If you or a loved one was involved in an accident caused by a semi-truck, you have the option to: Sue the negligent party in a lawsuit Settle with the at-fault party’s insurance company without going to court Bring multiple lawsuits if you were injured and also lost a loved one in the collision Your …
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that more than 30,000 people die in accidents involving motor vehicles in the United States every year. The most damaging of these accidents involve trucks, which can affect multiple vehicles at a time and cause significant injuries in an instant. These crashes cost billions of dollars …
Large trucks cause thousands of accidents each year. Injured victims or their loved ones can hold negligent drivers or their employers liable for any injuries. Choosing the right lawyer to champion your case is one of the most important decisions you will make. How can you make this critical decision? What are the top qualities …
Among the new initiatives that Columbus will introduce as part of the Smart City Grant it received earlier this year is testing of partially-automated two-truck platoons. In each platoon, a driver will traditionally operate the first truck, and a second truck synchronized to the first will follow it, mirroring the first truck’s braking and acceleration. …
According to a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) study published on Distraction.gov, truckers who text while driving a commercial vehicle are more than 23 times more likely to cause a crash or near-crash than those who refrain from texting while driving. For this reason, FMCSA created truck driver texting and driving rules which make …
Drivers of hazardous materials, better known as HAZMAT, are among the most qualified professional drivers on the road. However, despite the training required of the drivers, Hazmat truck accidents still occur regularly. What are hazardous materials? The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) divides hazardous materials into nine different classes. Explosives Gases Flammable and combustible …
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires drug and alcohol testing for truck drivers following certain accidents. The Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, passed in 1991, outlines these requirements. This law identifies who must submit to testing, when, and in what situations. The driver’s employer may do testing outside of these specific guidelines, but the …
According to a report compiled by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, there were more than 16,000 crashes involving tractor trailers and other large trucks in Ohio during 2014. Statistics also show that errors made by the commercial truck driver caused about 60 percent of these accidents. If you suffered injuries in an accident caused …
Delivery trucks and long haul semi-trucks are common on Columbus highways. And the mere size of the truck poses a considerable and potentially fatal threat to other cars and motorists on the road. Two types of especially dangerous accidents are override truck accidents and underride truck accidents. Underride accident – An accident in which a …
Poorly maintained roads contribute to thousands of deaths and millions of injuries each year. According to a landmark study commissioned by the Transportation Construction Coalition, On a Crash Course: The Dangers and Health Costs of Deficient Roadways these worrisome statistics proved true for the year 2006. Poor road conditions contributed to over 5.3 million crashes …
Driving in inclement weather is dangerous for any vehicle, but particularly difficult for large commercial trucks that are hard to maneuver and require a longer stopping distance. If the weather conditions are too dangerous, truck drivers should stay at a rest stop or postpone the trip until the roads are safe. Truckers aren’t too keen …
Driving while intoxicated is irresponsible, illegal, and deadly. In 2013, one person died every 52 minutes in an alcohol-related traffic accident, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That’s over 10,000 people who could still be alive today had drivers acted responsibly. Drunk driving truck accidents are not taken lightly, considering that a semi …
Lack of driver training and experience translates into significant crash risks. In fact, when truckers are at fault in an accident, inexperience is the third most commonly cited contributing factor, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Large Truck Crash Causation Study. (Only driver fatigue and unfamiliarity with the area contribute to more …
Imagine an 80,000-lb. 18-wheeler barreling down the Interstate at 60 miles an hour. If you were near that massive hunk of steel and cargo, the last thing you’d want is for it to malfunction. Proper and regular maintenance of trucking fleets not only promotes safety and demonstrates ethical business practices, but it’s also federally mandated. …
Truck accidents hurt hundreds of people every year in Ohio. In fact, in the year 2014, there were 21,290 truck accidents. Of those, 127 resulted in fatal injuries, and 4,270 of them caused injuries (in 16,893 accidents, only property damage occurred). This is alarming as the common types of injuries victims sustain in serious car …
Big trucks are used to transport large quantities of items. But when these items aren’t loaded properly, or when a truck is filled beyond maximum capacity, things can quickly become dangerous. For example, some common types of injuries that victims sustain in serious car accidents (like truck crashes) are cracked skulls and puncture injuries. Improperly …
To maximize income, truck drivers often keep crazy work schedules, driving hours upon hours without a break. Longer hours mean more trips and more profit, so carriers often nudge or openly encourage their workers to “keep on trucking.” Unfortunately, an unreasonable truck driver schedule can be extremely dangerous. It leads to driver fatigue, which in …
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) continually seeks ways to improve safety in the trucking industry and reduce the risks of preventable hazards such as truck driver fatigue. We see far too many cases of people hurt or killed each year in truck accidents from tired and overworked truckers. In the Department of Transportation (DOT) …
If you or your loved one was injured in a crash that involved a government vehicle, you might be able to file a claim against the appropriate government entity to recover your damages. However, be forewarned that this is no easy feat; the government has a lot of built-in protection against liability, and there are …
Rollover truck accidents can cause substantial injuries and damages not only to the truck occupants, but also to other surrounding vehicles. Below are some of the factors that increase risks of rollover accidents and various causes of them. Truck Factors that Increase Risk of Rollover The susceptibility of large trucks to rollover accidents depends a …
Columbus motorists often assume that truck drivers can see traffic clearly and have a much better view because they’re so high above road level. That isn’t the case. In fact, there are many truck blind spots that prevent truckers from seeing vehicles in those no-zones. When you drive in these areas, you are invisible to …
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were approximately 333,000 trucking accidents in the United States in 2012. There were nearly 4,000 fatalities. The reality is that all drivers must share the roadways and people driving cars must travel alongside large and heavy vehicles like tractor-trailers and heavy trucks on a daily …
Type in “tanker truck chemical spill” into Google and the results go on for pages. This is obviously a very real and very dangerous accident. On June 17, 2014 in the town of Sidney, Ohio, a chemical leaking from a tanker truck closed down Interstate 75 for a period of time and saw 5,000 people …
This past June, comedian Tracy Morgan was involved in a truck accident that sent him and two others to the hospital with severe injuries and tragically killed comedian James McNair. The cause of the accident is officially speeding, as the Wal-Mart truck driver was going 65 mph in a 45 mph construction zone. Further, a …
Many states have adopted initiatives to improve safety on our nation’s roads. One of those efforts is Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT), a federal program that has helped reduce truck-related fatalities. Although not adopted in the state of Ohio, there are ways drivers can help utilize this program. Overview of TACT Motorists ticketed for …
