Tractor Trailer Rear-Ends Slower Moving Bus in Ohio

Montpelier, Ohio, 12/8/05
A tractor trailer loaded with plywood collided with the rear of a slower moving older private bus on the Ohio Turnpike Tuesday night. Two of the fifteen passengers on the bus suffered head injuries.
According to the Toledo Blade, a line of commercial vehicles, traveling at 65 mph, moved to the left lane to avoid the slower buses, but one tractor-trailer, driven by Robert Hitsman, 44, of Dent, Minn., did not move in time. He was charged with failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead.
Too often we see cases in which interstate truckers fail to slow down for slower moving vehicles ahead. My “favorite” involved a truck driver who blamed the accident on the driver ahead who necessarily slowed down for typical Atlanta rush hour traffic. The sleep-deprived trucker in that case struck not just the car in front of him but two other passenger vehicles and another tractor trailer. We have other cases in the office in which truckers collided with slower moving vehicles. In one case, the trucker admitted to State Patrol that he had fallen asleep, and another claimed he failed to see the slower vehicle he ran over because he was looking in his rear view mirror.

The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks).