Wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases involving commercial trucks are seldom just about a moment’s inattention. Usually we find there are issues of training, supervision and rule violations, though frankly with a local delivery truck in rush hour it is sometimes simpler than that. Lithonia truck driver Stephen Scott has been charged with second degree…
Continue reading ›Fatalities in large truck accidents increased 8.7% in 2010, according to a report released last week by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. NHTSA said in its annual report that 3,675 people died in trucking related accidents in 2010, an increase of 295 over the 3,380 fatalities in 2009. The number injured in trucking accidents…
Continue reading ›Truck driver fatigue is one of the more common causes of tractor trailer collisions. Too often the trucking industry pushes drivers to complete deliveries on impossible schedules, falsifying their logs if necessary to look legal if they are stopped. Over the years as a trial lawyer specializing in interstate trucking accident cases, I have heard…
Continue reading ›A tractor trailer driver did not slow from 65 mph before crashing into a line of vehicles that had slowed for traffic on I-40 in North Carolina on June 30th. One passenger vehicle caught fire, and one person was killed. According to a report from the North Carolina Highway Patrol, 50-year-old tractor trailer driver Ronald…
Continue reading ›Monday was a rainy day here, and in the rain there were at least three tractor trailer wrecks on the Atlanta expressways. The worst was on I-285 Northbound just above I-20 West, as a tractor trailer overturned after colliding with at least one other vehicle. One of the basic rules for operation of a large…
Continue reading ›As Georgia trucking lawyer who has lived in Sandy Springs for 26 years, I was saddened to hear recently that a woman was killed when she was hit by a 18 wheeler on I-285 near Riverwood High School where my son had his glory days in high school football. Rosario Velez, 44, was in her…
Continue reading ›Most professional truck drivers follow the zero tolerance rules about drinking and drugs before driving a tractor trailer or other commercial vehicle. As a trucking safety trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I see a lot of serious safety violations but seldom one involving DUI. But a recent tragedy in West Virginia demonstrates why there is…
Continue reading ›Thursday night on I-20 near North Augusta, SC, a tractor trailer changed lanes due to slowing traffic, forcing another motorist into the median and causing a fatal crash. Aaron Jennings of North Augusta was pronounced dead at the Medical Center of Georgia‘s emergency department. According to witnesses, Jennings was in the lane closest to the…
Continue reading ›When a tractor trailer from Alabama crossed the median on I-65 in Kentucky last week and struck a passenger van head-on, it killed 10 devout Mennonites en route to a wedding. The truck driver also died in the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating why the tractor trailer crossed the median and…
Continue reading ›Since I represent victims of catastrophic trucking accidents in Georgia, I tend to deal with some pretty bad stuff. A friend from high school days who occasionally glances at this blog asked me a few days ago, “are there ever any positive outcomes for any of the cases you represent?” My response was that people…
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