Atlanta Injury Law Blog

As a trucking trial attorney, I see it all too often.  And now again.  Early yesterday morning a tractor trailer loaded with sand ran a stop sign in south central Florida, striking a van on the right side. and killing six men.  According to an Associated Press report by Christine Armario, investigators were still trying to determine while the West Coast Aggregate 18-wheeler failed to stop for the stop sign. Authorities were still seeking to identify the six victims who were thought to be HIspanic.

reported that the tractor-trailer was  hauling sand out of Ortona Sand Co., five to six miles from where the accident occurred.  The van, registered to a farm labor contractor, was not authorized to transport farm workers and had not passed vehicle safety inspections. 

According to USDOT information, West Coast Aggregate Haulers is based in Venice, Florida, and reports operation of only one power unit, hauling aggregate on interstate trips only. In the past 24 months West Coast Aggregate had two truck inspections, failing one of them. 

Florida requires only $300,000 liability insurance for trucks of intrastate haulers with a gross vehicle weight of 44,000 to 80,000 pounds, compared with the minimum $750,000 required for interstate truckers and the measly $100,000 required for intrastate haulers in Georgia.  However, we often find in Georgia that trucks hauling timber and  building materials such as sand actually carry $1 million liability coverage due to contractual requirements.

A Florida truck driver admitted that he was on his cell phone yesterday when he slammed into a school bus, killing a 13-year-old student. According to a report by Austin Miller of the Ocala Star-Banner, the school bus, which had stopped to let children off , had its warning lights on and stop signs out. The truck driver said he never saw the bus. He  failed to stop for it and rammed the school bus forward 294 feet. The bus was fully engulfed in flames. 

See our recent posts on cell phone distractions and the absence of seat belts on busses.

As a trucking accident attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I see a wide range of messes resulting from overturned tractor trailers. We had a case last year in which a load of frozen hamburger meat spilled all over I-75 in south Georgia. The state trooper said his biggest problem was crowd control, as local deputies tried to salvage the load for a big cookout.

Today's news feeds included two sharply contrasting cargo spills in truck wrecks -- ammonia nitrate on I-20 in eastern Georgia and Oreo cookies in Illinois.

At Morris, Illinois, about 50 miles south of Chicago, a truck loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreo cookies overturned, spilling cookies all over the highway. No, it wasn't in a collision with a milk truck.

A tractor trailer making an illegal u-turn on a bridge in pre-dawn darkness caused a Laurens County, Georgia, crash yesterday, as a car became wedged under the trailer, according to a report by Bernie O'Donnell of WMAZ-TV in Macon.  Problems with side conspicuity andtrailer underride are common. When we see motor carrier accidents in the very early morning, we naturally look into questions of hours of service violations and driver fatigue affecting attentiveness and judgment.

Wednesday morning, 2/20/08, a tractor trailer on I-285 failed to stop for slowing traffic, struck a car, and pushed it into the rear of another tractor trailer. This happened near the intersection of I-20 where there is often a long line of tractor trailers backed up waiting to transition from I-285 to I-20.  The driver of the car was killed. See the Atlanta Journal Constitution article by Mike Morris.  Proper speed and space management, and maintenance of driver alertness, are essential to safe operation of interstate motor carriers. 

At Bamberg, SC, on 1/7/08, a beer truck, a log truck and two empty Freightliners were involved in a fiery pileup when the log truck lost a tire.  The beer truck burned completely and its driver died. The two empty trucks were driven by brothers  Two men from Rincon, Georgia were driving the empty Freightliners.  One of them, whose truck also burned, was flown to a hospital. See news report from Chantelle Janelle at WIS-TV in Columbia.

Police in Kings Mountain, NC, say a driver’s lack of understanding of the English language appears to have led to a violent wreck between a train and a tractor-trailer.  Truck driver Ricardo Ercia was crossing several train lines in town at South Battleground Avenue and Oak Street when he didn’t obey a traffic sign calling for drivers to go through a second rail line crossing. Fortunatley, there were no serious injuries. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require that truck drivers be able to read and understand the English language.

In Los Angeles last night, this big rig with a vehicle jammed underneath it  slid down an embankment off  the 60 freeway.  A unidentified victim was dead at the scene. The cause of the crash was not revealed in early reports. 

With my son planning to enroll in college in the LA area in a few months, this is a sobering reminder of how crazy LA traffic can be.

Fri., 3/9/07, Calhoun, GA. 

In a scene reminiscent of the 1982 Paul Newman movie, "The Verdict," the jury after three hours of deliberation Thursday afternoon sent a note to the judge asking if they were limited by the amount the plaintiff asked for.   In closing argument I had asked for a verdict of approximately $1.2 million for our client's permanently disabling leg injury.  When we got that question from the jury, my first thought was that I don't drink anywhere near enough to fit the Paul Newman role in the movie.

Today we won a $2,345,940.17 jury verdict against a Pennsylvania trucking company in the Superior Court of Gordon County, Calhoun, Georgia.  The verdict was broken down as follows: compensatory damages:  $1,742,845.70, attorney fees due to bad faith in the transaction, $580,948.57, expenses  of litigation $ 22,145.90.  Medical expenses were $112,228.  The highest offer from defendant's insurance company before trial was $125,000, going up to $400,000 on third day of trial. This was nearly three times the highest previous verdict in the history of Gordon County.

The specificity of the figures, down to the penny, helps to refute any allegation that it was a random verdict by a "runaway jury."  These jurors were all deeply conservative northwest Georgia folks who were determined to follow the law and the facts wherever they led, and to do the right thing.

It was a very good week.

Johnson v. Clarendon National Insurance Company, American Trans-Freight, LLC, ATF Trucking, LLC, ATF Logistics, LLC, and Robert W. Carnley, CIVIL ACTION FILE NO. 04-CV-43532

No driver shall operate a motor vehicle, and a commercial motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle, while the driver's ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become impaired, through fatigue, illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him/her to begin or continue to operate the commercial motor vehicle.

Yesterday in Margate, Florida, a woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop was when an 18-wheeler crashed into the bus stop and trapped her dead body under tons of twisted metal and a maze of downed power lines. According to police and media reports, a flatbed tow truck was heading east on U.S. 441 when it veered to right, striking the bus bench and knocking over a concrete utility pole. 

Topeka, KS.  The driver of a semi truck crossed the median and collided with another tractor trailer about 1:00 a.m. Monday morning.  Both vehicles caught fire and both drivers were killed at the scene.

The most likely hypothesis in this scenario is that the driver who crossed the median fell asleep.  Investigation should include examination of driver logs (which may not be accurate), shipping documents, gas and toll receipts, on-board communications and GPS systems, etc. Another hypothesis is tire or mechanical failure affecting a front wheel, resulting in loss of control.  Both possibilities should be explored in a truck wreck fitting this pattern.

Perry, GA, 6/6/06. 

A Perry man injured when rear-ended by a tractor-trailer on Ga. 247 died Tuesday night at a Macon hospital.  Duane Rothe, 55, of Perry, suffered a serious head trauma and internal injuries in the 9:50 a.m. accident, Houston County sheriff's Cpl. Sean Alexander said. Rothe was transported to The Medical Center of Central Georgia. James Rountree, 55, of Hagan, the driver of the tractor-trailer, was charged with following too closely, reckless driving and serious injury by a vehicle.  The latter charge will likely be upgraded to vehicular homicide.

This afternoon two tractor trailer wrecks tied up traffic on metro Atlanta freeways. Initial reports were scarce on details about the consequences to motorists involved in the crashes.

In Gwinnett County, tractor trailer lost its back wheels, causing a wreck that also involved a Honda Accord and possible injuries. This happened just after 4 p.m. on I-85 southbound near Hamilton Mill.

In Cobb County, a tractor trailer overturned, reportedly on four cars, on Barrett Parkway near the I-575 northbound on-ramp. Initial news reports did not include information about injuries.

At least seven people died when a tractor-trailer rig from Iowa rear-ended a pickup and both vehicles burst into flames Monday evening on Interstate 10 northwest of Tucson,AZ. The pickup was eastbound near the Pinal County line when it was hit from behind by the 18-wheeler carrying a load of copper. At least seven passengers, reportedly Mexicans, who were "jammed" into the pickup died in the burning vehicle. The dead reportedly included two adults and five children. No names were released as of late Monday. The tractor trailer driver said he did not see the pickup before the collision.

On I-70 in Missouri, last Friday a tractor trailer that had been speeding and swerving erratically for miles crashed into two other vehicles, killing two people and critically injuring a third. At least two witnesses reported that they had narrowly avoided being hit by the tractor trailer. One said the truck driver "was driving nutty as heck." Initial news reports did not indicate a possible cause of the trucker's behavior.

Truck driving is dangerous business. Driver fatigue hurts truckers as well as others on the highway. Yesterday, at 2:13 AM on I-95 in Virginia, a 53-year-old truck driver from Kentucky was critically injured when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel and plunged his truck into a 100-foot deep ravine. According to police he sustained severe internal injuries, a fractured neck and a collapsed lung.

I've heard stories from truck drivers about being required to drive trips that could not be driven safely due to fatigue, and of shippers and dispatchers insisting on short delivery times despite note making loads available until hours beyond the projected shipment time. Too often the truck drivers are pawns of a broken system.

A truck driver who apparently feel asleep at the wheel crossed the median on I-69 and struck a Taylor University van, killing four students and one university employee. Those killed included Taylor students Whitney Cerak, Laurel Erb, Bradley Larson and Elizabeth Smith and Taylor employee Monica Felver. Taylor senior Laura VanRyn and Taylor employee Michele Miller were flown to a Fort Wayne in critical condition. The truck driver, Robert F. Spencer, apparently tried to blame the wreck on tire failure with no supporting evidence, and refused to talk to Indiana State Police, who were inspecting his driver log and related documents. Another driver had seen him drifting and tried to warn him by CB radio, but got no response. The truck driver had a record of speeding violations in while driving a tractor trailer.

Marion is familiar territory to me. I had a family of seven cousins who grew up there. I have pleasant memories of many summer visits there, as well as taking part in four or five of their weddings. One of my cousins was a librarian at Taylor University before she went off to serve as a missionary in Africa and ultimately settled in Sweden.

It's been a busy week for tractor trailer crashes in Georgia. Three of the four incidents involved multiple tractor trailers.

Last Friday, March 10th, a crash involving two tractor trailers and a pickup truck shut down all westbound lanes of I-20 near Temple.

Tuesday morning at 6:30 AM, about a miles away from the first crash on I-20 between Bremen and Temple, a crash between two tractor trailers proved fatal to one of the truck drivers.

Thursday morning, on I-20 near Augusta, tractor-trailer lost control and overturned at about 5:35 AM, blocking traffic for several hours. The big rig went into the median, hit the cable barrier, swerved back across the interstate and hit the guard rail on the other side before overturning on the interstate. The truck driver was transported to Medical College of Georgia Hospital. While traffic was being cleared, a second wreck occurred on the resulting detour, and one of the drivers was also taken to MCG.

At the other end of the state on Wednesday, an oil tanker truck crashed into the rear of another tractor trailer on I-95 in Camden County just north of Jacksonville, FL. Both truck drivers were taken to nearby hospitals.

A DriveCam camera mounted inside a passenger bus captured a horrifying crash when a tractor trailer lost control, ran over a car, and collided with the median barrier and the bus on the Long Island Expressway in New York. The camera records both the driver and the driver's view when sensors detect erratic driving behavior. My hunch is that the more accident prone trucking companies won't be in a rush to acquire this technology that would show their sleepy truck drivers running over innocent motorists. On the other hand, trucking companies that are conscientious about playing by the rules could use this to prove it when they are in the right, thus saving themselves much trouble and expense in litigation. See WCBS story.

Fayette County, TN, 3/7/06
On I-40 in Tennessee, a westbound tanker truck crossed the median and struck two passenger vehicles, killing the drivers of both. Michelle Cotton, 37, of Jackson, and Catina Randall, 33, of Houston, were killed. The tanker truck was driven by Roberto Arriaga, 36, of Corpus Christi, Texas. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a vehicle pulled out in front of the tanker from the shoulder, whereupon Arriaga swerved and overcorrected. The truck went through the median, hit a guardrail and went into eastbound traffic.

Prompt and thorough investigation is essential after such a crash to determine the contributing factors, rather than simply taking anyone's story entirely at face value.

Cullman, Alabama, 3/3/06.
On I-65 in Cullman County, Alabama, an 18-wheeler drifted off the roadway on Monday, and struck a pickup truck stopped in the emergency lane with sufficient force to separate the cab from the bed of the truck. The truck's gas tank also exploded, covering the vehicle in fuel and flames. Michael Cammon, 41, of Cullman, and his passenger, William Malcolm, 65, of Hanceville, were injured. Malcolm, who was trapped inside the burning pickup, was airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham.

According to another truck driver at the scene, the 18-wheeler ran off the shoulder of the road twice prior to hitting the pickup. The initial news article did not indicate whether that was due to fatigue, distraction, impairment or mechanical malfunction.

A septic tank truck failed to slow for traffic on Brown's Bridge Road in Gainesville, Georgia, on Valentine's Day, causing a four-vehicle crash. According to media sources, Kenneth David Chambers, 18, of Gainesville, a worker riding in the septic tank truck, was at risk to lose a leg.

Columbia, SC, 2/8/06. A seven-vehicle pileup on I-26 Wednesday morning killed a husband and wife, sent 12 people to hospitals and shut down the eastbound lanes for more than five hours, authorities said. Steven Robert Gerth and Nancy Dianne Gerth, both 65, of St. Cloud, Minn., died at the scene. Their Toyota Camry was crushed by an 18-wheeler. The car was pinned under the cab and pushed along the highway. The wreck occurred at about 9 a.m. on an already-congested I-26 under the Shady Grove Road overpass.

One witness said she was trying to navigate the frequent stop/start traffic flow. "When we all started rolling again, you could hear the collision behind you." She next saw the 18-wheeler fly past her on the right, but it happened so fast she didn't realize it had a car pinned beneath it.

The Gerths were both wearing their seat belts. They were on their way to a vacation in Georgia.

The news stories thus far don't provide information about the truck driver. However, we often see cases in which fatigued, sleep-deprived long-haul truckers plow right on through cars slowed or stopped ahead of them on interstate highways. A couple of weeks ago I had a deposition of a truck driver who confessed to me that he had been driving 20 of 24 hours before he rear-ended a slower moving vehicle on an interstate highway and all his logs were falsified. At this point we could do no more than speculate about fatigue factors affecting the trucker in the I-26 crash, whether he had violated hours of service regulations, and whether he was driving on cruise control when too tired to be attentive.

2/3/06.
Two Florida men and a Georgia truck driver died in a chain-reaction crash that has shut down southbound lanes of Interstate 95 near Hardeeville, SC, near the Georgia state line. The crash about 1:25 Friday morning happened as traffic was stopped because of another incident farther up I-95. A tractor trailer hauling steel rear-ended a stopped landscaping van. That mpact caused a chain reaction with four additional tractor trailers and a smaller landscaping van.

An 18-wheeler driven by 52-year-old Tommy Lenoir of Valdosta, Ga., crashed into a van driven by Delbert Eugene Reitzel Jr. of South Daytona, Fla. Both men were killed in the crash. Reitzel's nephew, Brett Cole Reitzel of Largo, Fla., also was killed. Another passenger in the van and the drivers of two other 18-wheelers were injured in the crash that involved six vehicles.

Time and time again we see crashes in the wee hours of the morning in which tractor trailer drivers, often weary and on cruise control, fail to see slower vehicles ahead of them on the Interstate, and just run right over them. Last week, I took the deposition of a truck driver in Ohio who wound up admitting that his driver log was falsified and he had been driving 20 of the 24 hours prior to the 3 AM crash. The next day a truck driver in Florida admitted that no log could be found in his truck after a 5:30 AM crash, and he could not recall whether he had taken a rest break between Wisconsin and south Georgia.

A truck driver who plowed into a stopped car on 1/25/06 and killed seven children from one family had been awake for 34 hours, except for a short nap. This dramatically emphasizes the widespread problem of truck driver fatigue that we see time and time again.

Seven children from one family in Lake Butler, Florida -- five siblings and two cousins -- were killed when their car stopped behind a school bus that was letting off children, and an 18-wheeler crashed into the car. Reports from the scene indicated the truck left no skid marks. The semi truck hit the car from behind and pushed it into the bus, causing the car to burst into flames on the rural two lane highway. Children on the bus reported hearing the truck's horn blasting before impact. The bus ended up 200 feet from the point of the chain reaction impact, and the cab of the truck lay overturned near the scene. The bus was at an approved bus stop. Early indications are that the truck may not have braked. The National Transportation Safety Board plans to spend eight to 10 days at the scene. A full report likely won't be ready for six to seven months. A data recording box inside the truck should show the truck's speed and indicate whether the driver braked. The bus was equipped with a recording device, but it wasn't working.

The car burst into flames, and everyone inside was killed, including 15-year-old Nicky Mann, who was driving illegally with a learner's permit and was taking her adopted siblings and her cousins home from school. Three children on the bus were seriously injured. The kids were heading home, and then to church. The fact that the driver was a few months shy of 16 and driving on a learner's permit appears irrelevant. It would have made no difference if the person behind the wheel of a car stopped behind a school bus had been a 54 year old with 38 years experience as a licensed driver.

The children's grief-stricken grandfather died of a heart attack that night, the eighth fatality of the crash. The family had planned to finalize adoption of the youngest child this week. Instead, they are planning funerals for all the children and their grandfather.

Investigation of the crash centers on "why he didn't see a big, large school bus." Authorities are looking into whether the truck driver was possibly talking on his cell phone, if he was tired or if there was a mechanical failure of the truck. A blood sample was taken from the truck driver to test for alcohol and drugs.

The truck driver, Alvin, Wilkerson, was cited in 2000 for driving with a suspended license and twice, in 2000 and 2001, for operating a vehicle in unsafe condition. He also was arrested and charged in 1997 with accessory after the fact to murder, in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a toddler, though that charge was later dropped, and was convicted of solicitation of prostitution in 1999.

Wilkerson was driving for Crete Carrier Corp., a Nebraska-based trucking company with its Florida hub in DeLand. (Coincidentally, I was in DeLand taking depositions of a truck driver and company representative on the day of this crash.) Crete employs 5,400 truck drivers operating 5,100 tractor-trailers around the country. Accordingly to FMCSA records, in the last two years, Crete truck drivers have been involved in 482 crashes and 20 of those crashes ended in fatalities. In Florida, transportation officials conducted 259 inspections of Crete trucks and drivers in the last two years alone and found 111 violations. Eight of those violations were so serious that inspectors immediately forced the trucks out of service and off the road.

This crash on a straight, level rural road highlights a national trend, in which the Road Information Program researchers determined that traffic fatality rates are 2.5 times higher on rural roads than on all other roads.

Lawrenceville, GA, 1/25/06.
A tanker truck carrying liquid latex overturned on I-85 South near Ga. Highway 20 shortly after 4 AM Tuesday morning, causing the closing of all southbound lanes for 12 hours. While no injuries were reporting, it was a traffic nightmare for many thousands of commuters as Georgia DOT workers struggled to clean up and repair the damaged highway. Cleanup and repair work will continue as DOT closes one lane of I-85 South just south of Ga. 20 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to repair asphalt that melted when the tanker truck caught fire.

Today's Louisville Courier-Journal carries the poignant story of two truck drivers. One was a Good Samaritan who stopped to help a motorist in distress. The other, an apparently drowsy trucker whose hours of service could not be documented because no logs were found, drifted off the highway as if he were exiting a freeway. The drowsy trucker struck and killed the Good Samaritan trucker.

This story is so starkly eloquent that no elaboration is needed.

Montpelier, Ohio, 12/8/05

A tractor trailer loaded with plywood collided with the rear of a slower moving older private bus on the Ohio Turnpike Tuesday night. Two of the fifteen passengers on the bus suffered head injuries.

According to the Toledo Blade, a line of commercial vehicles, traveling at 65 mph, moved to the left lane to avoid the slower buses, but one tractor-trailer, driven by Robert Hitsman, 44, of Dent, Minn., did not move in time. He was charged with failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead.

Too often we see cases in which interstate truckers fail to slow down for slower moving vehicles ahead. My "favorite" involved a truck driver who blamed the accident on the driver ahead who necessarily slowed down for typical Atlanta rush hour traffic. The sleep-deprived trucker in that case struck not just the car in front of him but two other passenger vehicles and another tractor trailer. We have other cases in the office in which truckers collided with slower moving vehicles. In one case, the trucker admitted to State Patrol that he had fallen asleep, and another claimed he failed to see the slower vehicle he ran over because he was looking in his rear view mirror.

NEW CASTLE, PA, 11/30/05.
The driver of a truck carrying liquefied oxygen apparently fell asleep at the wheel at 1:40 AM. The tank truck hit an embankment and overpass, starting a fiery crash that killed him. See article.

The news report does not include anything about the driver's hours of service, fatigue, or hazardous materials qualifications.

Elgin, IL, 11/30/05.
A truck carrying 42,000 pounds of gravel sped through a red light, stuck a minivan and 8 other vehicles, and killed the driver of the minivan. The driver of the gravel truck was to be tested for drugs and alcohol. See news story.

In many states trucks carrying road construction materials, timber, and products of mines, farms and forests, are minimally regulated and have lax safety practices.

Santa Maria, CA, 11/27/05.
A Greyhound bus driver apparently fell asleep and ran off a road, killing two passengers, one of whom was seven months pregnant. Forty-one other passengers were injured. A witness said the bus suddenly drifted over the fog line without signaling or braking and plunged over an embankment. See CNN story.

Gorman, CA, 11/25/05.
On the I-5 freeway in the Los Angeles area, a tractor trailer struck the rear of a stalled pickup truck, overturning the smaller vehicle and killing a man and teenage boy inside. The tractor trailer driver left the scene with a ruptured fuel tank, took the next exit, and proceeded until the truck cab caught fire. The truck driver then fled on foot. Police later received an anonymous call, possibly from the truck driver, claiming the tractor trailer had been stolen from a Pilot truck stop. See news story.

Without knowing more, this incident appears to underscore the problem of driver qualifications, which is worsening with the shortage of qualified commercial truck drivers nationwide.

Austin, TX, 11/17/05.

A woman was killed Wednesday when a wheel and tire came off an 18-wheeler trailer, bounced over the median barrier on I-35, and landed on top of a Honda. The driver of the Honda was killed instantly.

The truck involved is licensed to McRyan Hauling Inc. in Roanoke, TX, and was being driven by Alan Louis McKinney, 41, of Dallas. It is unclear whether the trailer also belonged to McRyan Hauling Inc. McRyan Hauling employs more than 100 drivers and transports sand, gravel and building and construction materials, according to a report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Over the past 24 months, company vehicles have been involved in six crashes that resulted in injuries, but no fatalities, the federal report shows.

Investigation of such an incident should include close examination of maintenance and inspection issues. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations include fairly stringent rules about equipment issues, including wheels and tires, and require detailed pre-trip inspections by drivers. It sounds like maybe somebody changed the tires and failed to tighten the lug nuts, but the chance of the trucking company and its insurer being forthrightly honest about it is ... ahem, uncertain.

See article.

TEMPERANCE HILL, S.C. — The driver of a tractor-trailer was charged Monday with drunken driving after slamming into a hayride and killing four people, including a toddler. Jake Davis Jr., 51, of Florence, was charged in the case. The South Carolina Highway Patrol reports Davis was driving the tractor-trailer that plowed into the rear of the tractor and flat-bed trailer that was carrying about 20 people on the hayride.

The crash happened Sunday night, when the 18-wheeler hit a flatbed trailer and the tractor pulling it. Sixteen people were injured; two remained hospitalized.

See Charlotte Observer and AJC article.

Kennebec County, Maine.

A tractor trailer driver with a record 63 driving convictions, 23 license suspensions and involvement in a previous fatal crash, crashed into a car on I-95 in July, trapping the driver in her car for more than an hour. She died several days later.

Under Maine law the trucker could not be charged with manslaughter or vehicular homicide. However, he was charged with operating after suspension, possession of a suspended license, operating without authority, operating after being placed out of service, false record of duty status, operating without a medical certificate, operating while in possession of a radar detector, operating while in possession of a controlled substance, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and operating without insurance. See MaineToday.com.

This incident underscores the inadequacy of protections against rogue truck drivers.

White Plains,NY, 9/14/05.
A tractor trailer struck a car from the rear on Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, causing a fire that killed the driver of the car. A passenger in the car caught fire and escaped by throwing himself off the bridge into the river, where he was rescued. See CNN story.

One woman was killed and another seriously injured Thursday when a tractor-trailer plowed into a car that had broken down in Bartow County. The car was stalled in the emergency lane of northbound I-75 when a tractor-trailer bearing cargo veered into the lane, colliding with both cars. One woman was killed at the scene and another was airlifted to an Atlanta hospital. Possible charges against the truck driver are pending a state patrol reconstruction of the wreck. See article.

Marietta, GA, 9/6/05.
The driver of a Honda Civil was killed early Tuesday morning when rearended by a tractor trailer on I-75 just south of the Ga. 5 exit. When you follow news of truck-car wrecks, the pattern of truckers running over cars in the middle of the night is a tragically monotonous pattern. See article.

I hope the victim's family acts quickly enough to be able to obtain full documentation of the pattern of the trucker's hours, fatigue and sleep deprivation leading up to this fatal crash. While the trucking company will try to limit the search for truth to a few seconds on the highway, the root cause often lies in the company's mode of operation that pushes truck drivers to drive when too fatigued to be safe, in violation of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation that bars operation by a driver who is impaired by illness or fatigue.

BRISTOL, Ind., 8/22/05
A truck driver has been charged with four counts of reckless homicide in a chain-reaction crash that killed four people and injured seven on the Indiana Toll Road. The truck driver, Gil Stanislaw, 56, of Fox Lake, Ill., failed to slow down for a construction zone, police said. He was not injured and was taken to the Elkhart County Jail.
Police said his truck hit the rear of a passenger car and began the chain-reaction crash. Killed were Beverly Zinsmaster, 66, and Phillip Zinsmaster, 69, of Sherwood, Mich.; Joan Auburt, 65, of San Gabriel, Calif., and Dimitri Karpov, 27, of Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Margarita Karpov, 26, was airlifted to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. See Indianapolis Star article.

Peachtree City, GA, 8/26/05.

A landscaping truck driven by Eric Hannah of Newnan, loaded with logs and towing a trailer with a Bobcat aboard, ran a red light in Peachtree City. It struck a vehicle driven by Tiffany Buysing of Peachtree City, then collided into a vehicle driven by Tabitha Kendall of Newnan, who was stopped at the red light, then started to overturn and collided into a vehicle driven by Rose Webb of Peachtree City. Webb's vehicle also was overturned by the collision with Hannah's truck. "Mr. Hannah's vehicle came to rest on top of Ms. Webb's vehicle causing both of these drivers to be entrapped," Peachtree City police said in a prepared statement. Logs from Hannah's truck spilled from his vehicle and into another vehicle driven by Susan Snow of Peachtree City. Webb was transported by helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital, according to police. Hannah was transported by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. See article.

Fortunately, no one was killed and the people injured were doing well enough to be released from the hospitals. However, this incident highlights a loophole in Georgia's financial responsibility laws regarding large trucks. Both interstate and intrastate motor carriers are regulated and required to carry reasonable amounts of liability insurance for protection of members of the traveling public. However, OCGA Section 46-1-1 specifically exempts vehicles used in agricultural, forestry and granite mining operations from all common carrier, contract carrier and private carrier requirements. They are only required to have the minimum insurance required of passenger cars -- $25,000 per person & $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 for property damage.

While many exempt operators do carry more insurance than this lax law requires, there are countless logging, farm and mining vehicles operating on Georgia highways without close attention to safety standards and without adequate insurance coverage for the people they run into.

Fort Payne, AL, 8/25/05.

On I-59 in DeKalb County, Alabama, a flatbed tractor trailer clipped a car, causing it to leave the roadway and overturn several times. Shirley Middleton, 63, of Tunnel Hill, GA, was ejected and killed. her two sisters, Dorothy Correll of Dalton and Ira Dobson of Warner Robbins were seriously injured.

The truck driver -- Jesus Castillo, Jr., 29, of Brownhill, Texas -- fled up I-59 toward Chattanooga, but Dade County, Georgia deputies caught him a short time later and returned him to Fort Payne. He faces manslaughter and Leaving the Scene of an Accident charges.

See WDEF TV, Associated Press , and Fort Payne Times-Journal stories.

There is a stark contrast between Georgia and Alabama wrongful death laws. In Georgia, the measure of damages is the "full value of the life" of the decedent, including both economic and intangible aspects, and one is not permitted to "send the industry a message." In Alabama, wrongful death damages are entirely punitive, to punish and deter acts that kill a human being. In that context, it is permissible in Alabama to "send the industry as message" but not to talk about the value of the individual life.

In order to do that, full exploration of all violation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that contributed to the death should be explored and fully explained by a trucking safety expert, and, perhaps, a sleep deprivation expert. See post on punitive damages in interstate trucking cases.

Newnan, GA, 8/26/05. Wesley Williard McClure Jr., 48, an Alabama truck driver for Action Resources, Inc., allegedly collided with the rear of another tractor trailer, causing it to cross the grass median and collide head on with two other trucks. One man, who was burned beyond recognition, died at the scene. A second driver was airlifted to an Atlanta hospital. See WSB TV story.

As the other trucks caught fire and exploded, McClure kept driving to his destination in Conyers. He initially called dispatchers to report being a witness, but later admitted involvement in the wreck.

Like many catastrophic truck wrecks, this crash occurred late at night, about 11 PM. It would be interesting to learn the facts regarding McClure's hours of service, fatigue and possible impairment from sleep deprivation. Driver fatigue is a major problem in the trucking industry. Sleep medicine specialists are often helpful in connecting drivers' hours of service violations with causation of such crashes.

Action Resources, Inc., has $6 million liability insurance coverage.

Albany, GA, 8/22/05.

A tractor trailer ran a red light, struck a woman who had pulled off the road, jackknifed, then struck another vehicle. Kelly Henderson of Albany was reported in critical condition. See news story.

Gainesville, FL, 8/23/05.

A tractor trailer crashed into the rear of a PT Cruiser that had slowed for traffic congestion on I-75, crushing that vehicle and pushing it into a pickup truck. The driver of the PT Cruiser, which was crushed and burned beyond recognition, was killed.

The crash occured about 11:30 PM. Driver fatigue is a major problem in the trucking industry. Sleep medicine specialists are often helpful in connecting drivers' hours of service violations with causation of such crashes.

East Greenbush, NY, 8/19/05.

A tractor trailer traveling on I-90 near Albany, NY, crossed over the median for no apparent reason and collided with two oncoming cars, killing both drivers. Police did not immediately report any cause for the trucker to cross over the median. See news story.

Nashville, TN, 8/10/05

A man pumping gasoline was killed when a tractor-trailer truck that had flipped over slid into him. The driver of the semi told troopers he thinks he fell asleep at the wheel. The tractor trailer collided with a pickup truck, then hit an above-ground diesel tank, flipped onto its side, and caught fire. It then struck two unoccupied vehicles and hit a pickup truck at the pumps, killing the man who was fueling it. The truck also hit two vehicles which had one occupant each. Three people were injured. See news story.

Driver fatigue is a common problem in the trucking industry. Sleep medicine specialists are often helpful in connecting violations of hours of service rules with causation of truck crashes.

Once again a tractor trailer crash has shut down a section of Atlanta'a I-285 perimeter expressway, snarling rush hour traffic. At about 5 AM today, a tractor trailer crashed into the median barrier below the Ashford Dunwoody Road overpass. Injuries were reported, but no details about the cause of the crash or extent of injuries were in the early news reports. According to reports, the truck was carrying windshields, which were scattered all over the expressway.
See AJC,WSB,WXIA, and more AJC photos.

I don't want to prejudge the cause of this crash, but we see an awful lot of incidents in which truckers drive all night, are weary when they hit Atlanta as morning rush hour is beginning, and bad stuff happens.

At least one person was killed Wednesday afternoon, July 26th, when four tractor trailers, a utility-style truck and two passenger vehicles collided on I-285 in Cobb County, shutting northbound lanes for seven hours and sparking an inferno. The cause of the crash and names of trucking companies and victims were not immediately available. See coverage in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, WSB TV, and WXIA TV.

The drivers and their vehicles were later identified:

65-year-old Jean Hardnett of Atlanta died at the scene. Hardnett was driving a 2003 blue Chevrolet Tahoe.

A 1997 brown Mack semi tractor/trailer was driven by 43-year-old Gregory Garrison of Buford.

A 1999 white Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 22-year-old Brent Sauer of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was treated and released from Emory Hospital.

A 2004 maroon Western Star semi tractor-trailer was driven by 31-year-old Mark McKay of Huntington, W. Va. He was transported to Grady Hospital for treatment.

A 2004 maroon Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 30-year-old Joseph Henson of Calhoun.

A 2003 Ford F-550 utility truck was driven by 40-year-old Hugh Ruphard Martin Jr. of Gainesville, Ga.

A 1997 white Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 43-year-old Grady Longino of Mableton.

A semi tractor-trailer that was broken down and parked on the emergency shoulder caught fire along with others as a result of the crash.

Investigators said they expect to file charges in the fatality crash and asked anyone with information to call 770-499-3987.

On I-4 in Tampa, a tractor trailer crossed the median of I-4 and killed an occupant of an oncoming vehicle. The news story does not tell the reason the trucker crossed the median. Investigation should include possible violations of Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations related to fatigue , possibly related to hours of service violations, alcohol, drugs, and equipment issues, etc.

When an Illinois mom pulled her minivan off on the shoulder of I-24 to attend to a colicky baby, a trucker from Tennessee drifted out of the traffic lanes and stuck the minivan. Two siblings, aged 11 years and 7 weeks, were killed. The mom and two other children were injured. The truck driver was charged with improper lane usage.

The news article says nothing about why the trucker left the roadway and slammed into the family's minivan. He was charged with improper lane usage, and blood and urine samples were taken. Investigation should include possible violations of Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations related to fatigue , possibly related to hours of service violations, alcohol, drugs, and equipment issues, etc.

The driver of a tractor trailer has been charged with vehicular homicide, DUI and reckless driving after a fatal crash on I-285 during Friday afternoon rush hour, that killed three and reportedly injured seven others. See Channel 2, Channel 11 , and AJC coverage. Police said Monday that investigators now believe the tractor-trailer struck one vehicle from behind, starting the chain reaction.

The people killed were identified as Gwendolyn Beasley, 72, and Truett Beasley, 79, of Florida (parents of Mobile-based comedian known as "Killer Beaz,") , and Kevin Brunelle, 26, from Warm Springs. Seven additional people were injured, two critically. "I saw the semi hit its brakes and after that happened I saw cars flying in the air, just going everywhere," witness Sally Petermann said. The tractor-trailer stopped on top of an SUV. Wrecked cars littered the interstate.

The truck driver charged for the deaths is Ephantus Ngugi Gathuru, 49, of Woodstock. He was held at the DeKalb County Jail subject to a $150,000 cash only bond until an August 9th court date.

This crash occurred near a large number of trucking terminals. None of these news reports identify the trucking company for which Gathuru was driving, what he was hauling, whether the company is operating interstate or intrastate, or anything about the driver's driving history or qualifications, or his immigration status.

Safersys indicates he was registered as an owner-operator with one truck and hauling general freight. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 CFR 390.5, says that an independent contractor while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle is an employee of the trucking company. Therefore, trucking companies are financially responsible for the negligence of independent owner-operators who drive for them.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 CFR 392.5 prohibits "any measured alcohol concentration or detected presence of alcohol, while on duty, or operating, or in physical control of a commercial motor vehicle." 49 CFR §391.15, also provides for disqualification of a truck driver who operates a commercial motor vehicle while blood alcohol concentration is 0.04 % (half the level for DUI in Georgia).

Brunswick, GA, 6/17/05. Karissa Wetzel of Brunswick was killed when a dump truck traveling next to her blew a tire and struck her. The pickup in which she was traveling overturned several times, and she was ejected. See Jacksonville Channel 4 news story.

This report does not say whether the dump truck was an interstate or intrastate motor carrier, does not go into maintenance and inspection issues pertaining to motor carriers, and does not identify the manufacturer of the tire. All those are potentially significant issues.

Not much is required of log truck operators in Georgia. But the one that spilled a load of logs onto a Jeep in Athens Thursday morning managed to violate even those minimum requirements. The log truck, operating without the required identification on the door, overturned and spilled its load as it exited the Athens Perimeter onto Commerce Road. Two occupants of the Jeep were injured. See article.

Large trucks operating in interstate commerce are governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Motor carriers operating large trucks in intrastate commerce within Georgia are governed by state Transportation Rules that incorporate safety requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.

Motor common carriers and motor contract carriers in Georgia are subject to insurance requirements and their insurers may be joined as named defendants in a suit pursuant to the Direct Action Statute. Private carriers basically haul stuff for their own businesses rather than for others. They are subject to safety rules but not the Direct Action Statute. Interstate motor carriers must have at least $750,000 liability coverage. Intrastate motor carriers are required to have liability insurance of at least $100,000 per person / $300,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $50,000 for property damage (100/300/50).

However, OCGA Section 46-1-1 specifically exempts vehicles used in agricultural, forestry and granite mining operations from all common carrier, contract carrier and private carrier requirements. Being exempt from carrier status, agricultural, forest products and granite mining trucks are exempt from that requirement. They are only required to have the minimum insurance required of passenger cars -- $25,000 per person & $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 for property damage.

As for safety requirements, log trucks in Georgia are only subject to the Georgia Forest Products Trucking Rules, copied below.

The good news is that the rules are better than they used to be. The truck owner or operator must be identified on the vehicle now, so it is a violation to operate with no name on the door. Drivers now have to have a CDL (commercial driver's license), so my 16 year old son couldn't get a summer job driving a log truck with no training. There are rules on how loads must be secured. Lights and reflectors are required to make the trucks visible, though how effective those may be varies.

But still not much is required in the way of driver qualfications, and the financial responsibiity requirements for huge vehicles with potentially hazardous loads are laughable.

So when you see a log truck coming down the road, stay away.

Dallas, TX, 5/25/05 -- 18-wheeler burst into flames and on an I-20 bridge over Interstate 45. It is believed the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel. See story.

We frequently see cases of tired truck drivers who have driven through the night colliding with passenger cars in Atlanta's morning rush hour. Prompt investigation of drivers' logs for Hours of Service violations is essential in these cases.

Hawthorne, NJ, 6/2/05 -- A dump truck crashed into a van full of disabled adults, which then burst into flames. A disabled woman who was killed was in a wheelchair behind the van's front passenger seat. Eight others were injured. Authorities suspect the truck's brakes failed. See article.

5/23/05, Pooler, GA - Two tractor trailer drivers have been charged in connection with a series of wrecks on I-16 near I-95 last week that snarled traffic for hours. Nineteen vehicles were involved in seven crashes, injuring seven people, in a one-mile section of road within less than an hour on May 17. One truck driver has been charged with driving too fast for conditions in the rain. See article.

A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation. 49 CFR 392.14, requires that:

"Extreme caution in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle shall be exercised when hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, ice, sleet, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke, adversely affect visibility or traction. Speed shall be reduced when such conditions exist. If conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the operation of the commercial motor vehicle shall be discontinued and shall not be resumed until the commercial motor vehicle can be safely operated."

5/23/05, Henry County, GA - A tractor trailer overturned and burned , closing down southbound lanes of I-75 during afternoon rush hour. The truck driver was taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. Neither his condition or the cause of the crash has been announced. See story.

Near Boston on 5/12/05, a burning truck driver was forced to leap 60 feet into the water below after his tractor-trailer truck smashed through the guardrail of an Interstate 495 bridge over the Merrimack River, causing the truck to explode into flames. State police said the driver managed to swim to an island in the middle of the river. He suffered second- and third-degree burns to his upper body, and was flown to a Boston burn unit. The news story does not explain the cause of the crash. See Boston Herald article.

New Jersey, 4/22/05. At 1:10 AM, a tractor-trailer's failed to slow in a construction zone, causing a fiery chain-reaction crash killed 3 and and closed a 16-mile section of the New Jersey Turnpike for 15 hours. An investigator described the scene as the "most horrific crash" he had ever seen. The truck driver and two others were burned beyond recognition. The truck that caused the crash was registered to HLC Holdings owned by Henry L. Coia Trucking Inc. The company's drivers scored just one point above "deficient," according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Web site. The Philadelphia Inquirer article about the crash did not explore driver fatigue and hours of service issues, which are always likely suspects when a trucker from a small trucking company with a poor safety record in involved in an incident indicative of inattentiveness, particularly in the small hours of the night.

Arkansas City, Kansas, 3/23/05. One truck driver was killed in a crash caused by another truck driver attempting a u-turn on I-35 at 5 AM. See article.

U-turn on the interstate? The list of potential violations of state traffic laws (improper turning, failure to yield, etc.) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (failure to obey state traffic laws, probably hours of service violation, driving while impaired, etc.) one might investigate in such an incident is just incredible.

Near Poplarville, MS, at 2:44 AM 3/16/05, three 18-wheelers crashed and shut down the Interstate for several hours. The mess began when automobile carrier lost control and veered across the median, The trailer, which was carrying vehicles, came to rest blocking the roadway. Then another 18-wheeler struck the trailer, followed by a third 18-wheeler. Both trucks left the interstate to the right, where one of them overturned in the roadway. The impacts jarred vehicles loose from the auto carrier's trailer and sent them tumbling onto the interstate. Fortunately, only minor injuries to the drivers were reported, but the southbound lanes of I-59 were closed for 11 hours.
See Picayune Item article.

While the cause for the initial loss of control is not mentioned in the article, one may easily speculate that driver fatigue played a role in the unexplained loss of control at 2:44 AM.

On I-65 in Kentucky, about 10:30 PM on 3/23/05, a semitrailer driver fell asleep at the wheel and caused a multiple-car pileup that left one man dead. His semitrailer crossed the median into the northbound lane and clipped the rear of another semitrailer. A flatbed utility truck then ran into the back of the second truck and caught on fire.
The driver of the flatbed truck was pronounced dead at the scene. It was not yet known whether death was caused by trauma or smoke inhalation. See Hardin County (KY) News-Enterprise article.

A truck driver from Pooler, Georgia was killed at 4 AM on 3/24/05, when his semitrailer veered off northbound I-95 in South Carolina, and crashed into a grove of trees in the median. A police spokesman said, "We don't know if it was a medical condition or if he fell asleep or what at this point." See Beaufort (SC) Gazette article. Ironically, the trucker was only a few miles from home, and driving away from his home, at the time of the crash.

In San Luis Obispo, at 1:49 AM on 3/22/05, a local radio personality was killed when his vehicle struck the side of a tractor-trailer rig that got stuck over an hour earlier in the middle of a U-turn, blocking all lanes. Police were setting out flares, but had not yet set flares on the side from from the driver was approaching. He clearly did not see the trailer, left no skid marks, and died on impact when his SUV wedged under the trailer. The local news story reflects many common misunderstandings about tractor trailer wrecks, as well as the fact that dead men aren't there to tell their story and some folks are psychologically inclined to blame the victim.

Some of the issues raised in this crash are:

At 1 AM on 3/11/05, on I-35 near Austin, TX, a tractor trailer hit the concrete median with such force that it moved one of the concrete barriers into the lane of traffic, and dragged against the median for several hundred feet. The fuel tank on the truck caught fire and the truck disintegrated along the highway. The ensuing fire burned with such intensity that it melted the pavement. See news story.

The cause of the crash was not revealed in the news story, but it sure sounds like a fatigued truck driver falling asleep at the wheel. See Truck driver fatigue, and how the new rules do and don't help.

Driver fatigue and trucking safety are not just an American concern. On 3/11/05, a truck driver and his passenger died when the semi-trailer they were travelling in crashed on the New South Wales north coast in Australia. The men were killed when the vehicle crashed on the Pacific Highway near Karuah at 3:40 AM. No other vehicles were involved. The crash brought down power lines and affected the local power supply. See news story.

Truck driver fatigue is a frequent concern in Australia, where there has been considerable research on sleep deprivation and fatigue among "truckies" and technologies to help reduce driver fatigue through reduction of seat vibration.

In Marion County, TN, early on the morning of 3/9/05, a tractor-trailer swerved off I-24 for several hundred yards before slamming into the bridge abutment near the Nickajack dam. The load of apples and pears disconnected from the rig, and the cab itself ended up hanging precariously from the bridge. After workers stabilized the cab, the driver and a passenger were removed and air-lifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. See news story.

While the story says nothing of the cause, the circumstances suggest driver fatigue, which may occur with or without violation of the hours of services rule.

On 3/8/05, in Sumter County, Georgia, two tractor trailers collided a little before 10 AM. Police say one truck was heading north on Highway 377 and crossed the center line. It crashed into another tractor trailer that was heading southbound killing the driver of that second vehicle. See news story. It is unclear in the news story what role excessive speed, fatigue, etc., may have had in causing the crash.

In Kentucky on 3/7/05, an overweight coal truck hauling roughly double its legal load crashed headon into a pickup truck driven by a minister, killing him. The previous day the minister had told his congregation that that life can end suddenly.

The coal truck was rated for 80,000 pounds, traveling on a road rated for 60,000 pounds, and at the time of the wreck was hauling 150,000 pounds of coal. See news story.

This incident underscores the nationwide safety problem of enforcement of weight limits, particularly on mineral hauling trucks, as well as the exemption from many safety regulations of trucks hauling minerals, timber and agricultural products,

A Georgia truck driver is one of the two people who died Thursday night, 3/4/05, in the fiery crash of three tractor-trailers near Shreveport, LA. See article. The circumstances sound like another of the drivers may have been fatigued.

On I-40 in Tennessee, a tractor trailer driver fell asleep, hit a guard rail, and crashed. His rig burned, shutting down I-40 for several hours. See news story. Fortunately, no one was injured this time. However, the incident underscores the chronic problem of driver fatigue in the trucking industry, compounded by hours of service violations and the common occurence of sleep apnea and related medical conditions among truck drivers.

In Timpson, TX, on 2/28/05, a tractor trailer driver dozed off and hit a guard rail, whereupon the truck burst into flames and another tractor trailer was unable to avoid hitting it. See news story.

While the report lacks detail, this incident highlights the chronic problem of fatigue and sleep deprivation among long-haul truck drivers. The FMCSA and the trucking industry are well aware of the problem, and new FMCSR hours of service either do or do not -- depending on who is talking -- help to address the problem.

On 3/2/05 in Akron, Ohio, a tractor trailer driver from California passed a slower moving vehicle, lost control, hit a guardrail and a bridge abudment, and jackknifed, blocking all westbound traffic. Miraculously, no other vehicles were involved and no one was injured. The tractor was hauling an empty refrigerated trailer. See news story.

On 3/1/05 in McMinn County, TN, 20 vehicles were involved in a chain reaction crash in a heavy snow storm on I-75. See news story.

On 3/1/05 in Indiana, a man and woman were killed when struck by a tractor trailer in a snowstorm.The impact on the passenger side of their vehicle was sufficient to scatter debris over a block of the roadway. See news article.