Truck Fails to Slow in Construction Zone; 3 Die in Fiery Pileup

New Jersey, 4/22/05. At 1:10 AM, a tractor-trailer’s failed to slow in a construction zone, causing a fiery chain-reaction crash killed 3 and and closed a 16-mile section of the New Jersey Turnpike for 15 hours. An investigator described the scene as the “most horrific crash” he had ever seen. The truck driver and two others were burned beyond recognition. The truck that caused the crash was registered to HLC Holdings owned by Henry L. Coia Trucking Inc. The company’s drivers scored just one point above “deficient,” according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Web site. The Philadelphia Inquirer article about the crash did not explore driver fatigue and hours of service issues, which are always likely suspects when a trucker from a small trucking company with a poor safety record in involved in an incident indicative of inattentiveness, particularly in the small hours of the night.

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).