A long-haul truck driver from Birmingham, Alabama (AL), lost his life in a rear-end collision with another tractor-trailer on I-81 in Rockbridge County, Virginia (VA), early in the evening of January 30, 2012. According to the Roanoke Times, the man ran into the back of a stalled semi in the right-hand lane of the interstate, which was temporarily closed for repairs. The man in the stopped truck was not hurt in the crash near the 197 mile marker just north of Lexington, VA.

View a larger ma of the stretch of I-81 near Lexington, VA, where two semis collided and a trucker lost  his life.

Police have not determined why the one semi was stopped in what would normally be a traffic lane, nor why the deceased trucker was unable to stop or change lanes in time to avoid the fatal crash. Regardless of the circumstance, my fellow Virginia truck accident victims’ attorney colleagues and I send our heartfelt condolences to the friends and family members of the man who lost his life.

Stopping on the highway, even on the shoulder, always creates risks for people in the pulled-over vehicles and everyone passing by. That written, and especially on interstates with posted speed limits of 70 mph or higher, all drivers need to be on the lookout for disabled vehicles. Virginia strengthened its move-over law that requires drivers to slow down or, when safe, change lanes to give space to emergency responders specifically to prevent fatal crashes.

EJL

About the Editors: The Virginia (VA) trucking accident attorneys at Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have experience handling truck accident cases in Virginia, North Carolina (NC), and other Southeastern states. Check out our case results, which illustrate our track record of success in truck accident personal injury cases. Trucking injury lawyers Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive. To learn more about Virginia truck accident injury law, take a look at this free report written by an experienced truck wreck injury attorney in Virginia.

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A dump truck tire blowout on VA Route 20 just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, on January 16, 2012, sent the truck and a small car being driven nearby careening off the road and into the woods. According to WVIR-TV NBC 29, both the car’s driver and the dump truck operator suffered injuries requiring hospital treatment. Both people were able to return home the same day, but the truck driver had to be cut from the cab of his vehicle.

As a Virginia personal injury attorney whose law firm often represents victims of trucking accidents, I know that the wrecks caused by failing equipment can often be deadly. Both the people involved in the Charlottesville crash can be considered lucky to have not been injured more severely.

At the same time, the trucker and car driver could also have been victimized by a defective tire. Only a full investigation into the crash can reveal whether the tire blew out because it was improperly inflated, allowed to become bald and unbalanced, driven over a puncture hazard or unsafe in design or by manufacture. Whatever the case of the tire failure, there is a cause and either the company owning and operating the dump truck or the tire maker can and should be held liable for injuries resulting from the accident.

EJL

About the Editors: The Virginia (VA) trucking accident attorneys at Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have experience handling truck accident cases in Virginia, North Carolina (NC), and other Southeastern states. Check out our case results, which illustrate our track record of success in truck accident personal injury cases. Trucking injury lawyers Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive. To learn more about Virginia truck accident injury law, take a look at this free report written by an experienced truck wreck injury attorney in Virginia.

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A Sussex County, Virginia (VA), sheriff’s deputy and the driver of another car wound up hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening injuries on December 7, 2011, when the officer lost control of his cruiser and hit the other vehicle head-on on Virginia Route 40. According to WTVR CBS6 in Richmond, VA, the deputy was rushing to respond to a collision between two tractor-trailers on nearby I-95.
View a larger map of where a Sussex County, VA sheriff’s deputy was involved in a head-on collision

The big rigs had collided when one of the truckers swerved to avoid hitting yet another vehicle, causing injuries to one of the truck’s operators whose semi jackknifed.

I can’t help but imagine the situation playing out like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, all squealing brakes and quick cuts to cars and trucks slamming into each in balletic fashion. But as a Virginia personal injury lawyer whose firm regularly helps people injured in crashes involving commercial trucks and head-on collisions, I know there was nothing entertaining or amusing about either of the wrecks.

When large trucks go out of control in real life, the situation often turns deadly. Similarly, any time two cars run into each other head-on, deaths are common. Thankfully, no one lost a life in either of the accidents in Sussex County, but all the injured drivers undoubtedly face large medical treatment costs and long recoveries.

The tractor-trailer driver who caused the interstate accident has been charged with reckless driving. The cause of the crash between the deputy’s cruiser and the car remains under investigation, but if the officer is found to be at fault the other driver could have grounds for filing a civil injury lawsuit.

EJL

About the Editors: The Virginia (VA) trucking accident attorneys at Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton have experience handling truck accident cases in Virginia, North Carolina (NC), and other Southeastern states. Check out our case results, which illustrate our track record of success in truck accident personal injury cases. Trucking injury lawyers Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. They have also been named Virginia Super Lawyers since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of outstanding attorneys receive. To learn more about Virginia truck accident injury law, take a look at this free report written by an experienced truck wreck injury attorney in Virginia.

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The driver of a truck determined to be at fault for an accident that sent as many as 24 Carteret County, North Carolina (NC), students to the hospital with minor injuries  has been charged with failing to yield right of way to the bus transporting the children.

The driver, who lives in Beaufort, NC, hit the school bus on November 8, 2011, at the intersection of Professional Park Drive and Troon Way.

As experienced North Carolina (NC) trucking accident injury attorneys, my colleagues and I see numerous accidents in which school buses are hit by trucks or cars. In February 2011, for instance, we reported on a wreck in Pamlico County, NC, in which a six-wheel box truck hit a bus and injured several students. In the same month in Garner, NC, four children were injured when a garbage truck hit a Wake County school bus.

It seems far too many truck drivers are driving carelessly. We have represented many clients who have been badly hurt or even killed in truck accidents.

In 2010 our firm attained a $3.5 million settlement after a commercial driver in a tractor-trailer rear-ended a passenger vehicle on I-64 in Norfolk, VA . Our client was the child of a passenger who died in the car that caught fire as a result of the collision.

DM

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law and have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), but our lawyers also hold licenses to practice in NC, South Carolina (SC), West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. Our injury attorneys host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard blogs as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call.

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Everyday seems to bring news of another tractor-trailer or tour bus crash on East Coast interstates in which the commercial vehicle’s driver or someone in a car, pickup or SUV suffered injuries or got killed. Too often, the wreck was caused by the big rig or bus. And too many times, the at-fault driver lacked the proper training, license or health — the trucker was sick or impaired by drugs or alcohol. Sometimes, the vehicle itself was unsafe because it had bad tires, inadequate equipment, even a poor hitch between cab and trailer.

Roadside inspections can get potentially dangerous drivers, 18-wheelers and large buses off the road before accidents happen. Recognizing this, trucking and busing groups, state and local police departments, and the Federal Motor Carrier Association have teamed up for years to support random checks of commercial trucks and buses.

A state in which a cooperative random roadside safety inspection program is working particularly well is Pennsylvania (PA), There, according to the Pocono Times, the 2010 Pennsylvania Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program made it possible for “more than 93,000 random truck inspections [to be] conducted across the state, a 14 percent increase from 2009.”

In Virginia (VA), where tour bus crashes on interstates recently claimed several lives and injured dozens more, state troopers participated in Roadcheck 2011 during early June. The goal of that operation was to ensure more than 70,000 truckers, trucks, bus drivers and buses were interviewed and inspected across Canada, Mexico and the United States to increase safety.

Such programs work — up to a point. FMCSA data show that the rate of fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled by large trucks and buses have fallen consistently from 3.82 in 2008 to 1.17 in 2010. The goal, of course, is 0 per every mile traveled.

Still, as a Virginia-based attorney who has often represented victims of trucking accidents, I’m encouraged by the trend. Unsafe vehicles and drivers have no business doing business on U.S. highways. I’d like to see programs that encourage and support roadside inspections of commercial vehicles extended.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law and have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), but our lawyers also hold licenses to practice in NC, South Carolina (SC), West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. Our injury attorneys host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard blogs as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call.

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New federal rules limiting nearly all interstate commercial truck drivers to 10 hours behind the wheel each day and daily work shifts, including loading and unloading periods, of 14 hours are set to take effect on July 26, 2011. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration decided to cut drive times and total work hours in light of increasing evidence that fatigued drivers operating semis, 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, tanker trucks and flatbeds are as, and sometimes more, dangerous than drunk or drugged drivers.

FMCSA has consistently tightened the hours of service (HOS) regulations over the past decade, and requiring more rest for truckers has worked to decrease the number of accidents caused by drowsy truckers and commercial truck drivers who fell asleep at the wheel. Nationwide statistics cited by the Wall Street Journal indicate that deaths in highway crashes involving large trucks dropped by more than 2,000 from 2007 to 2009. “Over the same period, the number of truck accidents that caused injuries dropped to 51,000 from 72,000,” the newspaper reported.

Despite this evidence for the beneficial effects of shorter HOS, the American Trucking Association, which represents the interests of companies that employ truck drivers, has vigorously protested the latest FMCSA action. The trucking trade group  has tried to debunk peer-reviewed research showing that tired drivers are dangerous drivers and argued against reducing allowable hours of service mostly on the grounds that the companies ATA represents would have to hire more drivers.

In essence, any debate over HOS comes down an argument between rulemakers want to protect drivers and corporate executives who want to maximize profits. Faced with those options, I’m going to choose lives over money. If nothing else, ATA fails to acknowledge that many of the injury-causing and fatal accidents prevented by ensuring truck drivers get more rest will be crashes between two or more semis or tractor-trailers that do not occur.

My Virginia Beach, VA-based personal injury colleagues and I know that driver fatigue plays a role in a significant number of serious wrecks involving commercial trucks. Drowsy driving is something we always consider when a potential injury or wrongful death client approaches us concerning a nighttime or early-morning accident. Even if lowering hours of service for truckers does increase trucking companies’ cost of doing business — and subsequently raise some prices for consumers — that money will be an excellent investment in all Americans’ health and safety.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law and have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), but our lawyers also hold licenses to practice in NC, South Carolina (SC), West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. Our injury attorneys host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard blogs as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call.

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Like too many previous celebration of America’s independence, Fourth of July 2011 has the potential to be a deadly diving day on the roads and highways of Virginia (VA), North Carolina (NC) and every other state. Citing National Highway Transportation Safety Administration statistics, msn.com noted that the days leading up to and including July 4 regularly see more fatal car, truck, motorcycle and SUV accidents than any other holiday weekend.

“In the summer of 2008 …, 491 people died in car accidents during the three-day Fourth of July weekend. Out of that total, 43 percent died as a result of alcohol-impaired driving,” the website reported.

As a Virginia Beach, VA-based personal injury attorney who has represented injury and wrongful death victims following car and truck wrecks for nearly 25 years, I know firsthand that no crash that kills or injures is a welcome event. But accidents at otherwise happy times can be especially devastating.

In an effort to keep traffic accidents to a minimum this July 4th, and all summer long and year round, the American Trucking Associations, recently published the top 10 safe driving tips from commercial truck drivers.  While the advice is specifically intended to prevent collisions between 18-wheelers, semis, tanker trucks, flatbeds and smaller vehicles, following this advice from people who have logged literally millions of miles behind the wheels of big rigs should help everyone reach their destination safely every time.

• Prepare Your Vehicle: Checking your radiator, oil, and wipers and getting any necessary maintenance can help you avoid many of the problems that strand motorists on the side of the road.
• Check and Inflate Your Tires to the Proper Pressure: Overinflated tires can blow out. Underinflated tires make your vehicle harder to control. And having too much or too little air in your tires lowers your vehicle’s fuel efficiency.
• Drive the Speed Limit: Observing posted speed limits saves money on gas and reduces wear and tear on vehicles. Resisting the urge to speed also makes any driver or motorcyclist more safe. Maintaining a constant speed can reduce fuel costs by 30 percent and give you more time to react to changing road conditions or mistakes by other motorists.
• Remember That Large Trucks Have Large Blind Spots: Drivers of tractor-trailers and 18-wheelers simply cannot see you if you are beside their rigs. If you can’t see a trucker driver in his or her rearview mirror, the truck driver can’t see you.
• Keep Bottled Water in Your Vehicle: A summer emergency kit containing extra water, sunsreen and nonperishable food in addition to flares and tools is as essential as a winter driving kit containing a blanket and chemical hand and foot warmers. Never allow yourself to get stranded without emergency supplies.
• Park Safely Out of Traffic Before Using Your Cell Phone or Any Other Handheld Electronic Device: Taking your eyes and mind off the road and vehicles around you for even two seconds doubles your chance of causing or being involved in a crash.
• Do Not Cut Off Large Trucks: The longer and heavier a truck is, the longer its driver needs to stop. Keep that in mind when changing lanes in front of big rig.
• Honor Right-of-Way When Merging and Turning: You must yield to oncoming traffic whenever you enter a highway from an on-ramp, use an off-ramp or make a right- or left-hand turn from a light, intersection or parking lot. When you do merge, get up to highway speed quickly and do not slow down in front of an 18-wheeler or semi.
• Respond Calmly to Emergencies: If you get in trouble, put on your emergency blinkers and slow down smoothly before coming to a stop on a shoulder or in an emergency lane. Do not stop in the flow of traffic and, at the same time, move over or slow down when approaching police, broken down vehicles or road crews beside the road.
• Save Fuel: Take direct routes, make few side trips and keep your engine well-tuned. You’ll see noticeable savings on fuel and lower your chances of running out of gas when stuck in traffic.

Stay safe, and have a great Fourth.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law and have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), but our lawyers also hold licenses to practice in NC, South Carolina (SC), West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. Our injury attorneys host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard blogs as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call.

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Ricky L. Jones, a tractor-trailer driver for SUPERVALU grocery stores until a rear-end collision with another large commercial truck in 2007, recently received a $23 million personal injury verdict from a jury in Richmond, Virginia (VA). The panel was the second to hear the case, as the initial jurors could not reach a unanimous opinion over whether Jones was negligent in driving his big rig into the back of the other vehicle.

GPS data entered into evidence showed that the truck Jones hit had recently reentered the highway from the right shoulder and was moving at just 25 mph before being struck. Virginia state laws stipulates that “no person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.”

According to a report published online by Lawyers USA, Jones spent weeks in a medically induced coma, suffered kidney and lung failure and brain and physical injuries — including “a crushed pelvis, the amputation of his right leg … and a crushed left foot” — that required 26 surgeries to repair or relieve. He has also developed mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the wreck.

The $23 million ordered to be paid by Moen Inc. covers, in part, more than $1 million for the medical treatments Jones required and nearly $2 million in past and future lost wages.

The attorneys who represented Jones, Christopher Guedri and Douglas A. Barry, deserve a lot credit for bringing a difficult personal injury case to a just and acceptable conclusion for their client. In addition to shepherding the claim through two trials over several years, the lawyers presented strong evidence from medical, psychological and traffic experts that defense attorneys were unable to refute or discredit.

It is important to note that Jones’ experience also illustrates the danger professional commercial truck drivers face from drivers of other semis, 18-wheelers and flatbeds. In one sad wrongful death case I handled for the victim’s family, a trucker who had been a passenger in the cab of a tractor-trailer that had been involved in a crash on I-81 in Shenandoah County, Virginia, lost his life when another truck ran over him after he had stepped onto the highway shoulder to assess the accident damage. Because truck drivers, by definition, spend so much time on the road in such large vehicles, they have great responsibilities to do all they can to keep themselves and others safe.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law, and have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY, FL and DC. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call promptly.

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The widow of an Illinois (IL) attorney killed in a crash caused by a semi driver who failed to stop at an intersection of two state highways has received a $5 million wrongful death settlement from the health care company that owned the big rig and employed the driver. Fellow trucking accident victim’s lawyer, Robert J. Bingle of Chicago, told the News Tribune on February 25, 2011, that the victim “was a loving husband and a great father. He was a tenacious and passionate advocate for his clients and a very active man in his community. He is missed by many people.”

The fatal collision occurred on December 16, 2009, when the OSF St. Francis Healthcare Systems truck rolled through a stop sign and hit the car driven by Richard J. Berry. The truck driver was cited by police for disobeying a signal at a four-way intersection with stop signs at each corner. He may also have been speeding before the crash. Berry died at the scene of the accident.

Semis, tractor-trailers and other large commercial trucks take a long time to come to a complete stop. And, of course, the faster a truck is going, the greater the distance needed to drop its speed to zero. Truck drivers are trained to take these indisputable laws of physics into account when sharing roads and highways with cars and, especially, when approaching red lights, stop signs, turns or unmarked intersections. As the deadly crash in Illinois shows, however, even a single mistake or temporary lack of attention can lead to irreversible tragedy.

As a partner in a law firm whose lawyers have represented hundreds of victims of crashes caused by trucks, I have seen firsthand the devastation big rigs can cause when operated unsafely. My condolences go out to the woman who lost her husband in Illinois. At the same time, I’m glad that the civil suit she filed for the wrongful death ended with some measure of compensation and justice for her irretrievable loss.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm that focuses on injury and accident law, and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY, FL and DC. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free, initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call promptly.

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In the second fatal accident involving a large commercial truck in North Carolina (NC) in less than four days, a tractor-trailer driver “plowed into a line of eight vehicles stopped in the right lane [of I-26]. … Five people were killed and 10 were injured.” The accident occurred on the interstate near the town of Fletcher just before 11 pm on Sunday, February 20.

The semi driver faces multiple manslaughter charges, and several of the injured car drivers and passengers remained hospitalized on Tuesday. The truck driver also appears to have given police a falsified or invalid medical certificate attesting to his physical and mental health and ability to operate a big rig safely.

No cause for the accident in which five people lost their lives and twice that many had their lives changed forever has been reported. The multiple criminal charges do point to the tractor-trailer’s operator being at fault, however. The time of the accident — near midnight — could also suggest that the truck driver had limited vision of the highway or suffered from fatigue.

Semis and 18-wheelers take much longer to stop than smaller vehicles, so it is important that the people behind the wheel of large commercial trucks remain alert and responsive to changes in road conditions and traffic flow that can lead to accidents in which people get killed or hospitalized.

Whatever caused the wreck, as an attorney with a firm whose lawyers have decades of experience representing victims of trucking accidents, I offer my condolences to families and friends of those killed. I also wish the injured parties speedy and full recoveries.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm that focuses on injury and accident law, and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY, FL and DC. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as pro bono public information services. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Though not every case meets our criteria, we offer free, initial consultations so give us a call at (800) 752-0042. If you can’t get through due to high call volume, please leave a message and we will return your call promptly.

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