Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

Trucker fatigue causes lots of tractor trailer accidents in South Carolina and across the country. The NBC affiliate in Charleston has done a great story highlighting the problem, using the stories of Foster Johnson, who was tragically killed by a truck in 2005, and of a cement truck driver who fell asleep and slammed into a Georgetown, South Carolina church early one Saturday morning recently. WCBD's Andy Pierrotti found one thousand seven hundred citations against South Carolina truck drivers for exceeding the allowed driving time limits in just the past three years!

Kudos to Mr. Pierrotti and the WCBD newsroom for their thorough investigation and for bringing this important issue into public view.

Here are some links to the story. I hope you will take a few moments to read the story and watch the videos to learn some more about the problem of driver fatigue in causing South Carolina 18 wheeler accidents.

Part 1

Part 2

Continue reading "South Carolina Truck Accidents Caused by Driver Fatigue" »

I ran across some good news. The federal agency charged with preventing bus and truck accidents, injuries, and fatalities received a major new request to make some changes to help the folks out on the highways. This week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to enact several stricter safety regulations for buses and trucks (like tractor trailers). The NTSB was responding to a bus fire that killed twenty-three elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees a year and a half ago. If promulgated, the new rules would require new detection systems for maintenance problems and stronger oversight over inspections at bus carriers.

The bus accident involving the elderly Rita evacuees happened in September, 2005. That wreck has since been attributed to the bus company, which put a mechanically unsafe bus on the road. It seems that poorly lubricated wheel bearings overheated in the right rear well, igniting a tire, thereby causing the fire. The list of violations by the bus company was long, to say the least. The bus driver didn't even have a license! Last month, a federal court in Texas sentenced the owner of the bus company, Global Limo, to 5 years' criminal probation for poorly managing his fleet and not requiring all drivers to fill out vehicle inspection reports.

Unfortunately, the FMCSA has a history of ignoring NTSB recommendations. Let's hope this time is different.

Continue reading "Bus Accident and Truck Accident Prevention - A New Approach?" »

South Carolina auto accidents which result in death are more often related to speeding than in the neighboring states of North Carolina and Georgia. In March, 2005, an electronic measurement by the South Carolina Department of Transportation of 195,268 vehicles traveling on South Carolina's rural interstate highways, showed that 70 percent exceeded the speed limit. Seventy percent! This included 17,259 going over 80 miles per hour. 3,940 vehicles were traveling over 85 mph, and 1,146 cars were traveling over 90 mph.

Those numbers are staggering. According to the South Carolina DOT, South Carolina has a significantly higher percentage of speed related fatalities than its neighboring states of North Carolina and Georgia - as well as the United States.
South Carolina speed related deaths, as a percentage of all traffic deaths, is over twice that of Georgia and exceeds the United States figure by almost 20 percentage points.

In South Carolina, 42 percent of all traffic fatalities are speeding-related. In North Carolina, 37 percent are speeding-related. In Georgia, it is just 20 percent. For the nation as a whole, 31 percent of traffic fatalities involve speeding.

Continue reading "South Carolina Interstates Have a Big Speeding Problem" »

I was sorry to see press reports of a bus accident on the Clemson University campus.
Freshman Kellie Jureka, 18, of Lexington, South Carolina, was injured at lunchtime last Tuesday when a bus hit her.

Miss Jureka was treated by Clemson University EMS personnel and transported to Bowman Field, where she was taken by helicopter to the Greenville Memorial Hospital at approximately 12:45pm.

As of late Monday afternoon, Miss Jureka was reportedly in serious but stable condition. Let's hope this young lady makes a rapid and full recovery.

Continue reading "Bus Accident Injures Clemson Student from Lexington, South Carolina" »

18 wheeler truck accident cases are not just like any other automobile accident case for the South Carolina injury lawyer. For example, there are multiple possible defendants who may not be apparent to attorneys without extensive experience in truck cases. Further, complex regulatory schemes factor into each tractor trailer accident case involving personal injuries. Here you will find some requests for production I have used in truck accident cases, which illustrate the specialized nature of this kind of litigation.

1. Produce the application for employment with the motor carrier, which was submitted or completed by the driver.

2. Produce any and all random and/or post-accident alcohol and drug testing on the driver, and include any and all chain of custody documents.

3. Produce the certificate of driver's road test completed by the person or persons who tested the driver.

4. Produce credit card account receipts, including fuel card receipts, records and printouts, for all accounts to which the driver had access during the six month period prior to the accident through one week subsequent to the date of the accident, including usage records of said accounts by the driver.

5. Produce the record road test completed by the person or persons who either tested or supervised the testing of the driver.

6. Produce toll receipts, fuel receipts, expense receipts, trip envelopes, trip sheets (including trip papers), and trip expense reports for each trip driven by the driver, for a six month period prior to the subject accident, through one week subsequent to the date of the accident.

7. Produce the certificate of written examination completed by the person or persons who either administrated or supervised the administration of the written examination given.

8. Produce all course materials (whether audio, video, written or verbal) received by the driver in any safe driving or defensive driving course for a ten year period prior to the subject accident.

9. Produce the written examination administered to the driver including the driver's answers thereto.

10. Produce all videotapes, audiotapes, presentations, manuals, hand-outs, memoranda or other materials received by the driver with regard to driver training.

11. Produce the certificate of physical examination completed by any physician who has examined the driver, and the report or forms completed by the physician.

Continue reading "Truck Accident Discovery: Requests to Produce" »

As you can see from this map, most of the South Carolina tractor trailer truck accidents involving injury and death happen near the major population centers of Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston. The I-85 corridor along Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Cherokee Counties has long had a reputation as a congested interstate. The map above does nothing to dispel that reputation. Certainly, I-26 and I-95 also have increasingly bad reputations for 18 wheeler truck accidents.

The ‘Large Trucks Involved in Fatal and Non-Fatal Crashes' report illustrated by the map shows how many large trucks were involved in fatal and non-fatal crashes. The crash data are aggregated to the state county level and are provided in map and table format. The fatal crash data are collected from FARS, and the non-fatal crash data are collected from MCMIS.

In the map format each county in South Carolina is color coded to represent the range of the number of large trucks involved in reportable crashes. The table format displays the number of trucks involved in reportable crashes. The option to display layers (data values, state/county names, major cities and interstates) is available in the map format. Displaying layers is used for reference purposes only.

Definitions

Fatal crash - A crash where one or more persons dies within 30 days of the crash. The fatality does not have to occur at the scene of the crash. It includes any person involved in the crash, including pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as occupants of the passenger cars, trucks and buses.

Non-fatal crash - A crash where one or more persons has non-fatal injuries requiring transportation by a vehicle for the purpose of obtaining immediate medical attention; or one or more of the vehicles were towed away from the scene due to "disabling damage". The towed vehicle need not be the truck involved in the crash.

Continue reading "South Carolina Truck Accident Map for 2005" »

If you have never witnessed a tractor trailer accident, you should watch this. It is a miracle that the occupants of the car escaped unhurt. Most people are not so lucky when a big truck causes a car accident.

Continue reading "VIDEO: FedEx Tractor Trailer Jackknives Into Police Cruiser" »

There was a really interesting article in the New York Times in December which discusses changes which could have an effect on the numbers of truck accidents on the roads. You see, the current administration in Washington has rejected tighter regulation of the trucking industry. In fact, the Department of Transportation has boldly deregulated the trucking industry over the past six years. The trucking industry got what they wanted - again. For years, there have been calls for stricter regulations to restrict drivers' hours on the road. Instead, the Department of Transportation did just the opposite. They relaxed the rules, allowing truckers to drive even longer hours.

Safety groups and insurance interests had also tried to get new training requirements for truck drivers. The D.O.T.'s answer? Not on your life. (Actually, it is literally on all of our lives).

The article highlights the story of Dorris Edwards, a 62 year-old Missouri woman who was killed by the rookie driver of an 18-wheeler. The driver was on his first cross-country trip. His instructor (a 22 year old with one year of experience was in the truck with him - asleep for most of the ride. The new D.O.T. rules allowed the truck driver to drive for 12 hours the day of the wreck - 8 of them nonstop. The driver later said he was tired. I bet he was!

Of course, federal officials dismiss the idea that deregulation reduces safety. They say it helps.

The traveling public doesn't need that kind of "help."

Continue reading "Truck Accidents Set to Increase Under Ever-Loosening Rules?" »

I have noticed a lot of press coverage of truck accidents and the laws governing 18 wheelers lately. Last month, the Chicago Tribune published a major article detailing the huge problem of unskilled truck drivers causing accidents in this country. It seems that a driver named Hussein Osman was one of several hundred truck drivers (most of them were Somali and Bosnian immigrants) who may have been given fraudulent commercial drivers licenses by a Missouri truck driving school. Unfortunately, they didn't get in touch with Hussein in time. He was killed in October when he was involved in a wreck with an Oklahoma State Trooper, who also died in the accident.

In fact, there are thousands and thousands of truck drivers in this country who received their CDLs under suspicious circumstances. In just the last 5 years, the federal government has confirmed license fraud in 24 (!) states. Most state governments are doing essentially nothing about the problem.

And people wonder why lawsuits are necessary? Who is going to protect the public, if injury lawyers, judges and juries don't do it?

Nobody. That's who.

Common causes of truck accidents:

· Oversized trucks
· Insufficient training
· Overloaded trucks
· Break malfunction
· Inexperienced drivers
· Not enough sleep
· Speeding
· Poor driving conditions
· Failure to yield the right of way
· Failure to stop at a light
· Aggressive or dangerous driving
· DUI/DWI
· Mechanical failure

Some damages that may be recovered in a personal injury related tractor-trailer accident: Current and future medical costs, lost income, and compensation for pain and suffering that is a result of (or may result from) the accident.

Continue reading "Truck Accidents are Attracting Lots of Attention Lately" »

Speed kills. Speed really kills when you are talking about an 18-wheeler.

The United States Department of Transportation is considering a rule to limit the top speed of medium and large commercial trucks. The proposal would require installation of electronic speed governors on trucks manufactured after 1990 and weighing more than 13 tons. The top speed allowed would be 68 miles per hour. This equipment is already in place for trucks model year 1991, and newer. D.O.T. will accept comments from the public about the proposal until March 27. Some of the big trucking companies are on board, as are safety groups, so hopefully, this proposal will end up as a regulation soon.

Continue reading "Possible Rule Change to Slow Down Those Trucks!" »

Sadly, here is another one. Yesterday, I saw a story on CNN about a crash involving three 18-wheelers about twenty miles from Raleigh. The wreck killed two people, and one lane of I-85 was shut down for hours. A tractor-trailer traveling along the interstate lost control and hit two trucks parked along the shoulder of the road. Two of the trucks were engulfed in flames, and the driver and a passenger in one of the trucks were killed. Another two drivers were also injured in this truck accident. Thankfully, it does not appear that the injuries to those two drivers were life-threatening.

Continue reading "Bad North Carolina 18 Wheeler Truck Accident Near Raleigh Shuts Down I-85" »

Here is a brief summary of some of the major laws that have been enacted to govern truck safety in this country. In effect, our country has a national policy recognizing the threats posed by big trucks, and there is much that has been done to prevent truck accidents. However, there is much more to be done. That is why it is so important to hold accountable unsafe trucking companies and truck drivers who do not handle themselves as professional drivers.

In 1937, the hours-of-service rules were issued by Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). At the time, some of the ICC Commissioners expressed misgivings that the rules might not be conducive to safety.

In 1938, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act exempted the trucking industry from overtime compensation, and it created incentives to drive long hours putting drivers and the public at risk. In fact, no regulated job classification allows for more work hours than truck and bus drivers.

In 1984, the Motor Carrier Safety Act required that U.S. Department of Transportation standards have to ensure that trucks and buses are operated safely; that driver responsibilities don't impair their ability to safely drive; that the physical condition of drivers is good enough to safely drive; that driving trucks does not have a negative effect on the physical condition of drivers.

In 1995, the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act directed the FHWA (which later evolved into the FMCSA) to deal with fatigue-related issues in the commercial motor vehicle industry; pointed out the glaring need to address amount of sleep after driving time, loading/unloading, automated recording devices, rest/recovery cycles, fatigue and stress in longer combination vehicles, fitness for duty, and other measures to reduce fatigue-related crashes and increase driver alertness.

In 1999, the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act created a new safety agency, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), to improve commercial motor vehicle safety, and to establish safety as the highest priority of new agency.

In 2004, Congress temporarily extended surface transportation legislation.

In the same year, a United States Court of Appeals decision found the FMCSA HOS final rule of April, 2003, to be in violation of the law. In response, Congress responded by allowing the FMCSA to continue to enforce final rule until completion of the new rulemaking.

Continue reading "Major U.S. Laws Affecting Trucking Companies" »

I recently read a new court decision that illustrates whose insurance company can be required to pay for an injured person's damages in certain truck accidents.

In an important unpublished decision decided on January 10, the 4th Circuit United States Court of Appeals resolved a dispute between two insurance companies. Insurance coverage is an issue that very often has to be resolved by the courts. The case arose from a truck accident in April, 2003. The driver of the truck was an owner-operator. An owner-operator (sometimes called an independent contractor) is a truck driver who owns and operates his own tractor (and sometimes the trailer) and is leased to a motor carrier or a private carrier. The insurance company for the owner-operator and the insurance company for the trucking company (the carrier) were fighting over who would be responsible for paying the damages for injuries from the accident. (I know that you must be shocked to learn that the insurance companies wanted to collect premiums, but not pay claims).

In this case, the owner-operator leased his tractor to the carrier. The lease said that the carrier had exclusive control of, and complete responsibility for, the tractor when it was being used for the carrier. The owner-operator was permitted to drive the tractor to work. When the accident occurred, the owner-operator was driving the tractor to the carrier's terminal to pick up his first load of the day.

After the wreck, the insurance company for the owner-operator's personal vehicles filed a lawsuit. That company said that it didn't have to pay for the damages because the tractor was being used for the carrier's business when the accident happened. On the other hand, the carrier's insurance company said it didn't have to pay for the damages because the tractor was NOT being used for the carrier's business when the accident happened.

The trial judge agreed with the carrier. It ruled that the owner-operator's tractor was not being used for the carrier's business when the wreck happened. So, the owner-operator's insurance company filed an appeal.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the trial judge's decision. It held that a D.O.T. regulation (49 C.F.R. § 376.12(c)(1)) mandates that the carrier has exclusive possession and control of the tractor throughout the term of the lease. Furthermore, the carrier's own lease allowed the owner-operator to drive the truck to and from work, so the owner-operator was a "permissive user" when the accident happened. This means that insurance coverage for the driver's negligence was provided under the trucking company's policy.

Too many times, legal wrangling between insurance companies can unecessarily delay compensation to injured victims in truck accidents. Hopefully, this case can serve as an example to prevent some litigation between insurance companies who could otherwise seek to delay paying a legitimate claim by an injured person.

Continue reading "South Carolina Truck Company's Insurance to Pay Truck Accident Damages, Says the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals" »

Here, you can see the aftermath of a bad truck accident on Interstate 90.

Continue reading "VIDEO: Fatal Truck Accident on I-90" »

Two people were killed near Butner, North Carolina on February 16 when an 18 wheeler crashed into a parked truck, causing both to burst into flames, on southbound Interstate 85.

The accident happened at about 10 a.m. when the at-fault big rig swerved right and hit another tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder. It then bounced off the first truck and hit still another parked tractor-trailer, which caught fire.

One of those killed was a passenger in the tractor-trailer that caused the collision. The other victim was one of the drivers of the parked tractor-trailers. The at-fault tractor-trailer driver was Xaujie Warner, of Houston. Warner apparently said she lost control of her vehicle and ran off the road. Charges are pending.

The truck that caused the accident and the second truck it hit also were both heavily burned. The first truck that was hit did not catch fire, but it was still seriously damaged. The two parked trucks were owned by Victory Transport of Aulander, North Carolina.

Continue reading "I-85 Tractor Trailer Wreck in North Carolina Claims Two Lives" »

This video gives you an idea of what a big truck can do to smaller cars. Just imagine what a fully-loaded tractor trailer can do in an accident.

Continue reading "VIDEO: Big Truck vs. Small Cars" »

18-wheelers travel our highways and interstates as if they own the roads. You've seen it. So have I, and so has anyone who has ever traveled the roads in the United States anytime in the past half-century. When truck drivers operate their tractor trailers carelessly, those big rigs are dangerous - and even deadly. When truckers ignore the rules of the road, they can cause serious accidents. I have seen it too many times in my career, and I believe that other lawyers and members of the public should be much better informed about the dangers involved every time we venture out onto the highways with tractor trailers, and other large trucks or commercial vehicles. When people suffer injuries in a big truck accident, they need top-notch legal help to make sure that their interests are protected.

The fact of the matter is that the roads belong to the citizens - not to the trucking companies. Too often, the laws and regulations governing trucks are just ignored. When that happens, people get hurt and too often killed. I hope you will check in regularly to see what is happening on this blog so that you are better informed, too.

Continue reading "Who Owns the Roads?" »

Yet another tragedy on the roads: A logging truck collided head-on with a car being driven by 27-year-old student at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina on Tuesday. The young lady, Kimberly Vanmarel, was driving a 2003 Suzuki. She died at the scene from massive head trauma. Our thoughts and prayers go out to this young lady's family.

Continue reading "Florence, South Carolina College Student Dies in Head-On Collision With 18-Wheeler" »

In another example of the dangers on the roads, a truck driver was killed on Interstate 26 in South Carolina today when his tractor trailer ran off the road, into a stand of trees. The cab of the 18-wheeler was ripped apart, and the driver was ejected from the vehicle. An eight-mile stretch of I-26 in Dorchester County was closed for approximately four hours after the accident. There was concern that hazardous materials may have been in the trailer, but it appears that there was not a chemical spill.

There was some speculation that the driver may have simply fallen asleep at the wheel.

Continue reading "Truck Accident Death in Dorchester County, South Carolina on I-26" »

From 1994 through the end of 2005, there were 1,330 fatalities in South Carolina tractor trailer crashes.

1994 104 Fatalities
1995 104 Fatalities
1996 111 Fatalities
1997 90 Fatalities
1998 128 Fatalities
1999 118 Fatalities
2000 133 Fatalities
2001 108 Fatalities
2002 101 Fatalities
2003 99 Fatalities
2004 110 Fatalities
2005 124 Fatalities

Source: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Be careful out there.

Continue reading "South Carolina Truck Accident Death Numbers" »

This tragic collision happened not far from our main office, and our sympathies go out to those who lost their loved one. On Thursday, February 8, Yvonne Redmond, 46, of West Columbia, died from injuries she received that day when she was hit by a CMC Metal Recycling tractor trailer. Ms. Redmond was walking on the sidewalk in front of West Columbia City Hall when the truck left the roadway, hit her from behind and then ran into a steel power pole in the median head on.

The driver of the truck, Mark Clark, age 53, of Lexington, was taken to Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia. He was treated and released. The West Columbia Police Department is investigating.

Continue reading "18 Wheeler Accident Kills Pedestrian in West Columbia, South Carolina" »

According to the United States Department of Transportation, there were 2,394 deaths in crashes involving large trucks from 1994 through 2005.

1994 207 Fatalities
1995 198 Fatalities
1996 183 Fatalities
1997 231 Fatalities
1998 247 Fatalities
1999 201 Fatalities
2000 191 Fatalities
2001 201 Fatalities
2002 169 Fatalities
2003 162 Fatalities
2004 200 Fatalities
2005 204 Fatalities

Source: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Continue reading "North Carolina Truck Accident Fatalities" »

According to The State newspaper, a 52-year-old man from Columbia, South Carolina, died Sunday when his car collided into an 18-wheeler, turned over and was engulfed in flames on I-20. The wreck occurred at 4:40 a.m. Toxicology tests are pending.

The truck driver, John Monroe, 47, of Beaufort, N.C., was not injured.

Toxicology tests are pending.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Accident Kills 52 Year Old Man" »

When you really look at the numbers, it is just staggering. From 1994 through the end of 2005, there were 2,741 fatalities in Georgia in crashes involving large commercial trucks. How many of these involved wrongful death, caused by the negligence of the truck driver, is unknown.

1994 214 Fatalities
1995 201 Fatalities
1996 220 Fatalities
1997 254 Fatalities
1998 223 Fatalities
1999 248 Fatalities
2000 219 Fatalities
2001 255 Fatalities
2002 198 Fatalities
2003 232 Fatalities
2004 248 Fatalities
2005 229 Fatalities

Source: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Continue reading "Georgia Truck Accident Fatalities" »

According to Road Safe America, every year in this country, 5,000 people die and more than 130,000 are injured in trucking accidents.

Continue reading "Annual Numbers for Trucking Accident Deaths and Injuries" »

Aubrey Allen Smith is a veteran over the road driver with 29 years experience in the trucking industry. Smith posted the top 10 causes of truck accidents on his blog recently. According to Smith, as the interstates and highways continue to become more populated, we will see more and more motor vehicle accidents. Even though trucking companies have improved their safety training, new statistics show an alarming rate of truck crashes.

Top 10 Causes of Truck Accidents

1. Prescription Drug Use 26%
2. Traveling Too Fast 23%
3. Unfamiliar with Roadway 22%
4. Over-the-counter Drug Use 18%
5. Inadequate Surveillance 14%
6. Fatigue 13%
7. Illegal Maneuver 9%
8. Exterior Distraction 8%
9. Inadequate Evasive Action 7%
10. Aggressive Driving Behavior 7%

Continue reading "What Causes Tractor Trailer Truck Accidents?" »