Truck Accident News

Teamsters’ Victory May be Short Lived: U.S. Government Considering Reauthorizing Foreign Cross Border Trucking

March 26, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland truck accident attorneys reported in an earlier post that the recent budget bill passed by Congress ended a program that allowed foreign truckers to transport goods into the United States. The American trucking lobby cited safety concerns as the reason for their opposition to the program. When the Congress ended the program, the Teamsters Union celebrated a victory. The Mexican government, however, viewed the end of the program as protectionist fiscal policy that would harm its domestic economy.

In response to the actions of the United States, Mexico announced plans to place heavy tariffs on imported U.S. goods. Mexico is the third largest export market for U.S. goods behind Canada and China, and is the second largest consumer of American agricultural products. In 2008, the U.S. exported $11 billion in food products to Mexico and $63 billion dollars of machinery, automobile and other transportation equipment. The Mexican tariff affects American fruits, vegetables, wine, juices, sunglasses, toothpaste and coffee and would subject some of these products to a 45 percent charge.

In an attempt to avoid a larger trade dispute, U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, may reverse the Teamsters’ victory. LaHood is currently working on plans that would revive the cross border trucking program in response to the Mexican tariff on American goods. LaHood is currently meeting with lawmakers in an attempt to restore the cross border trucking program in a manner that would address legislators’ concerns over safety.

Trucking Companies and the Teamsters Union Challenge Hours of Service Regulations

March 18, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland truck accident attorneys recognize the danger posed by fatigued drivers, especially when the drivers are operating tractor trailers. As we have discussed in prior post, the federal government has established hours of service (“HOS”) regulations that restrict the amount of time a trucker can spend behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler. These regulations help ensure that truckers remain rested and alert as they transport goods across the country.

Currently, the regulations allow a trucker to drive 11 hours a day with 8 consecutive hours of rest every 24 hours. Additionally, the regulations require a driver to remain out of service for a consecutive 34 hours once they have driven 60 hours in a single week.

In Washington D.C., trucking companies and the Teamsters Union, are attempting to overthrow the current federal HOS regulations. The goal is to decrease the number of daily hours that truckers may drive. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMSCA”) is resisting challenge to the existing law. The FMSCA cites expert studies that suggest that the current HOS are more in sync with a trucker’s circadian sleep rhythms and makes driving safer.

Anne Arundel County woman tragically killed in accident with truck

March 11, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The Baltimore Sun reports that Christine D. Schoppert, 33, of Pasadena, Maryland was killed driving her five year old daughter to nursery school on Tuesday morning. Schoppert stopped her Nissan Maxima to make the left turn into the Creative Garden Learning Center on Ordnance Road when Brian Weatherley’s Chrysler Concord rear ended her. The collision forced Schoppert into the path of an oncoming garbage truck and both vehicles caught fire.

A passerby on his way to work, Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class, Lavelas Luckey, spotted the smoking Maxima and quickly rescued the child from the car. The child was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital where she is being treated for life threatening injuries.

Although the police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident, this story reminds of something that I was taught in my driver’s education course. The instructors taught us that when stopped waiting to make a turn off of a roadway, a driver should keep a vehicle’s wheels pointed forward until they begin to make the turn. If a car has its wheels turned in one direction or another and is struck from behind, the impact will force the car in the direction the front wheels are pointed.

Federal Budget Bill Could End Controversial Cross Border Trucking Program

March 9, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Sometime ago, the Maryland truck accident attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers published a post concerning a government program that allowed foreign truck drivers access to American roads. The original program, included under the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), granted foreign truckers narrow access to the United States’ roadways. The Bush administration widened the program and allowed foreign drivers broader access to the roads throughout this country’s border states.

American truckers and their lobbyists unsuccessfully pressured the Bush administration to reduce the breadth of foreign trucker’s use of this country’s highways, claiming that the presence of foreign drivers on interior roadways put Americans at an increased risk of injuries from truck accidents. Now, American truckers could get their wish.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a $410 billion dollar budget bill that included a provision that would end cross border trucking. The passage of this legislation may have addressed the concerns of American truckers, but the move has angered other NAFTA signatories who claim that this bill violates America’s treaty obligations and sends a dangerous economic signal.

Deaths from Automobile Accidents Fell Sharply in 2008

February 25, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The truck accident attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers are pleased to report that the number of auto fatalities has fallen over the past few years. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that deaths from traffic accidents fell in 2008 and have steadily fallen over the past three years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NTSA”) calculated that the number of auto fatalities were down 10% in the first ten months of 2008.

According to the Wall Street Journal, although experts in the field do not know what has caused this steady decline, they point to four factors that may have contributed to the recent decline:
• The economic downturn; researchers at the Governors Highway Safety Association (“GHSA”) noted that due to the economic downturn and increased fuel prices, many drivers have slowed their speeds to increase their vehicle’s fuel economy. A study by another government agency concluded that automobiles get their best gas mileage between the speeds of 30 and 60 miles per hour. For example, a 2005 Ford Focus traveling at a steady 40 miles per hour could get as much as 45 miles per gallon.
• Cars with greater safety features; recently, automakers have begun surpassing government automotive safety standards. For example, federal law will require all cars to have electronic stability control by 2012. However, most new cars currently come equipped with electronic stability control systems and rollover prevention mechanisms in addition to side curtain airbags and other safety features. Also, the number of vehicles that performed poorly in crash tests has decreased over recent years. In 2008, 11 of the 21 small cars tested by the Insurance Institute Highway Safety (“IIHS”) received good ratings in side impact testing, compared with only 3 of the 19 tested in 2006.
• Changing attitudes toward drunk driving; the number of drunk driving deaths have also decreased as many state governments have launched programs to make drunk driving socially unacceptable in addition to being serious crimes.

• Seat belts; The NHTSA found that 83% of drivers and passengers used their seatbelts in 2008, the highest rate in history. National “Click it or Ticket” programs seem to have helped reduce the number of unrestrained drivers and therefore increased accident survivability.

Maryland’s Cap on Noneconomic Damages, Revisited

January 15, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

I recently read a heart breaking newspaper article on a North Carolina truck accident that drastically and irrevocably altered the life of a three year old Devon Buchanan. Devon’s grandfather, Tim Cable, described his three year old grandson as “full of life.” Cable told how he would take his grandson on trips in his truck and on ATV rides. Last summer, however, a negligent truck driver on Interstate 40 changed the nature of Devon’s relationship with his grandfather.

The truck driver, Carol Edward Jett, failed to slow for a lane closure and smashed into seven vehicles. As a result of the accident, eleven people were injured, a one year old was killed, and Devon was seriously injured. A lack of oxygen to Devon’s brain left the toddler suffering from severe brain damage. Now, Devon cannot walk and is unresponsive to his mother and to the grandfather with whom he had previously spent so much time. Since Devon cannot walk and is uncommunicative, his family must provide the child with around the clock care. As a result, Devon’s mother a father recently lost their jobs. Doctor’s are unsure whether Devon’s condition will improve, but the family remains hopeful.

Devon’s injuries, although they occurred in North Carolina, show a glaring unfairness in Maryland law. In an earlier post, we discussed how Maryland’s statutory cap on non-economic damages unfairly impacts young and severely injured victims of truck accidents. If this accident occurred in Maryland, state law would limit Devon’s right to recover meaningful damages for the total devastation of his life and the destruction of his life’s potential. The truck accident attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers believe that this limitation harms those most seriously injured in Maryland truck accidents.

Maryland Big Rig Driver Jackknifes Off of Route 301 in Upper Marlboro

January 13, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Early last week, on a rainy Wednesday morning, police and emergency personnel responded to a big rig accident on US-301 near Croom Road in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. A tractor trailer carrying an empty fuel oil tank, lost control, jack knifed, and careened off the road, seriously injuring the driver. As a result of the truck accident, the truck’s fuel tank burst and spilled nearly 150 gallons of diesel fuel across Route 301.

Accidents involving jack knifed tractor trailers pose a serious threat to other drivers on highways in Maryland. Jackknifing means the accidental folding of a tractor trailer so that it resembles an “L” or a “V”. If a commercial truck towing a trailer skids, the trailer can push the cab forward from behind until it spins out of control. Eighteen wheelers have a higher chance of jackknifing while hauling empty trailers. Jackknifing is typically caused by improper breaking, mechanical failures, or poor road conditions.

In an earlier post, we talked about the black boxes present in many modern tractor trailers. Maryland truck accident attorneys use these data recorders when a truck jackknifes to determine whether the sudden breaking or acceleration may have caused an accident.

Maryland Truck Driver on Baltimore’s Key Bridge Fails to Follow High Wind Warnings

January 7, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

On New Years Eve, high winds buffeted the Baltimore region and put drivers on area highways at increased risk for truck accidents. The Baltimore Sun reported that, during the period of high winds, a tractor trailer overturned on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, closing all travel lanes. According to Maryland Transportation Authority Police, the eighteen-wheeler traveling southbound across the bridge was forced by high winds across four lanes and into a sports utility vehicle traveling on the bridge’s northbound portion. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured in this accident; however, it is not hard to imagine how the story could have easily ended more tragically.

This incident underscores the danger that high winds pose to Maryland big rig drivers and those that share the roads with them. Wind is a powerful force that can create white outs, snap trees, and damage buildings. Strong wind gusts can also force large commercial vehicles off highways, or into other cars on the road as it did this New Years Eve.

At the time of the accident, the Maryland Transportation Authority had issued wind restrictions for the Key Bridge and prohibited large trucks from traveling over the span. Wind restrictions are placed in effect when sustained wind speeds peak between 40 and 49 miles per hour. When wind restrictions are in place, house trailers, empty big rigs, and other high profile vehicles are prohibited by Maryland law from crossing effected bridges. If a truck driver in Maryland ignores the warnings of the Maryland Transportation Authority and operates a tractor trailer across bridges affected by wind restrictions this would be evidence of the truck driver’s negligence.

Truck Accident in Elkridge, Maryland Injures Seven People

December 2, 2008 | Jack D. Lebowitz

Seven people were injured in a truck accident involving a tractor trailer and a commuter bus. Howard County Police responded to U.S. Route 1 at Dorsey Road in Elkridge, Maryland.

According to police, the driver of the tractor trailer made a wide right turn from the left lane and collided with the Howard County Commuter Bus. Paramedics transported the driver and six passengers, including one child, to Howard County General Hospital where they were treated for their injuries.

Baltimore County Woman Wins Over $830,000 After a Tractor Trailer Struck her Car

November 24, 2008 | Jack D. Lebowitz

I recently read about a case involving an accident involving an eighteen wheeler that occurred on Chelsea Road in Aberdeen, Maryland. A tractor trailer operated by Kaplan Trucking Company, Inc struck the rear of Kathleen Festerman’s minivan. At trial the truck driver described that he struck the victim’s minivan while he was distracted. A jury in Federal Court in Baltimore awarded the victim in excess of $800,000.00 for her injuries, medical expenses, and lost future earnings.