Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

Washington, 12/2/05. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s regulations governing minimum standards for entry-level truck driver training are inadequate based on the record developed during the rulemaking process, a federal appeals court ruled today. The minimum requirements adopted last May by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration involve only classroom education and in only four…

On 11/11/05 in Gwinnett County, a Gainesville man was killed when a tractor-trailer ran a red light and struck his pickup truck. Kevin Tanner, 32, died from his injuries at Gwinnett Medical Center about eleven hours after the tractor-trailer driver, Theodore Banks, 28, reportedly of Jonesboro, allegedly ran the red light and hit him. Tanner,…

Elgin, IL, 11/30/05. A truck carrying 42,000 pounds of gravel sped through a red light, stuck a minivan and 8 other vehicles, and killed the driver of the minivan. The driver of the gravel truck was to be tested for drugs and alcohol. See news story. In many states trucks carrying road construction materials, timber,…

The Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), outlined a new effort on the part of the agency to concentrate more on truck driver-related issues. As part of this shift of emphasis, FMCSA plans to start work on the following in 2006: Development of a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) learner’s permit with a…

According to a report from the General Accounting Office, states fail to report one-third of commercial trucking accidents that they are required to report to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Large trucks make up 3 percent of the nation’s registered vehicles, but they were involved in 11 percent of all fatal crashes in 2003.…

Today has been proclaimed “Drive Safer Sunday” in Georgia as part of a campaign begun by the family of an Atlanta college student killed by a speeding trucker in Viginia three ywars ago. Cullum Owings was returning to Washington & Lee University with his younger brother after a visit home to Atlanta. He planned to…

From 2001 to 2004, commercial vehicle wrecks in South Carolina increased 39%, from 2,264 to 3,147, while truck safety enforcement staffing remained at the same level. The number of trucks licensed to haul cargo in SC increased over the four-year period by about 6 percent to 862,879,while the number of tractor-trailer rigs involved in collisions…

I am chairing the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute, at the Georgia Bar Center in Atlanta, GA – Nov. 10-11, 2005. It is co-sponsored by the Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina Trial Lawyers Associations. Anyone interested in attending may register online at http://gtla.org. Nov. 10 (Thursday) 9:00 AM Trucking 101: The Basics — Morgan…

As often as I call attention to news stories of horrible crashes caused by the negligence of trucking companies and their drivers, I must point out that they are not always at fault. At 2 AM today, July 5th, a tank truck driver was shot in the head with a bottle rocket by one of…

Trucking is essential to the national economy. Virtually every product sold is transported by truck. Truck drivers, overworked and underpaid, are the heroes of country music ballads. Popular culture holds them up as rough-hewn “knights of the road,” and many are. But trucking is also a major highway safety hazard. As a hub of transportation…