Virginia Trucking Accident Attorney Blog » trucking accidents

Tanker Truck Involved in Rollover Accident Spills Thousands of Gallons of Fuel on Road

paustin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:41:03 +0000

By Richard N. Shapiro

Truck accidents are terrible, but tanker truck accidents can be even worse. The size and velocity these massive vehicles possess can inflict incredible damage when involved in a trucking accident. This is especially true in rollover accidents.

This scenario unfortunately came to fruition when a tanker truck rolled over on U.S. Highway 40 in Colorado and spilled over 6,000 gallons of fuel on the road. Fortunately, no other vehicles were involved in the incident and the driver of the tanker truck survived.

Truck accidents are not relegated to the Colorado area. There have been numerous truck accidents in the western portions of Virginia (VA) including I-81 (Virginia’s most dangerous road) and U.S. Highway 11. There have also been accidents on I-64 around Cabell County in West Virginia. One of these accidents involved a tractor trailer containing fuel. Sadly, this accident had a tragic ending. The fuel tank ruptured and caused a fire leading to the death of a driver in a vehicle involved in the accident.

In the Colorado accident, the driver, named Robert Windecker, is facing a careless driving charge. Why?Because Robert was driving too fast. This is completely unacceptable behavior, especially for a trained driver handling a tanker truck. Robert failed to responsibly drive this vehicle and the devastation he could have inflicted would have been enormous considering the amount of fuel that spilled out from the tanker.

As an injury lawyer who works for a firm that’s represented people in trucking accidents, I understand the damage they can inflict on people when involved in an accident.

Hopefully, tanker truck drivers can learn from Robert’s mistake and exercise responsibility when driving such hazardous vehicles on major roadways.

About the Editors: The trucking injury attorneys with Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm are based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Virginia injury law website is www.HSInjurylaw.com and our Carolina injury law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library with over 50 videos covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

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Driver Killed in Rollover Crash with Truck

paustin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:39:13 +0000

By John Cooper

Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis, & Appleton

Gustavo Gracia was driving down Interstate 5 in San Diego going about his business, when suddenly, a truck rolled over smashing Gustavo’s Lexas Sedan killing him. He was just 33 years old.

My heartfelt condolences go out to Gustavo’s friends and family.

The truck was a 1996 Freightliner pulling a 32-foot cargo container behind it. The power and weight of the truck were a deadly combination in this type of rollover accident.

Rollover car and truck accidents account for only 3 percent of all car accidents, but they account for 33 percent of accident fatalities, according to safecar.gov. In 2002, over 10,000 people were killed in rollover crashes.

Rollovers are complex crash and violent in nature. All types of vehicles can rollover, though SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans have higher centers of gravity, and thus are more susceptible to rollover if involved in a single-vehicle crash.

As an injury lawyer who works for a firm that’s represented people seriously hurt in these types of accidents, I understand the terrible outcomes which occur when a car and truck are involved in a rollover accident.

If you’re driving in a truck or SUV, here are some general safety tips from ehow.com…

· Beware of the center of gravity

· Respect the weight of the vehicle

· Be especially cognizant of the weather

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Big Rig Truck Driver Fatigue is Often an Accident Waiting To Happen

bmurray — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:28:04 +0000

As stated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), more than 750 people are killed each year and more than 20,000 are injured due to fatigue of truck drivers operating commercial truck vehicles. Tired drivers are deadly drivers. Adding to this mix is the fact that operating an 18 wheeler is generally a low paying job. This can lead many truckers to drive long hours in order to make more money. To make matters worse commercial truck employers do not help the situation by imposing tight delivery deadlines on their truckers.

Nodding off is usually a result of sleep deprivation that can cause the trucker to drift into other lanes. Ineffective down-breaking, rollovers and jackknifing are also typical results caused by inattentive and fatigued truckers. Multi-vehicle accidents are not uncommon when a truck is involved. Truck operators themselves are exposed to these common dangers with about 600 commercial truck drivers per year dying in highway accidents.

All truckers are required to keep log books and are usually helpful in litigating a case to prove liability based upon driver fatigue. In addition, there are black boxes and electronic onboard recorders (EOBR) that can be useful tools in reviewing past behaviour and events that may have lead up to collision with a truck.

It’s often the case that truck accidents involve overlapping laws and regulations. It is quite common that a trucking accident lawsuit will be brought against a trucking company as well as the commercial truck driver. However, government agencies, truck mechanics and maintenance companies, truck manufacturers and their insurance companies are possible defendants. Their involvement in an accident should be investigated before a suit is filed. In tractor trailer collisions, the history of inspections and weigh station stops are always crucial in discovering information. Also, if you include any recent road changes, like re-grading or new signage may potentially lead to liability of governmental agencies and subcontractors.

With all these appearant dangers, passenger vehicle drivers should steer clear of 18 wheelers as much as they can on highways. For example, it is also important to keep in mind that big rigs have a shorter braking distance than cars, so when you are switching lanes after passing a truck always bear in mind that the big rig will be coming up quickly from behind. At the very least make sure the trucker’s two headlights are far enough away in your rear view mirror before re-entering the lane. Even with the added caution, most tractor trailer truck accidents occur, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, on rural highways in the middle of the day and on weekdays. So, oddly enough highway driving is statisitcally not the most likely location for a car-truck collision.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina injury law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

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