Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

Drivers of smaller passenger vehicles, including pickup trucks and SUVs, are all threatened constantly by the presence of large commercial trucks which share the public roadways. The weight of these much more massive semi tractor-trailers, box trucks and other delivery vehicles can eclipse the average family car. For example, a fully loaded 18-wheeler can weigh upward of 80,000 pounds.

As Maryland trucking accident lawyers, I and my colleagues know that any traffic accident involving a semi can be a life-threatening event. Annually, hundreds of heavy vehicles, including Kenworth, Peterbilt and Freightliner big rigs, are involved in accidents across the country. A trucking accident, especially at highway speeds, can easily result in serious injury to the occupants of the smaller cars caught up in that particular collision; many of these wrecks can be fatal to the drivers and passengers in smaller cars, trucks and motorcycles.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that big rigs are more likely to be involved in serious multiple-vehicle collisions than SUVs, minivans or other passenger vehicles. Statistics bear this out that time after time injuries from trucking accidents are much more serious and very often fatal. Typical injuries to passenger car occupants can include spinal cord damage, traumatic brain damage, broken bones and other serious and possibly permanent bodily injuries.

Because heavy commercial vehicles are important to this country’s continued economic success, the volume and frequency of these oversize trucks on Maryland’s public roads will always be a significant factor in traffic accident, injuries and, sadly, fatalities. Busy urban areas also have their share of trucking accidents, whether on nearby expressway on- and off-ramps as well as surface streets leading to and from industrial parks.

From research performed over the years, we know that many trucking accidents could have been avoided. Although most trucking companies are responsible enough to ensure that their trucks and drivers are safe, some are not. Cargo overloading is more common than one would expect and can cause operational problems for the driver of these big rigs. In an accident situation, and overloaded truck takes longer to stop and can more easily lose control, depending on the road conditions.

It’s no uncommon that truck drivers themselves will occasionally take risks on the road. While most truckers observe traffic safety rules and regulations, some do not. Instances of exceeding the legal on-road driving time, just one example, can be a common factor in many a tragic accident. Drowsy driving on a truck driver’s part can frequently be found as a contributing factor. Other causes may include driving too fast for conditions, making unsafe passing maneuvers, and even intoxicated driving.

Police and emergency rescue workers are called to the scene of many traffic accidents every month here in Maryland and across the country. Passenger car accidents and other light vehicle crashes are bad enough to cause serious injury and sometimes death, but wrecks involving large commercial vehicles only up the ante, and not in the favor of the occupants of these smaller cars and minivans.

Individuals and entire families can be killed or injured during a severe trucking accident on Maryland highways and the streets of cities like Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington, D.C. Each of these commercial vehicle-related traffic accidents may be just another one in a line of traffic safety statistics, but as a Maryland injury accident attorney I know that real people -- mothers fathers and children -- are represented in each of those grim statistics.

Recently, one more in a string of big-rig crashes has sent multiple individuals to the hospital if only for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to news reports, an accident in Annapolis involving the tractor portion of an 18-wheeler resulted in three wrecked cars and five persons sent to local medical facilities. Included in that total were three children .

Based on reports, the crash occurred at Forest Drive and Spa Road just before 4pm. According to police reports, a semi belonging top Penn’s Best allegedly rear-ended one of the three smaller passenger vehicles while it waited for a traffic signal at the city intersection. The resulting collision caused a chain-reaction collision with two other cars.

Emergency crews arriving on the scene treated the victims, who were subsequently transported to the hospital. According to the news report, two adults were taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center, while three children who were hurt were taken to Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital. Those kids ranged in age from 17 months to 3 years old; one of the children was flown to the hospital. Fortunately, all involved received non-life-threatening injuries.

5 Injured When Truck Rear-ends Car, HometownAannapolis.com, September 2, 2010

Police believe a truck crash on Maryland’s Interstate I-695 in late July was the result of a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. According to news reports, the accident was so severe that Maryland State Police had to shut down the entire inner loop during the morning commute. As a Baltimore trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know that drowsy driving is one of the major causes of commercial truck crashes.

A semi tractor-trailer rig is a formidable piece of machinery when compared to even the largest sport utility vehicle or light truck. Passenger cars have little chance of escaping serious damage when hit by an 18-wheeler that is out of control. Even a fully loaded box truck can cause serious property damage and bodily injury if it hits another, smaller vehicle.

According to news accounts, 23-year-old Michael Angel Ocasio was driving a white 2006 GMC box truck along the beltway, a short distance south of the Baltimore National Pike. Authorities said the driver apparently fell asleep and ran into the back of a flat bed trailer around 6am in the morning.

Emergency crews from Baltimore County Fire and Emergency Services working at the crash scene had to extract the truck driver from the wreckage. Ocasio was treated and then transported to Maryland Shock Trauma where doctors provided medical care for the driver’s severe leg injuries.

The driver of the flat bed trailer was taken to Northwest Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. At the time of the article, Maryland State Police police were still investigating the accident.

Police believe I-695 accident this morning was caused by driver who fell asleep, ABC2news.com, July 20, 2010

When it comes to traffic accidents, a passenger car and its occupants are no match for a semi tractor-trailer that crashes into it. But even the driver or passenger of an 18-wheeler may be at risk on the highway when another commercial truck, such as a Kenworth, Peterbilt or Freightliner, gets into trouble on the road.

As a Maryland trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know from professional experience the types of property damage and bodily injuries that can result from big rigs crashes. And the danger is posed not only by the truck itself but the trailer and its typically heavy load. When a semi trailer losses its load on the highway, a serious accident can be just split seconds away.

An example of what can happen when a commercial over-the-road hauler dumps its load onto the roadway occurred not long ago along a stretch of Interstate 70 near Maryland’s Rte 66. According to news accounts, the wife of an out-of-state truck driver riding in her husband’s rig was seriously hurt when steel beams from another truck smashed into the couple’s tractor-trailer on a Wednesday morning. It's amazing that someone wasn't killed as a result of the aaccident.

The woman, 45-year-old Evonne J. Whalen, was reportedly riding in the passenger seat of her husband’s Freightliner when a couple structural beams fell into the eastbound lanes of the interstate. Those two huge pieces of steel weighing thousands of pounds apparently crashed into the passenger side of Whalen’s Freightliner, seriously injuring the woman’s legs and effectively pinning her inside the cab.

Emergency responders arriving on the scene required almost 45 minutes to extricate the woman from the damaged vehicle. According to Maryland State Police, the operator of the boom truck was attempting to lift the support beams from the trailer bed when he somehow lost control of the load causing the large pieces of steel to spin into the travel lanes of the interstate. There was no mention of where the boom mechanism or some other equipment was defective or failed to operate correctly.

Continue reading " Maryland Trucking Accident News: Big Rig Passenger Injured by Another 18-Wheeler’s Lost Load on I-70 " »