Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of highway deaths attributable to large trucks rose for the second year in a row in 2004, increasing by 3.7 percent and topping 5,000 for the first time since 2002. The increase to 5,169 deaths follows a 1 percent gain in 2003, when truck-related fatalities…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has determined that bus driver fatigue combined with poor brake maintenance by a trucking company tired driver to kill eight on a Texas church bus in 2003. As is commonly the case, the church that owned the bus was never informed that it was required to comply with Federal…

Nearly 23,000 pounds of bell peppers en route from El Salvador to Canada spilled Wednesday when a tractor-trailer flipped, forcing authorities to close northbound lanes of Interstate 65 in northern Alabama for 15 hours. Alabama state troopers confiscated beer cans from the scene. See Decatur Daily article and WAFF News story. 49 CFR § 382.201…

In San Luis Obispo, at 1:49 AM on 3/22/05, a local radio personality was killed when his vehicle struck the side of a tractor-trailer rig that got stuck over an hour earlier in the middle of a U-turn, blocking all lanes. Police were setting out flares, but had not yet set flares on the side…

Research indicates that fatigue can play a major role in accidents, particularly for older drivers and for drivers on the road for 12 hours or more. What causes fatigue? According to Amerisafe workers compensation administrators, normal fatigue can be caused by three categories of stress factors: – Physical environment such as temperature and vibration. –…

A article in eTrucker.com reports conflict on the effectiveness of the new Hours of Service rules that went into effect last year. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study says truck drivers’ sleep time had increased under the new rule, but they reported slightly more instances than when the old rule was in effect of…

Each year truck crashes kill over 5,000 people and injure almost 150,000 more on our nation’s roads and highways. Nearly one in four passenger vehicle deaths in multiple-vehicle collisions involve a large truck. In 1998, 98% of the fatalities in two-vehicle crashes involving passenger vehicles and large trucks were occupants of the passenger vehicles. When…

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations requiring the trucking company to bear financial responsibility to members of the traveling public for operation of trucks under their authority preempt contradictory state laws of agency. A number of these cases involve injuries to “unauthorized” passengers, including truck stop waitresses. Ken Shigley represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic…

State tort laws generally define the duty of drivers as ordinary care under an ordinary negligence standard. Occasionally, state laws set a different standard such as requiring proof of “willful or wanton” conduct in order to hold a defendant liable. However, when a motor carrier driver is driving in adverse weather, an “extreme caution” standard…

An article in the Denver Post on 3/7/05 describes the inadequacy of truck driver training, pressure to falsify log books and drive far in excess of the legal hours of service, numbing fatigue, monotony, loneliness and fatigue that are all too common in the trucking industry. The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death…