. Troyer’s load of computer equipment also caught fire, requiring two hours of efforts from firefighters to extinguish. To deal with the crash safely, law enforcement closed the interstate in both directions for nearly four hours.

As a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney, I would be interested in any information on how the loads involved in this accident were secured. If you have never been involved with the trucking industry, you may not realize this, but there are state and federal laws regulating how trucks’ loads should be secured. Trucking companies and truck drivers must balance the weight of their loads, never load more weight than permitted and secure the goods well enough to avoid a spill during routine maneuvers or a minor accident. When loads spill, they can injure or kill the truck drivers themselves or any of the drivers who happen to be nearby. Securing loads may also be able to prevent spills that cause fires or other hazards to the community, as happened here.

When the people responsible for properly securing loads -- generally a trucking company and the trucker who will haul the load -- fail in that duty and an accident results, victims have the right to hold them legally responsible. A Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawsuit can get victims compensation for their injuries, the loss of a loved one and their pain and suffering. It can also help victims make up for the astronomical costs of a serious truck crash, including medical bills, funeral costs, lost wages and more. If you or someone you love was hit by a large truck in Missouri or southern Illinois through no fault of your own, The Lowe Law Firm can help. To learn more at a free, confidential consultation, please contact our firm online or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

Wet roads sent four people to the hospital and closed Interstate 70 for hours April 20, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported that day. Luckily, no one was killed in the three-vehicle accident, which began when one eastbound car hydroplaned and slammed into another. The impact sent the second car through the median cables and into oncoming traffic, where it hit a semi truck almost head-on. The truck rolled off the road and down an embankment, where it caught fire. The two people inside the truck escaped and were taken to the hospital, along with the two people in the second car. The driver of the first car was unharmed.

As the fire chief quoted in the article said, it is surprising and very fortunate that the people in the second car survived their accident with the truck. Statistically speaking, they are in the minority. According to research from the federal Department of Transportation, head-on collisions accounted for 22% of all accidents with large trucks in 2007, but 45% of all trucking accident deaths. Head-on collisions also accounted for 37% of accidents that caused injuries. The severity of injuries is not reported in these statistics, but in general, trucking accidents leave their victims with serious or even catastrophic injuries, including brain damage, spinal injuries, severe burns and multiple fractures. That’s why it’s so important for victims and their loved ones to speak with a Missouri semi truck crash attorney as soon as possible after the accident.

The fire in this case also interested me, as a Missouri trucking accident lawyer, because the truck’s trailer was carrying household cleaning supplies. Not all household cleaners are flammable, but if these were, improper insulation may have contributed to the length and strength of the fire. In general, trucking companies are legally responsible for any damage caused by trucking accidents, if they caused or contributed to the accident. That includes improperly loading or securing loads as well as failure to provide or maintain safe equipment. In fact, both the trucker and the trucking company often end up as defendants in Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawsuits.

If you or someone you love has been in a serious trucking accident in Missouri or southern Illinois, you should call The Lowe Law Firm as soon as possible. Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., our firm represents people throughout Missouri and southern Illinois who have been seriously hurt by the carelessness of a truck driver or trucking company. We can help you win the money you need to pay medical bills or funeral costs; replace income lost while you cannot work; and compensate you for a permanent disability or the loss of a loved one. To learn more at a free, confidential consultation, please contact The Lowe Law Firm online today or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

Prosecutors have criminally charged the driver of a tractor-trailer with the deaths of three people in last summer’s tragic St. Louis truck crash on Interstate 40. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported April 15 that Jeffrey Knight of Alabama is being held in Clayton County Jail on three counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Lydia Miller, Alvin Mast and Charles “Keith” Cason. All three died on July 15, 2008 when Knight’s truck drove into and over ten vehicles that were stopped for other traffic. Fifteen other people were injured, and as I have written here before, at least one suffered a brain injury so serious that he now needs full-time care.

Importantly, Knight was reportedly using his cell phone at the time of the accident. According to the newspaper, Knight told a bystander that just before the accident, he had reached over the dash and flipped open the phone, then looked back at traffic. Shortly after, his 19,000-pound semi plowed into the stopped traffic. The cell phone use may have driven the choice to charge him with involuntary manslaughter, which requires “criminal negligence” -- carelessness so extreme that it rises to criminal behavior. He faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

An earlier article in the Post-Dispatch said that Knight and his trucking company faced at least five lawsuits from victims of the crash. That number may go up now that he is also charged criminally in the accident. Victims of serious trucking accidents can and often do file lawsuits, regardless of whether there are also criminal charges in the case. Truck accidents are frequently catastrophic, causing deaths and permanent, severe disabilities such as brain damage and paralysis. These are personally devastating -- but as time goes on, victims and their families begin to realize that they’re also very expensive to treat, particularly if the family has lost an income because of the accident. Filing a Missouri trucking accident claim allows them to sue for the money they need to pay those bills and make ends meet.

Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Illinois, the Lowe Law Firm represents people who were seriously injured in a serious tractor-trailer accident in Missouri or southern Illinois. If you or someone you care about is in this situation, we would like to help. At a free, confidential consultation, our St. Louis semi truck accident attorneys can tell you more about your rights and your legal options. To set one up, please contact us through our Web site or call us toll-free today at 1-877-678-3400.

Prosecutors in southern Illinois are considering criminal charges against the driver of a truck that killed a construction worker last June. According to the Belleville News-Democrat, the victim, Cedric L. B. Gasper, was sitting on the tailgate of parked a pickup truck on Illinois 15 when the tractor-trailer pushed through several construction barricades and rammed the front end of the truck. The crash threw Gasper from the tailgate. Illinois State Police have finished their reconstruction of the accident and will decide by mid-May whether to bring charges against the truck’s driver, who was not identified.

This sad case is a good illustration of the sheer force a tractor-trailer can bring to an accident. Even if the truck was not speeding, it would have outweighed the pickup by several tons. That means it would have brought a substantially greater force to the collision, even if both had been moving. In fact, if the larger vehicle had been speeding, my guess as an experienced St. Louis trucking accident lawyer is that the damage would have been even greater. As it is, the article notes, the force of the crash not only catapulted Gasper out of his seat and killed him, but pushed the pickup into an IDOT truck, which I am glad to see was empty. Since the article doesn’t give details of the accident reconstruction, one can only imagine the circumstances under which a truck driver might plow through barriers into a work zone.

The News-Democrat also reported that Gasper was one of 31 people killed in roadside work zones in Illinois last year. In response, his mother, Ella Mae Hastings, spoke at a news conference last week announcing National Work Zone Safety Week. As a southern Illinois truck accident attorney, I am well aware of the special dangers to people who spend time standing on the side of a busy highway. That doesn’t just include construction workers -- law enforcement, emergency responders, tow truck drivers and even ordinary drivers who happened to break down have all been killed on Illinois and Missouri roadsides.

Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Illinois, the Lowe Law Firm represents people in Illinois and Missouri who have been seriously hurt in a crash with a careless truck driver. Trucking accidents are generally very serious accidents, causing a disproportionate amount of traffic deaths and very serious injuries such as brain damage and paralysis. If you or someone you love is a victim of a truck accident caused by someone else’s carelessness, our experienced Missouri semi accident lawyers can help. To set up a free, confidential consultation, please contact the firm online or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A tanker truck carrying a load of liquid nitrogen for fertilizer crashed in Belleville, Ill. March 6, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. The truck’s driver was delivering the fertilizer to his son’s farm, the newspaper said, when he made a left turn and slid into a ditch. The driver was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to a St. Louis hospital, the article said. The tanker also spilled a small amount of its liquid nitrogen load, which required a hazardous materials team to clean up and transfer to a new tank.

Fortunately, the article said the spill was small and posed no threat to the public. But liquid nitrogen, a common fertilizer ingredient, required a hazmat team because it can pose a serious threat when it’s not controlled. Liquid nitrogen can displace the oxygen in the air around it, which means nearby oxygen levels can drop so low that human beings could asphyxiate. Because it is very, very cold, people should also never touch it without safety equipment. And under some circumstances, it explodes easily -- an accident with pressured liquid nitrogen blew a tank through the roof of a building at Texas A&M University in 2006.

This southern Illinois truck accident is a good example of how even a one-vehicle accident can pose a threat to the people nearby. And according to research from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration -- the federal agency that regulates interstate trucking -- trucks carrying loads designated as hazmat are more dangerous in an accident than other trucks. The agency found that 11% of all truck loads are hazardous materials -- and more than three-quarters of all trucks carrying hazmat loads are carrying flammable liquids or gases. Trucks carrying hazmat crashed at about the same rate as other trucks -- but they were three times as likely to have a rollover accident, 50% more likely to have a cargo spill and more than three times as likely to catch fire after an accident.

Based in Belleville and St. Louis, the Lowe Law Firm represents clients in southern Illinois and all of Missouri in trucking accident lawsuits. The St. Louis trucking accident lawyers can help people who sustained serious injuries or lost a loved one recover the money they need to pay accident-related costs, make ends meet after a loss of income and compensate them for a loss in the family or permanent disability. If you are in this situation, we can help with a free, confidential consultation on your case. To set one up, please contact us online or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400 today.

A tractor-trailer truck overturned on the Poplar Street bridge in St. Louis March 4, the same day another truck driver was acquitted in an unrelated fatal truck accident on the same bridge. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the tractor-trailer crashed into a ramp on the bridge and overturned before 9 a.m., getting stuck between two parts of the bridge. Emergency workers had to close the bridge for most of the day to free the truck, reopening it by 4:30 p.m. The truck driver was not hurt.

Elsewhere in St. Louis, the newspaper said, the driver of another tractor-trailer was acquitted of criminally negligent involuntary manslaughter for the death of his passenger in a 2006 St. Louis truck accident. The truck driven by Paramjit Singh Grewai in that accident skidded off the ramp and fell 60 feet, killing the passenger, Harbinder Singh, and seriously injuring Grewai. Law enforcement argued that he was driving erratically -- he had been on the road for 16 hours straight -- when he approached the bridge. Grewai himself testified that his brakes malfunctioned. The judge in the case didn’t believe him, but said his actions didn’t amount to criminal negligence.

As a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer, I can’t help but notice that these accidents took place in the same stretch of road. In fact, the last paragraph of the article on Grewai notes that MoDOT, in response to concerns about trucks speeding on the ramp, installed a retaining wall, flashing lights and signs setting a speed limit of 20 mph. The article on the more recent accident said police believed the truck driver had been driving too fast before the crash. Since both of these accidents took place after the new safety measures, it seems clear that speed is still a problem on the Poplar Street bridge.

I am not a traffic engineer, although of course I am interested in traffic issues because of my work as a Missouri semi truck accident attorney. However, if a truck accident is caused by roads where authorities know or should know there’s a clear hazard, victims may be able to hold those authorities liable for any accidents they fail to prevent. Accidents caused by defective roadways are relatively rare, but they do happen. When they do, it’s important to enlist help from an experienced truck accident lawyer to ensure that you don’t get lost in the maze of additional deadlines, bureaucracy and rules you must follow when suing a government agency.

The Lowe Law Firm is a St. Louis and Belleville, Ill. law firm specializing in helping victims of serious Missouri and Illinois truck crashes recover the money they need to get medical care, make ends meet and compensate for a disability or a death in the family. If you are in this situation, we can help. To set up a free, confidential consultation, please call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400 or contact us through our Web site.

U.S. Route 65 was closed for about three hours between Ozark and Springfield due to a Missouri trucking accident, the Springfield News-Leader reported March 5. The highway was closed after a tanker truck carrying a load of ammonium nitrate had a one-vehicle rollover accident, later determined to have been caused by a blown tire. The truck’s driver sustained serious injuries and was taken to the hospital. The truck itself wound up in the highway’s median, but authorities closed the entire road in both directions because of concerns about hazardous material spills. Fortunately, the only leak they found was antifreeze.

Ammonium nitrate is most commonly used as a fertilizer. But it was a serious concern for the Springfield accident responders, because it can be highly volatile when mixed with fuel or fire. In fact, the article said, the truck was carrying 500 gallons of diesel fuel along with its 24,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate. Together, these are the two main ingredients in “fertilizer bombs,” improvised explosives such as that used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Ammonium nitrate can also explode when it’s set on fire in a confined space, a distinct possibility in a serious Missouri trucking accident.

Accidents with large trucks carrying hazardous materials can pose a serious threat to the people around, even when the accident doesn’t involve any other vehicles. Hazmat trucks don’t crash any more often than other trucks, but when they do crash, they carry a greater risk of injuring bystanders and the community at large. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the government agency that licenses and regulates truckers, hazmat trucks spilled their cargo 50% more than other trucks between 1991 and 2000. Tankers like this one were by far the most likely to spill of any body type. During that time, contact with the hazmat -- not the truck itself -- killed an average of 12 people a year.

Judging by the article, this Missouri truck accident may have been caused solely by a tire that was poorly maintained or defective to begin with. If that’s the case, the trucking company for maintaining safe equipment could have been held responsible for any deaths and injuries that resulted. Trucking companies, and independent truckers, are legally liable for injuries in any truck accident caused by their own carelessness, including carelessness with equipment as well as poor driving decisions. Victims who were seriously hurt or lost a loved one as a result have the right to sue them for compensation for their financial, physical and emotional losses.

If you or someone you love has been hurt in a trucking accident in Missouri, the Lowe Law Firm would like to help. Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., the firm represents clients in Missouri and southern Illinois who have been seriously hurt by a trucking company’s or truck driver’s negligence. To set up a free consultation about your case, please contact us today.

A Canadian trucking company is suing the State of New Hampshire, alleging that the state’s Department of Transportation is responsible for a fatal trucking accident because it failed to sand or salt an icy road. According to the Claims Journal, an insurance industry publication, a tractor-trailer was traveling along Interstate 93 when it jackknifed, running into a family’s van and killing a six-year-old boy inside. The trucking company, Fidele Tremblay of Quebec, settled a trucking accident lawsuit brought by the boy’s family for $2.5 million.

However, the company alleges in its lawsuit against New Hampshire that the state didn’t respond to at least eight calls from state troopers, requesting salting or sanding for the highway. In a deposition, a trooper called to the scene said he couldn’t stand or walk on the road, but had to “almost skate” to keep from falling. Other state troopers testified that they regularly complain about the lack of salt or sand in the area where the accident occurred.

Weather and poor roadway maintenance are relatively rare causes of trucking accidents, but they can certainly be a cause. That’s particularly true in the winter, when storms can add layers of treacherous ice to our highways. Here in Missouri, and throughout the Midwest, we’ve already lived through several storms this winter that caused a rash of serious traffic accidents. The state, local and federal governments that maintain our roads have a responsibility to take reasonable care for the public’s safety, just as drivers must take reasonable care around one another.

When government agencies fail in that responsibility, they’re liable for the results of their actions, just like a careless driver would be. In my practice as a Missouri trucking accident lawyer, I thoroughly investigate fault in trucking accidents, including the possibility that a government agency may be at fault. Using technical evidence from inside the truck and physical evidence from outside, it’s possible to establish where and how a slide started, the role a heavy load played and many other factors that could be important in a Missouri truck crash lawsuit.

In order to hold a government agency responsible for a crash, victims may have to follow special procedures and meet very tight deadlines. Experts recommend that they get help from an experienced trucking accident attorney. At the Lowe Law Firm, we offer free consultations to people who were seriously injured by a semi truck accident in Missouri or Southern Illinois. If you believe your family has a claim, you can contact us today through the Internet or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

The Johnston City Fire Department will cover the costs of multiple minor accidents caused by a dropped fire hose, the Southern Illinoisan reported Feb. 4. The truck dropped 1,000 feet of hose on Interstate 64 near Centralia, the paper said, on its way to Freeburg for maintenance. The hose caused a 10-car pileup behind the truck, but all of the damage was minor, fortunately. Johnston City’s fire chief apologized and said the city’s insurance carrier would cover the damage, although he did not have a cost estimate at the time.

A dropped fire hose sounds like a joke, but we’re lucky it didn’t cause a more serious accident. One thousand feet of empty fire hose can weigh hundreds of pounds, which would have a real effect if it all hit a vehicle at once. Perhaps more importantly, dropping anything on a freeway at high speeds could cause an accident, simply because other drivers might have to take evasive action. When they see an object flying toward them, drivers might also be tempted to overcorrect.

Fire trucks aren’t the trucks most people think of when they think of accidents with large trucks -- but they’re involved in a surprising amount of accidents, considering that they are driven by professionals. According to research by the University of Michigan, traffic collisions are one of the biggest occupational risks for firefighters, causing an average of 21 deaths and 1,076 injuries every year. However, as with large commercial semi trucks, the majority of those deaths -- 15 out of 21 -- are the deaths of people in other vehicles. Like 18-wheelers, fire trucks far outweigh passenger cars and trucks, making them deadly in an accident.

The Lowe Law Firm handles all types of truck accidents, from serious tractor-trailer jackknife accidents to collisions with municipal and local trucks. Our experienced Missouri trucking accident lawyers understand the complicated physical, legal and medical problems posed by a serious truck accident and will represent you thoroughly and aggressively in any trucking accident lawsuit. Based in St. Louis and Belleville, Ill., we represent clients throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. To set up a free consultation on your case today, you can contact us online or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

A truck driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing an Illinois accident that killed two people, the Muncie Star-Press reported Jan. 31. Robert Whitney, most recently of Albany, Ill., was driving a tractor-trailer without a license and under the influence of drugs in mid-2006 when he fell asleep at the wheel. He crashed into a guardrail and came to a stop blocking lanes, causing a traffic pileup. Another trucker was unable to stop in time and crashed into the stopped traffic, killing himself and a 15-year-old girl from Michigan, who was in one of the stopped cars with her family.

This was the third fatal accident involving Whitney. In 1985, according to the paper, he was acquitted of criminal recklessness in a boating accident that killed a 12-year-old boy. Later, in 2001, the truck driver pleaded guilty to hitting a Chicago man with his truck while intoxicated, then leaving the scene of the accident. The judge in that case suspended Whitney's driving privileges for life. However, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which said it wasn't informed of the suspension, issued him a license when he was released from prison in 2005. Another report says that Whitney was on parole for that violation during the 2006 accident, during which he had been driving for 40 hours straight with only a pair of two-hour breaks.

Sleep deprivation is such a common problem among truck drivers that it's almost a cliché for Midwestern truck accident lawyers. Long-haul truckers and their trucking companies are sometimes forced to take a reduced payment if they don't make their deliveries on time. That's true regardless of weather, traffic or other delays that could pose special safety concerns for ten-ton trucks. Under financial pressure from clients and dispatchers, some of these truck drivers go without sleep -- or, worse, turn to drugs to help them stay awake. A much smaller group of truckers also uses drugs or alcohol chronically, simply because they are addicted. In either case, this is dangerous and unacceptable behavior that puts everyone on the roads around them at risk of death, severe burns, paralysis and other catastrophic injuries.

When truckers like this one cause serious accidents with their own carelessness, they and their trucking companies are legally responsible for all of the results -- physical, emotional and financial. In addition to, or instead of, bringing criminal charges, victims of serious trucking accidents have the right to bring a southern Illinois semi truck accident lawsuit for compensation for the loss of a loved one, a permanent disability and other injuries, as well as all of the financial costs of the accident.

The Lowe Law Firm represents victims of serious trucking accidents in Missouri and southern Illinois. If you believe you have a case and you'd like to know more about your options, please contact us online as soon as possible or call us at 1-877-678-3400.

Two people were killed Jan. 16 when their pickup truck overturned and was struck by a big rig truck, which also rolled over. According to the News-Leader of Springfield, the victims were on Interstate 44 east of Joplin around 4:35 a.m. when the driver lost control of the pickup, which overturned. When their truck came to rest in a driving lane, a tractor-trailer struck it from behind and also rolled over. The occupants of the pickup died; the truck's driver was not hurt.

As a Missouri large truck accident attorney, I know it can be difficult to stop a vehicle as heavy as a tractor-trailer quickly. But in general, many drivers don't realize that a rear-end accident with a truck is very dangerous. Many of us think of rear-end accidents as minor accidents, and that's often true when the vehicles are traveling slowly and have about the same weight. But with high speeds and mismatched vehicles, it's a different story. Federal accident statistics don't specifically track rear-end accidents involving trucks, but they do say that 15% of fatal truck crashes in 2007 started when another vehicle hit the back of the truck. For passenger cars and trucks, that rate is 2% to 2.6%.

A staggering 45% of trucking accident fatalities in the same year started with an impact to the front of the truck, which includes (but isn't limited to) accidents in which the truck rear-ended a passenger vehicle. All crashes can be dangerous if they happen at high speeds or among vehicles with substantial height and weight differences, as happened here. But rear-end accidents are particularly dangerous because the point of impact can whip victims' heads around, leading to serious neck injuries. A 2003 study by the General Insurance Association of Japan found that 77% of injuries in rear-end accidents -- the vast majority -- were neck injuries.

At their most serious, neck injuries can lead to death or permanent damage to the spinal cord, which means lifelong paraplegia, quadriplegia or other forms of paralysis. This is always a tragedy, but when it's caused by someone else's careless driving or law-breaking, it is also a form of negligence allowing victims to sue for the costs of the injury. In a Missouri trucking accident lawsuit, victims and their families can win the money they need to pay accident-related medical and other bills; make ends meet when victims cannot work; and compensate them for a lifelong disability or the permanent loss of a loved one.

The Lowe Law Firm represents semi accident victims throughout Missouri and southern Illinois -- and we offer free evaluations of potential clients' cases. If you'd like to speak with us about your own case and your options, please contact us today.

For the second time in just over a month, a passenger train has hit a vehicle across the tracks in Macoupin County, Ill. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Chicago-bound train hit a garbage truck that was on the tracks just north of Carlinville, in southern Illinois, early on Jan. 15. Nobody on the train was seriously hurt, according to the paper, and the garbage truck's driver did not appear to have life-threatening injuries. However, the truck was destroyed, with the frame carried three-quarters of a mile down the tracks from the cab and driver. The accident came just over a month after a Dec. 8 trucking accident between a semi and an Amtrak passenger train near Brighton, Ill. No one was seriously hurt in that accident, but the train derailed and nine people were treated at local hospitals.

According to federal railway statistics, cars and trucks parked on the tracks are one of the most common causes of train accidents. Authorities ultimately attribute most of them to bad decisions by the vehicle's driver -- often a dangerous attempt to beat the train and avoid waiting for it to pass. Two accidents in the same area within such a short period of time might be an unpleasant coincidence, but they might also be a sign that there's something wrong with railroad crossing signals in southern Illinois, or of safety problems with the trains themselves.

These are important considerations, because passenger cars have very little chance in a serious Missouri car wreck with a train. Trains regularly operate at speeds of 70 mph, as the article notes this one did, and have a hard time stopping. They are also very heavy -- even heavier than semi trucks -- and in a collision, all of that weight becomes force that's brought to bear on the car. The resulting crash is likely to destroy the vehicle, just like this crash did to the garbage truck, and cause wrongful deaths or very serious brain trauma, spinal damage or other permanent disabilities for the people inside.

Those injuries are always a tragedy. But if it turns out that the train company or local transit authorities could have prevented them by taking a little more care, those organizations may also be legally liable in a southern Illinois car wreck lawsuit. In a lawsuit, victims and their families can win the money they need to pay steep medical bills caused by the accident; make ends meet while victims are out of work; and compensate them pain, suffering, disability or the loss of a loved one. The Lowe Law Firm represents people who were seriously injured in auto accidents throughout southern Illinois and Missouri. If you believe you have a case and you'd like to know more, you can contact our firm for a free consultation.

More than a dozen vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident on westbound Interstate 70 near Warrenton, about 50 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri on December 23, 2008. As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the accident claimed the life of one motorist, Edwin W. Sargent, when he was struck by an out-of-control tractor trailer.

Edwin Sargent, 50, of Mill Spring, N.C., survived the initial crash. Sargent’s Toyota Camry had slid off the icy interstate and struck a Chevrolet that had already slid into the median and hit the cable barrier. Soon after Sargent and the driver of the Chevrolet exchanged information and took cell phone photos of the damage, two tractor-trailers came over a hill near the crash.

The drivers of the tractor-trailers lost control, and the two trucks smashed into each other. One truck flipped around and slid along the median, its rear tires on westbound I-70 and its front tires on eastbound I-70, striking and killing Sargent.

The driver of the Chevy, who was not identified, had gotten back into his car but was also seriously injured when the out-of-control tractor trailer struck his vehicle. Others were also injured.

From a legal perspective, Missouri law provides that “[e]very person operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state shall drive the same in a careful and prudent manner, and shall exercise the highest degree of care, and at a rate of speed so as not to endanger the property of another or the life or limb of any person”. R.S. Mo. 304.010. Missouri courts have held that “whether speed is excessive ordinarily depends upon the condition of the highway and surrounding circumstances”. Wolfe v. Harms, 413 S.W.2d 204, 210 (Mo. 1967).

This accident demonstrates why tractor trailer drivers should exercise the highest degree of care while driving their rigs, which may weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds. While the collision between Sargent’s Toyota Camry and the other driver’s Chevrolet resulted in a mere fender-bender on the icy road, the out-of-control tractor resulted in a tragic fatality.

In cases where trucking accidents cause serious harm or death, 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.

The Lowe Law Firm represents victims of 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 would like to know more, you can contact the Lowe Law Firm online or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

Investigators into a multi-car trucking accident on Highway 40 say the truck driver was using a cell phone at the time of the wreck, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported. According to the paper, the driver admitted to investigators that he was reaching for and opening his phone before his truck hit a line of vehicles at the junction with Interstate 270. He may also have told a witness that he was using the phone and apologized, the paper reported.

The investigations are not yet complete, but a spokeswoman for he Missouri Highway Patrol said the investigation has already found "several violations." The truck driver may be criminally charged when the Missouri Highway Patrol turns the case over to the St. Louis County prosecutor's office. The crash killed three people and left 15 others injured, some quite seriously. At least five Missouri truck accident lawsuits have already been filed, along with another trucking accident claim in southern Illinois. The article starts with a story of one of the survivors of the crash, a man who suffered severe brain trauma when his Toyota Camry was crushed by the tractor-trailer. The man, 53, now lives in a nursing home and depends on a feeding tube to survive.

Unfortunately, this kind of horrific injury is not an unusual outcome for a serious commercial truck accident. As we have mentioned before on this blog, trucking accidents can be very serious because the much greater weight of the truck can literally crush a car, pickup or SUV. This can cause very serious injuries to the vehicle's occupants, including serious brain injuries like this one, paralysis, severe burns and even wrongful deaths. And that means everyone on the road runs serious risks when truck drivers (and trucking companies) make even one serious lapse in judgment. Government agencies set strict rules for the trucking industry because they understand those dangers. But all too often, trucking companies and truckers break those laws to save a little money, make their deliveries on time or just to make a phone call.

When carelessness or law-breaking by truckers leads to deaths and serious injuries, the victims can and should hold them responsible by filing a legal claim. In a St. Louis trucking accident lawsuit, victims can win payment of their medical bills and other financial outlays caused by the accident; make up for a lost income; and win compensation for a premature death or lifelong disability. At the Lowe Law Firm, we represent truck accident clients in both Missouri and southern Illinois. If you would like to speak with our experienced trucking accident lawyers about your case at a free consultation, please contact us online as soon as possible.

A truck driver who was involved in a deadly highway pileup in St. Louis last summer admitted to a Missouri Highway Patrol investigator that he was distracted by a cell phone before he ran into a line of 10 cars, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

On July 15, 2008, Jeffrey R. Knight was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with scrap aluminum. Knight was traveling on Highway 40, just before the Interstate 270 exchange, when he reached for his cell phone.

“I reached across the dash to get my cell phone. I flipped the phone open, looked back at traffic, and I was there right at the last car (in the line of cars stuck in traffic). I didn’t see any brake lights or emergency flashers. After I hit the first car, I just remember holding the steering wheel and seeing cars going to my left and right.”

The article also states that the truck driver apologized to a nurse who stopped at the accident scene and said the accident probably would not have happened if he had not been on his cell phone.

Three people were killed in the pileup and 15 were hurt, including Mark Tiburzi, a 53-year-old who suffered severe brain trauma and now lives in a nursing home.

The Highway Patrol hopes to turn the case over to the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office by early February to determine if charges should be filed.

Although a report compiled by the Highway Patrol officer at the scene has not been completed, a 140-page report prepared by the accident reconstruction team is done.

The accident scene provides many clues to the events leading up to the crash. Along with the black-box and GPS data, accident reconstructionists review eyewitness statements, skid marks, and the positions of the vehicles after the crash to answer the question of fault. Because this evidence can be destroyed, it is important to contact a lawyer as soon as possible after an accident.

The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping the victims of truck accidents. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases.

Contact the Missouri/Illinois trucking accident lawyers at The Lowe Law Firm today at 877-678-3400.

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.

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.

Fewer truck accidents occurred in Missouri comparing 2005 with 2007. In fact there were 23% fewer fatal accidents which means Missouri highways are safer.

The Missouri Highway Patrol reports that the number of commercial motor vehicle fatality crashes fell 23 percent between 2005 and 2007.

There is a misconception that there are a lot of dangerous truck drivers on the roads. For the most part truck drivers drive safely and follow the DOT rules as well as the rules of the road. The few rouge truck drivers who drive too fast, tailgate, and falsify their log books give the other drivers a bad name. Also anyone who drives the highways knows there are a lot of crazy drivers of cars and SUV's. They are usually more dangerous to themselves than other drivers.

Trucks pulling large trailers, however, weigh about 40 tons and can't stop on a dime. When they are involved in an accident with a much smaller vehicle, the results can be tragic. If that happens you will need an experienced truck accident lawyer.

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 by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

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.

The parents of a 19-year-old college student who was killed when the car she was riding in was struck by a truck hauling sound equipment for a reality dating show have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, the Associated Press reports.

On Sept. 26, truck driver Dennis Hernandez was hauling equipment for the “Rock of Love Bus” reality series when he allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the center line and crashed into a car driven by St. Louisan Yasmin Jackson, 19. The collision killed Jackson and her passenger, Kevetta Davis, a 19-year-old from Chicago.

Both were students at Southern Illinois Univeristy Carbondale. They were headed to St. Louis for a weekend visit to Jackson’s home. The accident occurred on Interstate 57 southern Illinois.

Kevin and Brenda Davis, the parents of Kevetta, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Viacom, VH1, 51 Minds Entertainment and Dennis Hernandez, the truck driver. The suit claims Davis died as a result of carelessness by Hernandez.

Anyone who is injured or has had a close relative killed in a truck accident may sue if the accident was caused by the carelessness of another. Close relatives who may bring a wrongful death suit include the spouse, parents, and the children of the victim. If the children are still minors, the suit may be filed through a guardian or parent.

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 by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

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.

A college student who was driving home to visit her family for the weekend was killed by a truck driver who fell asleep behind the wheel, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Yasmin S. Jackson, a 19-year-old sophomore at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, was headed north on Interstate 57 in Southern Illinois at about 5 p.m. last Friday. She was on her way to her suburban St. Louis home. Riding in the car with her was friend and classmate, Kevetta C. Davis, 19.

Dennis D. Hernandez, 38, was hauling sound equipment for Bret Michaels, a VH1 eality star and former lead singer of the band Poison. The truck was on its way to Texas for filming of his show, “Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels.”

Hernandez fell asleep, crossed over the interstate and crashed into Jackson’s sport utility vehicle. The truck also slammed into a pickup, seriously injuring William B. Wiley, 63 a, and Colleen N. Wiley, 59.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Hernandez was driving on a suspended license at the time of the accident. He only suffered minor injuries in the crash.

The average car weighs approximately 3,500 pounds, whereas a large commercial truck can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds when loaded. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, truck drivers account for only about two of every 10 injuries or deaths stemming from crashes in which a truck comes into contact with a car or motorcycle. Bystanders, bicyclists and individuals riding in other vehicles make up the remaining eight of every 10 crash victims. In 2006, accidents involving large trucks claimed 130 lives in Missouri and 157 in Illinois.

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 by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

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.

The National Transportation Safety Board revealed this week that a trucker who failed to use his off-duty time to rest and then fell asleep behind the wheel was the cause of a crash that killed five people.

The deadly collision occurred on Oct. 16, 2005 just before 2 a.m. The tractor-trailer was traveling westbound on Interstate 94 in western Wisconsin when the driver fell asleep. The truck ran off the road, re-entered the highway and then overturned.

In the nighttime, low-light conditions, the driver of a 55-passenger bus carrying members of the Chippewa Falls High School marching band, teachers and chaperones failed to see the overturned truck and slammed into the semi.

The bus driver and four passengers were killed. Thirty-five passengers on the bus suffered minor to serious injuries. The truck driver suffered only minor injuries.

The NTSB stated that if the truck had been equipped with fatigue-detecting technology, the accident might have been avoided.

What is also clear is that if the truck driver had been responsible and used his down time to sleep, five people would be alive today.

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 by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

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.

As an accident last week in Texas demonstrates, hauling unstable cargo can have disastrous consequences.

On Sept. 3, a Ford F-150 pickup truck was hauling a dump truck attached to a trailer. According to the McKinney Courier-Gazette, the dump truck was unstable and caused the pickup driver to lose control. He swerved and ended up across both lines of southbound U.S. 75 – and into the path of an oncoming semi.

The driver of the 18-wheeler braked suddenly to avoid a crash. However, the abrupt braking caused the semi to swerve, sideswipe two other cars and overturn. It ended up perpendicular across the highway, creating a barrier for oncoming traffic.

Approximately 70 to 80 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled out onto the highway and firefighters had to clamp a punctured fuel line on the tractor-trailer. In addition, the semi was hauling a large cargo of free-standing fireplaces which had to be removed before the highway could re-open.

Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.

The news report did not indicate whether the fireplaces were secured properly. However, federal regulations require commercial drivers to “firmly immobilize” cargo so that it cannot shift while in transit.

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 by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

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.

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.

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.

Tractor-trailers are loaded with hi-tech devices. Computers, on-board data recorders, electronic logging devices and GPS systems can track speed, hard-braking and maintenance.

As Lawyers Weekly USA reporter Sylvia Hsieh points out in, “Tech devices leave trail of evidence in trucking litigation,” the information is a boon for lawyers who represent truck crash victims.

But it also means that trucking litigation has become much more specialized. A lawyer who treats a case involving 18-wheeler as if it were one involving a really big car is flirting with malpractice.

An experienced trucking accident lawyer knows what devices are used on trucks, how to mine the data from the sophisticated devices and how to turn that information into evidence. Therefore, victims injured in an accident involving an 18-wheeler - or those who have lost a family member as a result of a trucking accident - should hire a lawyer who has successfully handled trucking litigation cases in the past.

The article also highlights the importance of hiring an experienced lawyer quickly. A delay in retaining a lawyer could mean that evidence is lost.

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.

A truck driver who fell asleep behind the wheel of his semi and killed seven children has been sentenced to seven years in prison -- one year for each child, The Florida Times-Union reports in an article written by Paul Pinkham.

In January 2006, Alvin Wilkerson was 25 miles into an 85-mile trip hauling bottled water for Crete Carrier Corp. when he slammed into the back of a van that was stopped behind a school bus. He had been awake for nearly 34 hours and fell asleep while driving.

In the van were the 15-year-old driver, Nikki Mann, her siblings, Elizabeth Mann, 15, Johnny Mann, 13, and Heaven Mann, 3; two cousins, Ashley Keen, 14, and Miranda Finn, 10; and the Manns’ foster brother, Anthony Lamb, 20 months.

Both the van and tractor-trailer rammed into the school bus. The van burst into flames and killed everyone inside. Ten children on the school bus were also hurt, some severely.

Wilkerson was charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide and 10 counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence.

State Attorney William Cervone of Gainsville said that the conviction may be the first case in Florida where someone went to prison for falling asleep behind the wheel.

Cervone also indicated that the prison sentence doesn’t end the pursuit of justice in the case. Wilkerson has already discussed his sleep deprivation with prosecutors.

Assistant State Attorney Geoffrey Fleck added:

“We’re hoping that this will send a message to the trucking companies that if they drive sleep-deprived drivers, they could be not only civilly but criminally liable.”

That message is vital. Companies that pressure truckers to break the hours-of-service rules put the lives of innocent men, women and children at risk. Those companies should have to face criminal charges.

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.

A trucker who crashed her semi and spilled aluminum onto an interstate in Nashville was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

The accident occurred June 10 on eastbound Interstate 40. According to WSMV (Ch. 4), Nashville, the truck driver didn’t notice a curve in the highway. She lost control, drove through the grass and onto the Interstate 440 on-ramp then hit the retainer wall and flipped the big rig on its side.

After smelling alcohol, police tested the truck driver and discovered she was above the limit established for both commercial drivers and regular motorists.

John Pepper of the Metro Police Department said:

“The state of Tennessee requires that a truck driver, number one, shouldn’t be drinking at all when their behind the wheel. But their limit for alcohol is much lower than the average driver that would be operating a standard motor vehicle. In this case, the tractor-trailer driver was significantly above even that level.”

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study, alcohol played a role in one percent of all truck crashes involved in fatal accidents. Illegal drug use played a role in two percent of all truck crashes involved in fatal accidents.

Drinking and driving is a poor choice for any driver. However, when a trucker drives under the influence, the stakes are even higher. The average car weighs only 3,500 pounds while a fully-loaded tractor-trailer can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A trucker from Illinois died last week in a three-truck pileup on Indiana 49. The accident occurred on the morning of May 27. Mark Flock was behind the wheel of an empty tractor-trailer when he slammed into the back of semi hauling three steel coils. The force of the crash sent the semi with the steel coils over a concrete median and into a box truck, shearing the cabin of the box truck away from the trailer. In the process, the three steel coils were knocked off the flatbed trailer and onto the highway.

Flock was pronounced dead at the scene. The other truck drivers were not seriously hurt.

According to the Chesterton Tribune, Flock’s truck left numerous skid marks which would indicate his brakes locked before the crash.

An autopsy did not reveal any signs of a sudden illness or trauma before the crash. The results of toxicology tests have not yet been released and investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the accident.

Miraculously, there were no motorists injured in the chain-reaction collision involving big rigs and heavy loads.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A truck driver who drifted across the center line and collided head on with a car was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a jury, the Rolla Daily News reports.

On March 22, 2002 Patrick Wayne Zullig of Rolla, Mo. was driving his truck west on Missouri Route 72. He crossed the center line and crashed into an oncoming car driven by Shannon Mocabee, a pregnant mother. Mocabee and her unborn fetus were killed in the collision. Another child, who was strapped in a car seat, was hurt but survived.

Last Friday, a Phelps County jury convicted Zullig of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree, a Class B felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Zullig will be sentenced in August.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

When a dump truck crashed into a school bus earlier this month, 16-year-old Daniel Wood died. Ten students and the bus driver were also injured in the collision that occurred near Falmouth, Ky.

Now it appears that XXL Trucking, the company that owned the dump truck, violated eight federal and state safety regulations. Of those eight violations uncovered by the Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement, three of them were critical, the Kentucky Enquirer reports.

The critical violations included the failure on the part of the company’s four drivers to keep time sheets or duty status records, failure to have the company’s four trucks periodically inspected, and missing driver vehicle inspection reports.

In addition, Francis Yulfo, the dump truck driver involved in the accident, was ticketed on Feb. 1 for violating the federal safety rule that bars truckers from driving more than 11 hours in a row or more than 14 hours in a shift. Yulfo was working for an Indiana trucking company at the time.

Although criminal charges have not yet been filed, the family of the teen killed in the accident has filed suit against the drive and XXL Trucking alleging negligence.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A truck driver was killed around midnight last night when his semi overturned, rolled down an embankment and caught fire, the Kansas City Star reports.

The tractor trailer was headed southbound on Interstate 435 in Kansas City. After rolling down the embankment, the semi stopped near Raytown Road which remained closed to rush hour traffic this morning so that crews could inspect a nearby bridge for structural damage.

The driver has not yet been identified and police are currently investigating the cause of the accident.

While it is not yet known what led to last night’s deadly accident, according to the federal government's Large Truck Crash Causation Study, when a truck driver was at fault for causing a fatal crash, falling asleep at the wheel or suffering a heart attack caused 12 percent of the crashes. Inattention, distraction, and failure to keep a careful lookout were to blame for 29 percent of the crashes. 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.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

State Police are searching for a hit-and-run trucker who sideswiped a trooper on May 13, the Roanoke Times reports.

Trooper Jeff Rasnick had pulled over a tractor-trailer for speeding. He was sitting in his unmarked car that was parked on the shoulder of Interstate 81 when another semi ran off the right side of the road, slammed into his door and kept on driving.

Rasnick suffered shoulder and back injuries and was taken to the hospital. According to Virginia law, drivers must slow down or change lanes for emergency vehicles stopped on the side of the road.

Police are looking for a dark-colored Freightliner Class tractor with an extended front. The right rear of the white or gray box trailer suffered significant damage.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A recent ruling by a Missouri federal judge makes clear that reckless truck drivers and the companies that hire them will face punitive damages when their conduct hurts and kills innocent motorists.

Truck driver George Albright Jr. was an employee of a staffing company known as Trucker’s Plus. Trucker’s Plus placed Albright with the trucking company Pro Logistics. Logistics Insight is a sister company of Pro Logistics. In addition, Pro Logistics hired Central Transport to monitor a driver’s log books to ensure the driver does not exceed the federal hours-of-service limits.

On June 1, 2006, four people were killed and several others were injured when a semi driven by George Albright Jr. failed to slow down in a construction zone on Interstate 70 near Columbia and plowed into the cars in front of him.

The survivors and the families of the motorists who were killed sued Albright, Trucker’s Plus, Pro Logistics, and Logistics Insight in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Central Division. The case, Garrett, et al. v. Albright, et al., No. 06-CV-4137, was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Nanette K. Laughrey.

In pretrial motions, the trucker and the companies asked the court to dismiss the families’ claim for punitive damages. In a March 21, 2008 ruling, Laughrey refused.

She noted that in Missouri, a jury may award punitive damages when clear and convincing evidence proves that the defendant acted with complete indifference or conscious disregard for the safety of others. The families met that standard, Laughrey concluded.

Albright suffered a heart attack in 1997 while driving a semi. That same year, he was diagnosed with non-insulin diabetes. At the time he was hired, Albright’s doctor would only qualify him as physically fit to driver for one year rather than the standard two years. Under industry standards, a one-year qualification is a red flag. However, the trucking companies did not inquire further.

At the time Albright was hired, he was taking a large number of prescription drugs, including Valium (diazepam). However, he did not list the drugs on his medical form. Even if Albright advised the employers about his prescriptions, federal rules would prohibit a trucker from driving under the influence of diazepam unless a doctor certifies that it would not adversely effect his driving. The certification was not obtained before the accident.

Further, Pro Logistics had in place a policy that prohibited the hiring of a driver with a reckless driving conviction. In 1990, Albright had been convicted of reckless driving in his personal automobile. In 2002, Albright was cited in Ohio for speeding in a tractor-trailer.

Pro Logistics also had in place a policy that allowed them to withhold pay if a driver did not turn in his logbooks. In May 2006, the month before the accident, Albright failed to report nine days worth of logs. On May 11, 2006, he exceeded the hours-of-service permitted by federal law.

Laughrey noted that on the day of the accident, Albright’s logbooks indicated he slept in Columbia, Mo. from 6 am to 4:45 pm. But his cell phone records reveal he made calls at 5:47 am, 6:50 am, 12:57 am, 1:06 pm, 4:17 pm and 4:20 pm. The location of those calls was inconsistent with his logbook location.

Finally, one eyewitness testified that just before the accident, Albright looked like he was falling asleep. Another eyewitness, a flagman on I-70, testified that Albright appeared inattentive before the accident.

Laughrey wrote, “In this case, Plaintiffs have set forth clear and convincing evidence that Pro Logistics and Logistics Insights not only failed to observe clear industry standards for the monitoring of safe driving, but failed to follow their own corporate policies, both of which had the clear purpose of preventing injury to the motoring public from unsafe drivers.”

She also wrote that a “reasonable juror could conclude from the evidence that Pro Logistics and Logistics Insight knew about Albright’s heart condition, prescribed medications and history of reckless driving and allowed him to drive regardless.”

As a result of her ruling, the families were allowed to proceed with their request for punitive damages. On April 25, the defendants agreed to settle the case for $18 million.

The truck driver has also been charged with four counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter. The criminal case is set for trial this summer.

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 killed on Interstate 70 when he was thrown from his cab during a chain reaction crash that shut down the Interstate. The series of crashes started on eastbound I-70 near Watkins on Thursday afternoon. The highway was eventually shut down in both directions because of the four separate sets of accidents.

The first accident involved a truck crashing into a Colorado Department of Transportation truck and a Colorado State Patrol car. Eastbound I-70 was blocked because of that crash and that eventually led to a chain reaction crash on a nearby bridge.

The State Patrol says 64-year-old Earl Steffen of Fairbury, Illinois was in a tractor-trailer loaded with brick when he crashed. Even though he was wearing a seat belt, he was thrown from his truck and landed underneath another car. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to CSP. Police investigators do not believe driving too fast for conditions played a role and that alcohol was a not factor in the crash.

A total of eight vehicles were involved in the crash on the bridge. State Patrol says Steffen was heading east on I-70 and crossing the bridge when he crashed into another car, which sent that car into another vehicle. That continued until a total of eight vehicles had been involved. Many of the cars were already stopped due to the previous crash involving the CSP car and the CDOT truck.

At least nine people in the other vehicles involved in the crash suffered moderate to minor injuries and were either treated at the scene or transported to a nearby hospital.

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.

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

A truck driver who killed two women and injured 21 people – including four children – received a negligent driving citation as a result of the crash, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The deadly crash occurred on April 25 shortly after 5 p.m. in Chicago. A tractor-trailer driven by Don Wells, 64, careened off the Dan Ryan Expressway and slammed into a Chicago Transit Authority train station.

Eloisa Guerroro, 47, and Delisia Brown, 18, were killed in the accident. Brown was on the escalator and Guerroro was waiting on the bus stop when the truck barreled into the station.

The driver tested negative for alcohol following the crash. The truck was operated by Michigan-based Whiteline Express Ltd.

The article, written by Chicago Tribune reporters Joel Hood and Gerry Smith, also indicated that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will perform an audit of the trucking company’s safety management practices. Whiteline trucks were involved in 41 state-reported accidents in the last 30 months, including 12 that involved injuries, and one fatality.

This tragedy cost two women their lives and injured many others. Even under the best circumstances, tractor-trailers can be dangerous. But when the driver is careless, a semi is downright deadly.

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

Visit our Truck-Accident Information Center.

The Southern Illinoisan recently ran a three-day series on motor vehicle accidents in Southern Illinois. The series concluded that Illinois 37 is the deadliest roadway and Illinois 149 comes in third.

According to the article titled “Countless lives changed forever,” more than 200 people have been killed in the past decade on Southern Illinois’ deadliest highways. More than half of the fatal accidents involved another vehicle.

Law enforcement officials told reporters Adam Testa and Scott Fitzgerald that excessive speed, sleepiness and inattentiveness on the part of the driver often played a role in the accidents.

As the series points out, mistakes like these can lead to tragedy. The lawyers of The Lowe Law Firm are experienced in helping families injured by motor vehicle accidents. We will seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain and suffering, disability and other damages. We also represent family members in wrongful death cases.

We offer a free initial consultation for accident victims. If you cannot make it to our office, we will come to you in the hospital or visit you in your home. We have offices in Belleville Illinois and St. Louis Missouri and appointments can be made at either office.

Contact the lawyers at The Lowe Law Firm today by calling 877-678-3400.

An Illinois truck driver whose semi slammed into the back of a tour bus killing eight women was sentenced to four years in prison last Thursday.

On Oct. 1, 2003, Vincente Zepeda’s 76,000-pound semi slammed into the back of a 25-passenger tour bus near a toll plaza. Eight of the Chicago-area women on the bus were killed. Another 15 people were injured in the chain-reaction crash that involved five vehicles.

Zepeda, 54, was charged with eight counts of reckless homicide. Prosecutors alleged his inattention and excessive speed caused the accident. Last year, he was found guilty of the charges. On April 3, McHenry County Circuit Judge Sharon Prather sentenced Zapeda to 4 years on eight counts of reckless homicide as well as 2 years, to be served concurrently, for failing to maintain his vehicle.

According to the Daily Herald, Prather said, “A prison sentence is necessary to deter others from committing the same conduct.”

I hope that this sentence sends a message to the trucking industry. Speeding in a poorly maintained semi cost eight women their lives. A prison term that amounts to six months for each life lost is hardly a fair trade-off for the victims’ families.

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.

Two women were killed in Illinois and a third was critically injured when their car crossed over interstate 55-70 into the path of a tractor trailer, according to the Illinois State Police.

The accident occurred on eastbound Interstate 55-70, just before Interstate 64 splits heading east. State Police said the driver entered I-55-70 in Illinois from the St. Clair Avenue ramp and was drove across several interstate lanes, and was believed to be heading east on I-64, when the collision occurred. Traffic from that St. Clair ramp in Illinois should only go east on I-55-70, according to the police.

The dead were identified as Katrenia Travis, 29, and Sharae' Williams, 30, both from the St. Louis area. A passenger, Gloria Hampton, 24, also from St. Louis, was listed in critical condition at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The driver, Okiechia Travis, 22, was reported in stable condition at a St. Louis hospital. She was among three occupants of the Chevrolet Lumina who were thrown from the vehicle. Katrenia Travis, who remained trapped in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene; Williams was pronounced dead three hours later.

The truck smashed into the Lumina's passenger side. "It was a T-bone side impact situation," said State Police Sgt. Chris Trame.

The truck driver was not injured and was not held, police said. An investigation continues into the actions of the driver of the car, a spokesman said.

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 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.

St. Louis – A lawsuit arising from a chain-reaction accident on Interstate 70 in Indiana that injured two motorists has been filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in Indiana.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005, around 9:25 p.m., Giacamo Amari, 42, and his son Jonathan Ghahary, 21, were traveling in a car headed east on I-70 near Richmond, Ind. It had been raining, and the highway was wet. A tractor-trailer owned by Salt Lake City-based C.R. England and driven by Kenneth Williams was westbound on I-70 when it allegedly hydroplaned, veered off the highway, crossed the median and drove into oncoming traffic.

Amari swerved to avoid a collision. Their car spun clockwise into the left lane of eastbound highway and ended up sideways. A tractor-trailer owned by Lincoln, Neb.-based Crete Carrier Corp. and driven by Richard Isaacs, eastbound in the left lane, broadsided the car.

Amari and Ghahary were seriously injured in the crash. Amari suffered cervical-spine injuries that required multiple surgeries and also sustained a closed-head injury and postconcussion syndrome. Ghahary suffered a herniated lumbar disc in his spine.

Jeffrey J. Lowe of The Lowe Law Firm filed a personal injury suit on behalf of the motorists in December 2007 against the trucking companies and their drivers. It alleges that the truck drivers were traveling too fast for the wet conditions and that they failed to keep a careful lookout. As a result, the C.R. England truck driver lost control of his semi and the Crete Carrier truck driver was unable to take evasive action to avoid the crash.

“Truck drivers speed on slick roads because of the financial pressures to quickly deliver their loads. Unfortunately, that haste leads to crashes, and it is usually the careful motorist who ends up paying the price,” Lowe said.

Headquartered in St. Louis, The Lowe Law Firm represents clients nationwide in trucking accident, catastrophic injury, mass tort, and class action litigation cases nationwide. For more information, contact Jeffrey J. Lowe at 314-678-3400 or e-mail jeff@jefflowepc.com.

The truck driver, who tested positive for marijuana and cocaine. According to his log books, the truck driver had not taken off enough time from driving before the accident occurred. The truck driver who struck and injured the state trooper during a traffic stop was sentenced by a Minnesota judge to nine months in jail last week, the St. Cloud Times reports.

At last week’s sentencing, the state trooper who was seriously and permanently injured as a result of the truck drivers gross negligence, urged the District Court to sentence the truck driver to the maximum time allowed for a felony charge of vehicular injury and driving under the influence -- a year and a day. “He was driving a loaded gun down the highway, an 80,000-pound gun that he had loaded,” the prosecutor told the court. The court sentenced the truck driver to nine months -- the amount of time the trooper was out of work because of his injuries plus an extra 90 days.

The crash occurred on June 5, 2007. when made a traffic stop on Interstate 94 for a possible illegal window tint. He heard the semi trailer barreling toward him as he inspected the vehicle. Unable to get out of the way, he was struck by the truck. The state tropper spent three days in the hospital and had a steel support rod inserted into his leg.

Accident reconstruction revealed that the trooper would have been visible to the truck driver about a half mile before the crash. The road conditions and driver visibility that day were also good. After the accident the truck driver admitted he had fallen asleep. The driver pleaded guilty to the charges.

As this case shows, sleepy drivers using illegal drugs continue to be hazard for the driving public. The trooper who nearly lost his life got it right when he called the 80,000 pound truck a “loaded gun.” This case also underscores the importance of reconstructing the accident very soon after the crash in order to accurately assess responsibility.

An accident in Missouri involving a semi truck closed a portion of Interstate 70 to traffic Sunday night according to Missouri State Highway Patrol. Interstate 70 was closed for about two hours while officials worked to clear the roadway.

The accident occurred when a 2007 Mazda was blocking both westbound lanes of the interstate. The truck swerved to avoid another vehicle, striking the front of the Mazda and skidded off the left side of the road, slamming through the bridge rail. The truck came to rest in a creek bed, but was still resting on its wheels. The truck was driver from Nashville, Tenn, had moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to Truman Medical Center. The driver of the car from was not injured.

Tractor trailer accidents involve complex issues and require knowledge of Federal Regulations applicable to trucking companies. In order to win you need to prove that the truck driver or trucking company was negligent. Negligence is defined as the truck driver's failure to use reasonable care that a careful and prudent truck driver would use in the same or similar circumstances.

Trucks that carry goods between states are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration which promulgates regulations that truck drivers and trucking companies are required to follow. You can make a convincing case of negligence to a jury if you can prove not only that the truck driver was negligent in the manner her drove his the truck, but also if he violated one of the many federal regulations governing the conduct of truck drivers.

One of the most common violations what is known as the hours of service regulations. The hours of service regulations only apply to property carriers and drivers. Under the current hours of service regulations:

* Drivers may drive up to 11 hours instead of 10 hours, but are limited to 14 hours in a duty period.

* The 14-hour duty period may not be extended with off-duty time for meal and fuel stops, etc. Only the use of a sleeper berth can extend the 14-hour on-duty period.

* Each duty period must begin with at least ten hours off-duty, rather than eight.

* The 60 hours on-duty in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours on-duty in 8 consecutive days, remains the same, but drivers can “restart” the 7/8- day period by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty.

Sleeper Berth Exception: Drivers may split on-duty time by using sleeper berth periods, but must comply with the new hours-of-service rules. These drivers may accumulate the equivalent of 10 consecutive hours off-duty by taking a combination of at least 10 consecutive hours off-duty and sleeper berth time; or by taking 2 periods of rest in the sleeper berth, provided:

* Neither period is less than 2 hour;

* Driving time in the period immediately before and after each rest period when added together does not exceed 11 hours; and

* The driver does not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty following 10 hours off-duty, where the 14th hour is calculated by: (A) Excluding any sleeper berth period of at least 2 hours which, when added to a subsequent sleeper berth period, totals at least 10 hours; and (B) Including all on-duty time, all off-duty time not spent in the sleeper berth, all sleeper berth periods of less than 2 hours, and any sleeper berth period not described in paragraph 3(A).

When a truck accident occurs the first thing an experienced truck accident attorney will do is have an investigator go to the scene to make sure physical evidence such as skid marks, locations of debris is preserved and inspect and photograph the vehicles invalid so the cause of the accident can be reconstructed by an accident reconstructionist. Once that is done a letter should be sent to the trucking company requesting that any black box data be preserved, as well as GPS data and the truck drivers logs be preserved along with any electronic logs maintained by the trucking company. With this information you once a law suit is filed you will have the information necessary to prove whether the truck driver violated the hours of service regulations, whether the driver falsified his logs but putting done times he rested when the electronic data proves he was actually driving and whether the trucking company was purposely ignoring these false entries.

One of the key to winning any case tried to a jury is to get the jury to side with your client. If you can show not only that the truck driver was negligent in the operation of his truck but also that he falsified his log book and his employer knew it, the jury is more likely to award a large verdict, or the insurance company will pay more to settle the case. That is why you are involved in a trucking accident, you should hire an experienced trucking accident lawyer like Jeff Lowe of the Lowe Law Firm. We work on a contingency basis and only charge you a fee if we recover for you. We also advance all expenses and only recover them if we win for you.

In Jefferson City Missouri, crews worked night and day for five weeks, even through an ice storm, to reopen a bridge that was destroyed in a fiery tanker truck crash, the Associated Press reports.

The bridge had to be torn down, redesigned and then rebuilt after the Nov. 27 accident on U.S. 54 that killed the driver of a Western Oil tanker truck that overturned and exploded.

The bridge plays a vital role in Jefferson City. It links motorists to several schools and churches and is part of an important route for emergency vehicles. Therefore, the Missouri Department of Transportation opted to award an emergency contract and build in the winter. That meant costs jumped from $800,000 to $1.3 million.

When a tanker truck hauls flammables, safety is paramount. This crash destroyed a bridge. If another car had been involved, it doubtful the motorists would have emerged from the accident uninjured.

A semitrailer truck that failed to slow down for an Illinois construction zone triggered a chain-reaction crash that killed at least three people in rural Illinois, the Rockford Register Star reports.

The accident occurred two days after Christmas on southbound Interstate Hwy. 39 in Lasalle County, Illinois. According to the Illinois State Police, an 18-wheeler approached a construction zone where cars were merging from two lanes into one. The semi didn’t slow down. According the news report, the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The big rig rammed into the back of one car, sending it into the median before rolling over. Unable to stop, the semitrailer then plowed into the back of a car driven by a retired Minnesota couple, Donald W. Rautio, 67, and his wife, Faye C. Rautio, 65. Their car slammed into a fourth car, driven by Caryn J. Casey, 21, which burst into flames. The 18-wheeler then caught fire. Three more vehicles, including a second truck, were swept up into the chain-reaction crash. The Rautios and Casey were killed.

Driver fatigue is a deadly problem. In the weeks to come, investigators will examine whether this tragedy could have been avoided. The Department of Transportation imposes strict regulations on the trucking industries. Truck drivers may not work more than 14 hours in a 24-hour period and then must have ten hours of rest before returning to the road. Both driving and sleep time must be recorded in the driver’s log box. If the log is falsified, a truck’s “black box” or GPS tracking systems may reveal the truth. These are all key pieces of evidence that will be reviewed to determine whether the driver violated DOT regulations when he got behind the wheel on December 27.

A tractor-trailer owned by Swift Transportation in April 2004 killing the driver of a Suburban when the truck driver drove 65 mph across three sets of rumble strips which were designed to warn of an approaching stop sign, and then ran the stop sign. Under Federal Regulations all truck drivers and trucking companies are required to keep a log of the number of hours the truck driver has driven to comply with the Federal Hours of Service Regulations. During the discovery phase of this case, the trucking company claimed it could not locate the driver logs .Under the rules of evidence call the adverse inference rule of evidence, this raised the inference that the driver was fatigued. Driver fatigue is the cause of many truck accidents

At trial, the truck driver did not have an explanation why he failed to slow down. The jury apparently apparently did not believe the trucking company regarding why it could not produce the driver logs, and it awarded $23.1 million in compensatory damages and $13.5 million in punitive damages.

This shows when selecting a personal injury lawyer who handles trucking accident cases, it pays to have a lawyer who is knowledgeable about trucking regualtions and asks to right interrogatories and request for production of documents to the trucking company. This discovery should always ask for the truckers logs, any downloads from the truck's black box if it has one as well as GPS readings that the trucking company maintained. Also you should always investigate the possibility that the trucking company was negligent in hiring the driver. That is why you should always investigate the drivers past employment and driving record.

If you need an experienced trucking accident lawyer, contact Jeff Lowe at the Lowe Law Firm, 877-678-3400.

A Chicago Illinois truck driver on October 1, 2003 crashed into a small tour bus killing eight woman all from the Chicago area. Accident reconstructionists estimated that the truck driver was traveling more than 60 mph in a 45 mph constructions zone. In addition, to the speed limit violation, he was charged with failing to inspect his vehicle as required by Federal Regulations, failing to secure his load and failure to properly keep his log book.

The driver of the tour bus involved in the crash at a tollway that killed eight passengers testified Monday that he had little time to react before a truck slammed into the rear of his vehicle."For a split second, I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the truck moving extremely fast," "All of a sudden we were hit from behind. I was thrown against the steering wheel."

The truck driver blamed for the crash was charged last year with eight counts of reckless homicide and other offenses. He was returning from Rockford Illinois at the time after picking up a load of cardboard. As traffic slowed for a toll plaza his tractor-trailer truck hit the rear of the tour bus that was carrying members of International Women Associates, a Chicago-based organization.

A National Transportation Safety Board report concluded that the crash might have been prevented if the old-style toll plaza had been replaced by safer open-road tolling. The older plazas increased the incidence of rear-end collisions, the board concluded.

The tour bus driver testified that he began slowing in a construction zone from the posted 45 m.p.h. speed limit about a mile before the crash to about 15 m.p.h. "It was a clear day," he said. "I could easily see traffic was moving to the right to get into the manual [toll] lanes."The collision triggered a chain-reaction crash that also involved a pickup truck and tanker truck. There were 15 injuries.

A westbound motorist, testified that he stopped and rushed to the median where the 25-passenger bus had come to rest. "It was the worst thing I'd ever seen," he said. "Just, people needing help. People were hurt, injured, hysterically out of control. Bleeding all over."

This accident shows the dangers of trucks driving too fast and failing to follow federal regulations. Trucks weigh so much and can't stop nearly as fast as cars and need to follow all speed limits and safety regulations. When they don't, the consequences for innocent motorists and passengers can be deadly like this crash. I have seen this happen too many times in my job in representing people who are injured in truck crashes. Most truck drivers are responsible, but the few dangerous ones gives truck drivers a bad name.

A tractor trailer that rear ended a car resulted in a $19.2 million jury verdict. The force of the collision threw the car into the path of an oncoming cement truck, which slammed into the victim’s vehicle. The driver died from his injuries at the scene.

After the collision, the driver of the truck tested positive for high levels of cocaine and marijuana. The man’s family brought suit in Illinois, because the truck company was negligent for allowing the driver behind the wheel when he was clearly unfit to drive.

This case shows the tactics some truck companies will go to avoid compensating victims. After the victim’s family filed suit in Illinois, the trucking company stated under oath that it only had a limited amount of insurance. It turned out that the trucking company had more insurance coverage than they had admitted. There was actually $50,000,000 of insurance coverage available.

At trial, the trucking company fought to keep the jury from hearing evidence of its driver’s drug use, but the judge allowed the drug use into evidence. At the end of the trial, the jury found the truck driver and trucking company were 100% responsible for the collision. The jury awarded the victim’s family $18.2 million for the deceased man's lost future earnings and the loss of the his companionship. The jury awarded an additional $1 million for the man’s suffering before he died at the scene of the wreck.

This case shows that you need to retain an attorney experienced in handling trucking accidents. All commercial truck drivers are required after accident to have drug test. It is important to make sure the evidence is saved. An experienced attorney who handles trucking accidents knows to look for all possible insurance. The possible insurance coverage includes the driver who caused the accident, the company employing the truck driver, the company whose trailer is being hauled, and any leasing company or employer employing anyone involved int eh accident even if they claim it is only an independent contractor relationship.

If you are looking for a free consultation, call or Jeffrey J. Lowe at 877-678-3400 or e-mail him at jeff@jefflowepc.com. Also visit his website at www.jefflowepc.com.

A truck crash on Interstate 70 in Columbia Missouri killed two persons in a car when a tractor trailer carrying mail rear-ended the car and caused the vehicle to catch fire.

Authorities said a tractor-trailer carrying mail under contract with the U.S. Postal Service was traveling eastbound on I-70 at 3:30 a.m. when it struck the back end of a car just west of the Stadium Boulevard exit. The car caught fire, and the truck went off the roadway and struck an embankment. "The driver of the truck was identified as Jim Marchesi, 51, of Junction City, Kan., who was not injured, police said.

The response from the Columbia Fire Department included a "foam truck" that delivers large quantities of firefighting foam. Columbia fire fighters also called for a water tanker from the Boone County Fire Protection District because of the size of the fire. Firefighters arriving at the scene found the car covered in flames in the middle of the eastbound lanes. After the fire was extinguished, firefighters found a single deceased victim in the car.

This fatal accident unfortunately is too common of occurrence. Trucks weighing 50,000 pounds simply cannot stop as quickly as cars. Truckers have to drive the speed limit and keep an eye out for stopped or slowing traffic so that they have time to stop. When they don't, the end result is usually fatal for the driver of the car. In a similar accident happened just 2 months ago on Interstate 44 outside St. Louis Missouri on a stretch of Interstate on which there have been numerous fatal truck car crashes, many of them similar to this crash. Something has to be done, and increasing the number of hours a truck driver can drive per day and per week, without a rest as proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Administration will only lead to more fatal accidents like this one.

A trucker whose tractor trailer was involved in a crash that sent another motorist to the hospital has been charged with first-degree assault for operating his truck with no front brakes. An investigation by the state police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit determined that the truck had no brakes because of leaks. Federal Motor Carrier laws require truckers to conduct pre-trip inspections to ensure the vehicle meets the federal safety guidelines.

Investigators discovered that the front brake shoes were not making contact with the drums, meaning that truck needed twice the distance to stop than under normal conditions. The truck drivers log book had also not been kept up-to-date for several days according to State Police.

The truck driver was charged with felony first-degree assault, felony first-degree reckless endangering, failure to obey a traffic device, improper passing and two federal Motor Carrier Safety violations in connection with the late-night crash

State police spokesman Cpl. John Barnett Jr. said the Truck Driver was operating a 1997 Freightliner tractor trailer about 11:20 p.m. when he passed a 1997 Ford Mustang on the right, hitting the driver’s door. The driver of the car, was wearing a seat belt and had to be extricated from the car and suffered severe internal injuries.

A tanker truck hit a mini van broadside, killing three children, and critically injuring the driver and another child. The accident occurred in Lincoln County on Highway 61. This is a four lane road in which cross over traffic can stop in the median. The accident occurred when the driver of the mini van attempted to drive her mini van across the northbound lanes into the path of a tanker truck who could not stop in time.

The accident occurred at a dangerous intersection in a developing portion of Lincoln County. The intersection is scheduled for $500,000 in safety improvements.

The driver of the mini van lived in the area, living less than a mile from the intersection. All passengers were wearing safety belts but the driver who was not wearing her safety belt was ejected. The three children were pronounced dead at Lincoln County Medical Center in Troy, Missouri and the driver was airlifted to St. John’s Medical Center in St. Louis while her two year old son, was airlifted to St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

According to officials, more than 40,000 cars a day travel this stretch of Highway 61. The Highway 61 intersection with Highway U and there has been an added hazard because that is an access road to two quarries which results in heavy truck traffic. Steve Rung, a former police chief of Moscow Mills who lives nearby, says he has worked several fatal truck accidents there. Mr. Rung described Highway U as a terrible intersection because the sight distance is horrendous. Andy Bender of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office stated it seems like there is a wreck there every afternoon.

A third intersection at Highway C three miles north of the accident scene is undergoing a $10.5 million reconstruction that includes an overpass with entrance and exit ramps. Less extensive plans are underway to improve the intersection of Highway 61 and U by moving the access to the outer road according to a spokesperson for Modot. Another cross over will also be built at that intersection which will be completed by the end of the year. Hopefully this will make this dangerous intersection safer and prevent tragedies like this one from recurring.

Five people were killed on Interstate 44 outside St. Louis in a collision involving two tractor trailers, a car, and two SUV's The collision occurred about 5:00 p.m. when a tractor trailer struck the rear end of a car that had slowed on the far right lane of I-44, just east of the Bowles Avenue exit ramp according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Investigators are trying to determine why the tractor trailer did not slow down. The woman driving the car died at the scene and the truck driver who struck her was taken to the hospital where he also died. Five others in 2 SUV's and the other tractor trailer were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate injuries.

The I-44 corridor between Interstate 270 and Grey Summit is considered one of the most dangerous corridors in the state. There have been at least 19 crashes with 33 deaths in the last seven years along this 25 mile stretch of road.

This trucking accident blog has previous entries regarding some of the fatalities, many of them occurred near the Six Flags St. Louis exit which is 13 miles west of the crash scene. In July 2005 a dump truck slammed into a mini van near the Six Flags exit, killing five family members from St. Charles on their way to Six Flags. In July 2000 five family members were killed when their van crossed over the center line on I-44 and was hit broad-side by a tractor trailer.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials have made several improvements to improve the safety at the Six Flags exit which is the site of most of the deadly accidents. The improvements include better signage, two dedicated exit lanes to Six Flags on I-44 westbound.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has also done work on the Bowles Avenue ramp several years ago to improve traffic flow in and out of the Chrysler plant in Fenton.

These accidents show that no matter how safe or what changes are made, there are still going to be accidents due primarily to driver inattention, fatigue, and/or poorly maintained equipment. More has to be done to improve the safety of our highways which should include decreasing the number of allowable hours a truck driver can drive without rest and shortening the maximum number of hours a driver can drive per week.

In trying truck accident cases, there is certain discovery that should be done that can prove that the trucking company is liable not only for the actual damages, but also punitive damages.

In any trucking accident, the most obvious and simplest way to obtain evidence that will support an award of punitive damages it the Alcohol and drug screening that is performed after any accident. An attorney also needs to obtain the truck driver's logs and then make mathematical calculations of miles traveled during a particular time which could lead to evidence of excessive speed as well as the trucking company's knowledge of the truck driver driving at excessive rates of speed. Also, sometimes trucking companies on their bills of lading or other records indicate that a particular load is a "high value extremely time sensitive load" which can provide evidence of motive regarding why the truck driver was encouraged by his trucking company to speed.

It can also be argued that if the trucking company or motor carrier does not have a management system in place to monitor hours of service violations and prevent them, that the trucking company is permitting or intentionally turning a blind eye to allowing their drivers to speed and endanger other drivers lives.

Another area of discovery that should be explored is obtaining the driver’s cell phone records. There have been studies which demonstrate that drivers on cell phones are as impaired as drunk drivers. Obtaining records showing that the driver was on the phone, especially if he is on the phone to his company, can provide not only evidence of liability and conduct that could give rise to the imposition of punitive damages..

In addition, companies are required to keep certain records by federal regulation. Companies that do not keep supporting documents, including downloads from the truck’s ECM module, satellite positioning, tapes of phone records, pay records, as well as driver e-mail messages, can all form the basis of spoliation of evidence claims which in some states is an independent tort.

A less common area of discovery is annual driver reviews. Many companies do not do adequate annual driver reviews and evidence of unreported tickets including reckless driving, any evidence of drivers carrying duplicate drivers license from different states, and any general violation of company rules can provide a basis for liability.

Finally prescription drugs and legal medications can be a legitimate avenue that may provide evidence sufficient to allow recovery of punitive damages. Every company has a duty to find out whether the driver is taking any medication. The drivers in turn are supposed to tell trucking companies about medicines that they are taking. If a carrier does not take action to find out what type of medication a driver is taking, this may provide another independent basis for liability. Many medications are labeled informing a patient that they should not operate heavy equipment while taking the medication.

These are just some of the areas that should be investigated in any trucking accident case, including negligent hiring and retention. Negligent hiring and retention can, especially in cases of vicarious liability, provide an independent basis of liability if the trucking company does not admit agency and liability for the truck driver.

A tractor trailer crashed into the back of a car which had stopped for a school bus, when it was struck from behind by a tractor trailer that pushed the car 272 feet and the school bus 328 feet, causing the car to burst into flames. The seven children in the car were killed.

Investigators investigating the cause of the crash found no mechanical failure, no obstruction that would have prevented the driver from seeing the stopped vehicles, and no evidence of drug or alcohol use by the truck driver. A re-enactment showed that the stopped bus and car could be seen for 1,400 feet away, but found only light skid marks of the tractor trailer a short distance before the impact.

The driver, Alvin Wilkerson, made an initial statement, but refused to be interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

A police record check showed Wilkerson had four traffic citations and two arrests since 1997. Further investigation found that except for a nap, the truck driver had been awake for 34 hours preceding the accident. At the time of the crash, the driver was driving a load of bottled water on a trip that was approximately 85 miles. Evidence from witnesses and the driver's log book showed he was making deliveries and loading and unloading trucks during a 34 hour period.

Investigators were also looking at factors other than fatigue, including the fact that the driver had a dog in the cab with him. Investigators found that he was not talking on a cell phone. The owner of the tractor trailer, Crete Carrier Corp. out of Lincoln, Nebraska, operates over 5,000 trucks and employs over 5,000 drivers. Accident investigators hope to learn more from the accident from data recorders, but neither the tractor trailer nor the bus had a black box or other type recorder. An electronic engine control module on the truck that is capable of recording braking and vehicle speeds did not record that information prior to the crash sequence.

According to information from drivers who have worked for Crete in the past, they use Qualcomm to monitor their drivers. The basic modules of the Qualcomm system include miles and routing software. Anyone at the company that has access to the Qualcomm system can pull up what the driver has done. Qualcomm also works off a GPS system. The company can easily determine if the driver is violating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety hours of service laws. Some drivers claim that a driver can thwart the Qualcomm system by not accurately reporting the miles of service. It seems like it is time for federal regulations making systems that track through GPS the miles and hours of service that the vehicle actually drives in which it is not as easy for drivers the cheat the system. Trucking companies, of course, do not want this because it places the clear responsibility to monitor the drivers on them and it prevents high mileage drivers who thwart the system from being able to do so.

I was surprised to learn that a recent analysis of of fatal trucking accidents revealed that 25% of truckers involved in fatal truck accidents had been convicted of a criminal offense, that 14 percent had prior drug or alcohol offenses before the accident and that 10% were convicted felons. This is apparently occurs because trucking companies faced with a shortage of experienced drivers find that ex-convicts are an attractive pool of low cost labor. Some states such as Texas are training inmates to be truck drivers upon release.

Upon looking into this further I found that it is legal to hire drivers with a criminal records. While I am in favor of people rehabilitating themselves and becoming productive members of society, this alarming statistic demonstrate that if companies are going to hire drivers with criminal records that their performance must be watched closely by the trucking companies. Maybe they should work for at least a year with an experienced driver with a good safety record and be assigned trucks with more sophisticated tracking systems so that there speed and hours of service can be tracked to make sure they are not driving recklessly in violation of hours of service regulations or speeding.

A tractor trailer or commercial truck can travel up to one hundred thousand miles or more on the nation's highways per year. A common emergency situation for a truck driver is a tire blow-out. The most dangerous type of tire blow-out is when a "steer tire" blows out. When that happens, a truck driver has about 2 seconds to follow the proper steps to keep the 40 ton truck under control and to slowly get off the highway.

There have been many calls by consumer groups for increased truck driver training to reduce fatal accidents. Those calls have largely fallen on deaf ears at the Federal Motor Safety Carrier Administration. According to experienced truck drivers, a truck driver has about 2 seconds to react when a steer tire blows out. A tire blow-out may come at any second while the truck driver is reaching for a drink, talking on the CB or cell phone, or looking at a passing vehicle. In those 2 seconds, the driver has to (1) keep his head and not react wildly; (2) grip the steering wheel firmly; (3) stay off the brakes and in fact, do the opposite because when driving the primary force of the truck is forward force and when there is a blow-out there is going to be a substantial amount of sideways force and braking just increases that sideways force; and (4) the driver needs to increase the forward speed which means to accelerate because that compensates for the increased sideways force and will minimize the weight on the blown tire and decrease the dragging effect. After all this is done in the approximately 2 seconds, the driver then can slowly back off the accelerator and start easing toward the side of the road.
Finally, when getting off the road, he needs to keep steering the truck smoothly and gently.

Many people suggest that once the truck is on the shoulder, it is best to coast to a stop without brakes. This is the method taught in most driver training programs and in most states' commercial drivers license manuals. Some people think that if you brake at all, you should keep the pressure very light and constant.

This type of reaction in a panic situation, which most experienced drivers are know about, must be done as second nature. That is where increased training can play a significant role in reducing the potential for a catastrophic collision by a truck carrying a 40 ton load. Despite calls by many consumer groups for increased training, the Federal Motor Safety Carrier Administration has failed to act.

When investigating a truck accident, the first issue that an attorney should address is whether the truck was equipped with an Electronic Control Module ("ECM") device or Global Position System ('GPS"), and if so, what kind. There are a variety of ECM modules that provide and record different types of information, and finding out what system a truck had, if any, and making sure the trucking company preserves that data, is important if a lawsuit is filed regrading the truck accident and the casue of the truck accident is disputed.

The precursors of the modern ECMS and GPS were on-board diagnostic systems that were installed in trucks in the 1980's. A truck's on-board diagnostic system is basically computer software that had been installed into the on-board computer in order to monitor and control the truck's engines and emissions. With these on-board diagnostic systems, also known as electronic control modules or ECMs, various information can be monitored including:

1. Starting air pressure
2. Filtered/unfiltered engine oil pressure
3. Oil temperature
4. Coolant level/temperature
5. Crank case pressure
6. Fuel temperature
7. Inlet air temperature
8. Engine speed
9. Cylinder exhaust temperature
10. Exhaust stack temperature, and
11. Ignition timing

This information not only helps mechanics to repair the engines, but provides for advanced data recovery technology that can be essential in accident reconstruction. The increased ability for additional information to be recorded and the data collected can be considerable importance for trucking companies to monitor the performance and compliance of their employees, the truck driver, with safety regulations. As the early computer systems became more sophisticated, they came with the ability to monitor both the behavior of the truck as well as the driver's habits, and essentially have become the truck's "flight recorder" when doing accident reconstruction.

There are currently many different ECM software systems.

For example, a software system called GlobalTracs transmits equipment engine hours and location data at regular user defined intervals or on demand. The data can be accessed via the Internet or the system can be integrated into existing business systems.

A software called FleetAdvisor supports full function on-board computing, electronic department of transportation logs, state line crossing, vehicle tracking, and real time wireless communication.

TruckMAIL was designed for smaller trucking fleets. It provides two way communication and satellite tracking. Drivers can read and send text messages from the display unit in the cab and dispatchers monitor vehicle location and send and receive messages.

All of these systems, and there are many more, have the same basic features and just different varieties of services. Typically a vehicle using one of these types of software would be fitted with a monitoring system responsible for gathering information from various monitors placed on the tractor, trailer, and cargo. The monitoring system's exact location is made possible for using a global positioning system receiver. Some of these systems automatically download data from trucks returning to a terminal.

Under current trucking hours service regulations by the FMCSA, a truck driver can work 12 hours straight, including 8 hours of driving non-stop. In the Missouri truck accident, Doris Edwards slowed for traffic near Kingdom City, Missouri on her way home from a Thanksgiving trip in 2004 when a tractor trailer slammed into her Jeep Cherokee, crushed her vehicle, and sent it down the embankment off Interstate 70, killing her. While the truck driver accepted blame for the accident, he acknowledged the fact that he had been at work in his truck cab for nearly 12 hours and he had been driving non-stop. He did not have any violation of hours of service. In fact, government officials have repeatedly turned down requests by consumer and safety organizations seeking restrictions on the hours of service that truck drivers can perform while driving cross country. In support of the regulations, the Bush administration says that the efforts to deregulate the industry have produced huge savings for businesses and consumers because it has been made faster and cheaper for goods to move across the country. They also claim with little support that without longer work hours, the industry would be forced to put more drivers with little experience behind the wheel.

Advocates of tighter rules say that the administration's record of loosening standards endangers motorists. The fatality rate for truck related accidents remains double those involving only cars. The same advocates note that the weakening rules reversed the course sent by the Clinton administration and has resulted in the federal government missing its own targets for reducing death rates. In implementing this deregulation, the FMCSA has eased rules on truckers' work hours, rejected proposals for electronic monitoring to combat wide-spread cheating on driver's logs, and resisted calls for more rigorous driver training. While many in the trucking industry have applauded this deregulation, the courts have vowed that the deregulation ignores government safety studies and puts the industry's economic interests ahead of public safety.

To advance its agenda of deregulation, the Bush administration has installed industry officials in influential posts. To lead the agency that administers regulations of the trucking industry, President Bush picked Joseph M. Clapp, a former chairman of roadway, a trucking company, to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Bush also appointed Michael P. Jackson, a former top official at trucking associations, as deputy secretary of transportation. In addition, Duane Wacklie, a leading political fundraiser and chairman of the American Trucking Association and Walter B. McCormick, Jr., the American Trucking Association's president, served on the Bush-Cheney transition team on transportation matters.

While it is not unusual for administrations to have people familiar with industries they regulate on the boards governing them, it is clear from these appointments, as loosening regulations, that fly in the face of the safety studies that the current administration is more intent on supporting the trucking companies making more money than the safety of individuals on the highways.

The only way this can change is for the public to make their voices known to the FMCSA, as well as their representatives. Once elected politicians and representatives know that this is an issue that is important that their constituents care about, can something can be done to rectify this threat to everyone safety on our nation's highways.

According to a 2006 Federal Motor Carry Safety Administration report, there are approximately 141,000 truck crashes every year and 77,000 of those, or over 50%, are the direct fault of the truck driver. The FMCA also reported that this amounts to 1 in 20 truck drivers will be involved in a truck accident. For years, many people have focused on driver fatigue as playing a major role in truck accidents, however, while fatigue is in the top 10, it is down at number 7 as being the cause of approximately 13% of the truck accidents.

According to the FMCA 2006 report, the top 10 causes of truck accidents are:

1. Prescription drug use - 26%
2. Traveling too fast - 23%
3. Unfamiliar with the roadway - 22%
4. Over the counter drug use - 18%
5. Inadequate surveillance - 14%
6. Fatigue - 13%
7. Illegal maneuver - 9%
8. Exterior distraction - 9%
9. Inadequate evasive action - 7%
10. Aggressive driving - 7%
Many people knowledgeable in the trucking industry believe there should be additional and more detailed training as well as continued education regarding how truck drivers can avoid truck accidents. While many truck drivers or people in the industry would have guessed that traveling too fast is a major contributor to truck accidents, I doubt that most people surveyed would have thought that 26% of truck accidents are caused by prescription drug use with another 18% caused by over the counter drug use, meaning that 44% of all truck accidents are caused in some part by over the counter or prescription drugs.

I believe that this statistic demonstrates that there must be increased training as well as continued education regarding medications that can contribute to truck accidents. It is reported in truck driving schools and many trucking companies use a three minute video during classes showing the dangers of drugs and driving. Many drivers do not fully understand the consequences that simple over the counter drugs can have when driving an 80,000 pound truck down the highway.

As our Interstates and highways become more congested, the number of motor vehicle accidents is going to rise. New statistics show an alarming increase in the rate of truck crashes, many of them preventable. I believe that simple education along with increased surveillance through automated log books coupled with GPS systems can dramatically decrease the number of truck accidents because while 44% of truck accidents can be attributed to prescription drug use or over the counter drug use, an additional 23% are attributed to traveling too fast, 14% to inadequate surveillance, and 13% to fatigue. All of those factors are preventable and by using modern technology, coupled with education regarding drug use, these preventable truck accidents can be drastically reduced.

While the current administration at the FMCA has made steps concerning monitoring companies with poor track records, those monitoring systems should be extended to all truck companies just like the airline industry is required to maintain black box and voice data recorders. Given the number of truck accidents and deaths compared to airplane crashes and deaths, it certainly would be cost effective to implement across the board these new technologies that can save lives.

Truck accidents and auto accidents as well as other deaths dropped substantially in Missouri, Illinois and 14 other states last year. Many states with the reduction in truck accident and auto accident deaths credit stepped up enforcement and education campaigns. Illinois truck accident and automobile accident deaths fell below 1,300, the lowest total since 1924. Road deaths in Illinois have been dropping every year since 2003, when Illinois enacted a law that allowed police to stop motorists solely for not wearing seat belts. According to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the drop in trucking accident and automobile accident deaths represented clear and convincing evidence that the law is working and seat belts really do save lives.

In Missouri, truck accident and automobile accident fatalities in 2005/2006 dropped 14.6 percent. Law enforcement officials credit the decline with education efforts and new research initiatives that enable state troopers to focus on areas where crashes most likely occur. Some states that had drops in traffic fatalities cited stiffer drunk driving laws, police checkpoints aimed at aggressive driving, improved highway design, and safety efforts targeting young drivers.

When I see drivers driving without their seat belts, I am amazed at their ignorance of what can happen to them in an automobile accident whether or not it involves a truck. If a car crashes into another vehicle, the deacceleration forces can force a non-belted passenger out through the windshield or the side windows of the vehicle. In addition, if the vehicle rolls over, frequently the passengers are ejected, resulting in severe permanent injuries or death. Also, safety restraints such as shoulder belts, airbags, side curtain airbags, roof pillars to prevent roof crush, all become useless if the passenger is not belted because they are not in the proper position to take advantage of the safety devices built into modern day automobiles. I applaud Illinois in allowing troopers to stop people and give them tickets if they are not wearing their seat belts. The simple clicking of a seat belts with a shoulder harness can prevent severe permanent injuries, death, as well as the social costs of extensive medical bills and the heartbreak of people losing a loved one or having to watch them suffer through extreme pain. My advice is make it automatic when you get in your automobile to put your seat belt on, and set a good example for your children by always making sure they wear their seatbelts and you wear yours.

In Illinois 10 people were killed in truck and car accidents over the Christmas holidays. Four of the 10 people killed were under 21 and 7 were under 27. Police were searching for a truck that struck a vehicle killing two people in the Cook county area. The driver of the truck fled on foot with another person and the police are talking to "persons of interest."

The holiday season can be a dangerous one. Being the father of 2 teenage daughters who both drive, the number of deaths involving people under 21 is of great concern. In trying to find a common factor for the four deaths, 3 involved boys, and 2 in the early morning hours. The death involving the girl occurred when her Jeep flipped and she was partially ejected and may not have been wearing her seat belt.

No parent can completely protect their children once they start driving. As a lawyer handling truck and care crash cases as well as a parent I believe I can give some advice regarding driving safety. First, have your child drive the safest and newest car you can afford. The newer cars tend to have the most up to date safety features such as side impact or side curtain air bags, anti-lock brakes, staged or smart front air bags, electronic stability equipment and SUV's with lower center of gravity and wider wheel base to reduce the vehicle's propensity to roll over.

Also limit driving after curfew to the extent possible. Nothing good happens when teenagers are driving after 1:00 a.m. Most of all always wear your seat belt and make sure they wear theirs. The most common reason for a death involving a car accident is from being ejected from the vehicle. Cars are designed to protect a belted passenger. If you are not belted you become a projectile and frequently are ejected from the vehicle and cannot take advantage of the designed protection such as air bags, pillars to prevent roof crush, as well as other safety features. And most of all, many teenagers will drink, make sure they have a designated driver.

Eight people died in truck and car crashes in Missouri during the 78 hour period from December 29, 2006 through January 11, 2007. this included three fatalities that occurred on December 31, 2006 when a family from Menasha, WI died when their vehicle was struck by a tractor trailer. This is also the same number of fatalities that occurred in Missouri the previous year.

I realize that nothing can be done regarding those deaths, but hopefully by making people aware of the extent of the problem, Missouri drivers will pay special attention to driving safely next holiday season. You should know that the holiday season cam be especially dangerous.

According to the Missouri Highway Patrol during the New Years counting period which began December 29, 2006 at 11:59 p.m. and ended January 1, 2007, they investigated 247 vehicle crashes which included 109 injuries and 8 fatalities. The Missouri Highway Patrol also arrested 132 people for driving while intoxicated. The previous year, the Missouri Highway patrol investigated 220 traffic crashes involving 81 injuries and 8 deaths. Last year 151 people were arrested for driving while intoxicated.

The 8 fatalities during this holiday season, occurred in various parts of Missouri. Two occurred in the St. Louis area and were investigated by Troop C of the Missouri Highway Patrol, two occurred in the Rolla Missouri area and were investigated by Troop I, two occurred in the St. Joseph MO area and were investigated by Troop H, and 1 occurred in Lee's summit and Springfield Mo areas and were investigated by troop A and D respectively.

The holidays should be a time to relax and be with family and friends. As you can see, it can also be a dangerous and tragic time on the roadways. My advice is to travel with caution while driving all of the time but be especially cautious during every holiday season, and of course don't drink and drive.

A study released earlier this year by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") concluded that drivers of large trucks involved in truck crashes are ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash when compared to other factors such as road conditions, weather conditions, or problems with the vehicle. This was the first study that focused on analyzing pre-crash factors.

This study reinforces what proponents of truck safety have been saying. More time needs to be spent training truck drivers to make sure they drive with the highest degree of care. These truck safety advocates efforts have largely fell on deaf ears with the current administration in Washington, which consistently has favored loosening regulations of truck drivers and the companies that employ them instead of the safety of the public on the road. Maybe the millions of dollars big business has donated to the Bush administration and the Republican party have been rewarded. But remember, no one should put profits over safety, and every politician that does will have to answer to the voters for their actions some day. Also every trucking company that does so, may end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit by the family members of someone killed by a trucker who has been driving too long and too fast.

On July 13, 2005, near Kansas City Missouri, a tractor trailer and tour bus carrying rapper Eminem's disc jockey and others hit a truck causing a multi vehicle accident. The Bus was traveling from a show on the Anger Management tour from Chicago Illinois, through St. Louis, Missouri and Kansas City Missouri to Denver Colorado.

On August 29, 2005 I filed a lawsuit in St. Louis Missouri against Eminem, Entertainment Coaches of America and the bus driver Charles Dilligard, on behalf of Breck and Tina Wyngarden who were in their tractor trailer that was side swiped by the bus that was reportedly going 85 MPH or more. Also injured in the accident were Eminem's disc jockey Alan Maman, know as the Alchemist and Stanley Benton, a rapper know as Stat Quo.

Tina Wyngarden suffered a herniated disc in her neck and has had surgery. Many of the passengers in the bus were also injured and lawsuits have been filed on behalf of ten persons who were injured in the crash. It is a miracle no one was killed with the Wyngarden's truck being forced across the center line and the tour bus rolling over on its side. If you are interested I have attached the police report detailing the Missouri Highway Patrol's accidnet reconstruction and as a bonus, Eminen's affidavit which his lawyers used to claim that Missouri Court's did not have personal jurisdiction over him.

Download Eminem' s affidavitt.

On July 29, 2005 outside of St. Louis Missouri, a dump truck killed a family of five on their way to six flags off interstate 44 about 20 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri. The dump truck with a full load of rocks rear ended their minivan which was engulfed in flames and the five occupants were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck, Thomas Miskel of Imperial Missouri was not seriously injured but could face criminal manslaughter charges. Witnesses told police that the dump truck driver did not see traffic slowing in front of him until it was too late. Five years ago, five members of a family on their way to Six Flags were killed when their car was hit by a tractor trailer. Several weeks later a tour bus driver and another person were killed near the same spot.

I know that this stretch of I-44 near St. Louis Missouri in Eureka Missouri has been the scene of several fatal accidents over the last five years. I have observed the changes made by MDOT to this stretch of Interstate 44 outside of St. Louis because I get off at this exit almost every day on my way home. It is much safer than it used to be. It now has two exit lanes almost a half of a mile before the exit and clear markings that both lanes are exit lanes for Six Flags. During the summer due to the high traffic volume to Six Flags, traffic sometimes slows down, and drivers also can be distracted by Six Flags. This is now basically a safe exit if drivers pay attention to the potential back ups and traffic slowing.

Please be careful on the highways. Pay attention and always buckle up. Don't let a fun summer excursion turn into a tragedy.