Truck Accident Lawyer

If you’re cruising downhill on a major freeway, and you see a huge big rig bearing down on you, what do you do? Well, if you’re California Highway Patrol officer Tony Christolear, you get right in front of it. Earlier this month, officer Christolear was on duty on a section of Interstate 5 called “The Grapevine.” The grapevine is a long, steep grade outside of Bakersfield on which there have been a number of major trucking accidents over the years. On this day, the I-5 was crowded with holiday traffic when officer Christolear spotted the big rig traveling at a higher rate of speed than other traffic. He got closer and noticed excessive smoke coming from the trailers’ wheels. When the driver of the rig failed to slow down after the officer tried to pull him over, Christolear realized he was dealing with a runaway truck. He immediately turned on his flashing lights and siren, pulled his cruiser in front of the rig and put himself between the rig and the holiday traffic. He cleared a lane so the rig wouldn’t crash into anyone. Well, he cleared a lane until one driver failed to move over. And that’s when things got ugly… or uglier. Christolear continued to try to get the driver to move over, but in so doing, he allowed the semi to catch up to him. It smashed into the back of his patrol car. His car then bounced into the car in front of him, and then bounced back into the big rig. He and his car were playing a very dangerous game of pinball. Officer Christolear’s patrol car finally came to rest after it hit the center divider. The runaway semi continued a bit further before it ran off the road and overturned. Christolear, the driver of the semi, and the driver of the car that failed to pull over were all taken to the hospital and treated for mostly minor injuries. The accident is being investigated, with questions about the condition of the truck’s brakes, why the truck driver didn’t use any of the runaway truck ramps; and why the other driver failed to get out of the way. But one thing is certain: If Tony Christolear hadn’t acted as bravely and as quickly as he did, the outcome of this runaway truck accident would have been much worse.

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.

A trucking accident occurred on I-57 in Franklin County, Illinois and resulted in the death of two people, and was caused by a truck failing to slow down in time to avoid an accident. The accident involved seven vehicles total, four of which were semi-trucks and three of which were passenger vehicles. One of the people killed in the trucking accident was the semi-truck driver that initially caused the chain-reaction crash. The driver came upon a slowed highway, due to construction in the area, and failed to appropriately gauge the situation and tried to stop too late. The truck driver crashed into another semi-truck in front if his truck, and then was struck by another semi-truck which was in turn struck by yet another semi-truck. The second person that was killed in this accident was the driver of the second semi-truck that crashed directly into the first victim’s truck. The reason that the two drivers were killed in the accident was because the initial truck caught fire and spread to the truck that crashed into it. According to STL Today , no charges have yet been filed in connection with the accident but charges are pending. To read more about this Illinois trucking accident , please click on this link. Illinois accident attorneys ask drivers to always be extra cautious in allowing yourself time to break and come to a complete stop when approaching slowed-down traffic. The best way to ensure that you will not hit a car when you are slowing down is to leave an appropriate amount of space between you and the cars in front of you so you will always have time to react to even a sudden slow-down in traffic. The general rule of thumb is for every ten miles an hour you are driving there should be one car length between you and the car in front of you to ensure safe distance and reaction time, meaning that if you are driving at 60 miles an hour on a highway the car in front of you should be at least 6 vehicle lengths ahead of you. Please follow this simple tip and hopefully help avoid an accident!

A trucking accident occurred on the I-65 on July 23rd in which all the northbound lanes of the highway, in the section where the accident occurred, had to be shut down for several hours. The accident only involved one semi-truck that other drivers on the highway reported was swerving for some time before the crash. When the police caught up with the swerving truck, the truck was already overturned in the middle of the highway lanes. The truck had been transporting cars and a couple of them rolled out of the truck in the midst of the trucking crash and further obstructed the highway lanes. According to WLFI , no one was injured in the crash but the roads had to remain closed for awhile to clean up the crash load and the overturned semi-truck. The truck driver was issued a citation for improper lane movement in connection with the driving that caused the truck accident. To read more about this I-65 trucking accident , please click on this hyperlink. At this time it is unknown what caused the driver to be swerving prior to the accident and what it was that actually caused the truck driver to crash. However, many truck drivers drive when they are too fatigued to be behind the wheel and it leads to unsafe driving and often times can lead to trucking crashes. Truck drivers often times take certain measures to try to stay awake, whether it be taking excessive amounts of caffeine or of drugs to try to keep them alert, however this usually does not result in keeping a person that is overly tired alert and ends up being a danger to the driver and to others on the road. Illinois injury attorneys ask all truck drivers to keep in mind themselves and others that they will encounter on the road, and to always make sure to not get behind the wheel when they are overly tired or do not feel like they are alert enough to safely drive at the given time. Given the huge size of semi-trucks, a truck driver falling asleep or failing to pay attention poses a much bigger threat and risk to other drivers than the a driver of a passenger car likely would.

Just more than a year ago, 10 people were killed in a horrific traffic accident on Oklahoma’s Will Rogers Turnpike. Seventy-six-year-old Donald Creed was in his tenth hour of driving his 18 wheeler when he apparently failed to brake and ran into a line of cars which had stopped on the freeway, running completely over five of them. His mistake caused the ten deaths and a freeway pileup that stopped traffic for hours. He was charged with 10 counts of negligent homicide. It was recently reported that he is now close to reaching a plea agreement in the case. The severity of this accident has caused people to question the reasons behind it, and to see if anything can be done to prevent accidents like it in the future. There currently is a bill in the Oklahoma state senate proposing to reduce the legal speed limit for commercial trucks from 75 mph to 65 mph. Many question whether that will have any effect. Creed was reportedly traveling at 70 mph, and 5 mph less would not have reduced the severity of the accident. Additionally, there are concerns about having traffic traveling at different speeds on the same highway, and the fact that truckers are paid to travel a certain distance in a certain amount of time. Slowing them down would be a financial loss for the drivers and their employers. However, it was not the truck’s speed that killed the victims, but rather the driver’s inattentive driving. And this is where it gets tricky. There are already laws on the books regulating how long a driver can operate his truck without a break. Assuming these laws are followed and enforced — a BIG assumption — then another factor that can’t be ignored is the driver’s age. Statistically, older drivers are responsible for more traffic fatalities as a percentage of the population. Some have said that age 65 is the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots (it was 60 prior to 2007), and maybe there should be a similar mandatory retirement age for truck drivers. They wonder why we allow truckers to continue driving at age 70, 75 even 80. Truck drivers must make split-second decisions every day at high speeds that require quick reaction times. Studies show that a driver over the age of 65 may not be physically and/or mentally equipped for the challenge. So should they be taken off the roads? It’s a question that needs to be asked.

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.

While a recent study of Chicago accident deaths shows improvement, there is still a long way to go. Around 300,000 accidents occur each year in Chicago and the surrounding areas, and about one fatal accident occurs each day. Of these accidents, many were trucking accidents. Certain safety features that have been added to roads in recent years, are believed to account for the reduction of close to 200 less deaths each year in the area. One of the safety features that has led to less fatal accidents are the addition of cable median barriers in certain areas. These barriers are high-tension steel cables that are aimed to prevent vehicles that are out of control from traveling into other lanes or flipping over into oncoming traffic. These barriers are especially useful for out-of-control trucks because a flipped over truck blocking the roadway can not only lead to many accidents and often fatalities, but can also block traffic for a long stretch of time. These barriers have helped keep trucking accidents much more contained and less dangerous than they would have been in areas without reinforcements. The areas that have these barriers are mostly in more densely populated areas and the number of fatalities in these areas is decreasing more dramatically than in areas with more rural roads that lack these types of safety features. Additionally, areas where the crash rates are reducing at an even higher rate, have added more highway dividers and pavement markings that also aim at keeping vehicles in their own lanes. These improvements are especially useful for trucks which often lead to such dangerous conditions when they flip over for crash into another lane of traffic. One of the factors that the study cites as still being a big problem for Chicago drivers is the high incident of late-night driving accidents. This is especially relevant for trucking accidents because of how many truckers drive on overnight trips. According to Chicago Breaking News , the reasons that the study cites as leading to more late night crashes are things like impaired drivers, tired drivers, faster speeds because of less traffic and slower reaction times when driving at night. Chicago accident attorneys remind truck drivers of the danger of driving late at night when you are overly tired. Tiredness is the cause of many traffic accidents and whenever you feel like you need more rest of the road, please make sure to pull over and rest before getting back on the road. This is one way that individual drivers can help reduce the number of tragic accidents, and if everyone does their part to make sure they do not driver when impaired, tired or distracted, the number of traffic accidents each year will greatly decrease. To read more about this reduction in traffic accidents study, please click on this link.

An Illinois trucking accident that occurred on July 15th on I-57 in Southern Illinois resulted in the death of two truck drivers. The truck crash involved a total of seven vehicles, including four semi-trucks, a Jeep and two pickup trucks. According to The Pantagraph , Illinois State Police have reason to believe that the accident was related to a slow-down in traffic due to construction in the area. Two of the semi-truck drivers were killed as a result of the personal injuries they suffered in the accident, one other person involved was airlifted to a local hospital, and one other person involved had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Other people were also involved in the crash but did not have to go to the hospital because any injuries they had were minor enough to leave untreated or were able to be treated at the scene. Following the accident, several fires started because of the semi-trucks that were involved in the trucking accident . The local firefighters had to be called and it took awhile to get all the flames under control, and there were even explosions resulting from the accident. The Hazmat team also had to be called to the scene, because two of the semi-trucks were carrying loads of hazardous material that spilled onto the road at the time the trucking accident occurred. Given the immensity of the accident and the commotion it created, the entire section, all lanes in this section of the road way, of the I-57 were shut down for around 57 hours. To read more about this disastrous trucking accident , please click on this link.

A trucking accident lawsuit has been settled and the mother of the victim of the accident will receive a settlement of $5 million dollars in connection with the wrongful death lawsuit. The trucking accident that is the reason for the lawsuit allegedly occurred when the trucker driver, who suffered from diabetes, failed to test his blood sugar and blacked out while driving his truck and crashed into the young victim’s truck, killing her and one other young man. The truck driver previously had pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the criminal case involving this accident, but the lawsuit currently being settled is the civil wrongful death lawsuit that the family of the victim filed against the trucking company that owned the truck the driver was driving and that employed the driver. The family of the victim wanted the trucking company to have some accountability for their drivers, however initially the trucking company refused to support legislation to make companies held more responsible for their driver’s mistakes, but have since been able to come to an agreement somewhere in the middle. The company agreed to pay the victim’s family $5 million dollars as well as have the settlement recorded as a judgment rather that a confidential settlement. The reason that this is an added plus to the victim’s family is that the judgment is public record and any other family of a victim from an trucking crash involving the same company would be able to look up the settlement and it paves the way for that family having an easier time reaching a settlement. This added plus, aside from the money, was important to the victim’s family because they wanted the company to take some responsibility for what happened and wanted to help make sure that other families did not have to go through what they went through to put the awful tragedy behind them. To read more about this trucking lawsuit settlement , please click on this hyperlink.

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.