Fatal crash with trailer that got stuck across highway in u-turn
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:
The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a "SuperLawyer" in Atlanta Magazine and one of the "Legal Elite" in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks).
I spent numerous childhood summers in Alabama and Tennessee where many of the highways are not divided, the terrain is rolling with hills and heavy trucks barrel down the road like roaring juggernauts. All too often my relatives and I would encounter tractor trailers trying to make U-turns where they shouldn't (limited field of vision for oncoming motorists; no highway lighting; restricted space) because they were unwilling to wait until they found a safe place to so. After all, when you're as big as they are it's assumed everyone else will be forced to submit.
In Ploof Truck Lines, Inc. v. Bennett, 472 S.E.2d 552 (Ga. App. 1996) the plaintiff was injured when her vehicle collided with an 18-wheel tractor trailer that was negligently making a U-turn in the middle of the roadway. OCGA § 40-6-121(3). The accident occurred on December 6, 1996 around 5:55 pm, and because of the way the semi was positioned in the roadway she was unable to see it until it was too late. Sunset on that date was at approximately 5:30 pm.
Upholding a jury verdict for the plaintiff, the court held that one who is rightfully using a highway or street has a right to the use of it which is superior to that of one who is violating traffic regulations, and in the absence of knowledge, is not required to anticipate that some other user will unexpectedly violate the law or one of these rules of the road, and thus create a situation of danger. Id. at 553.
On cross-examination the plaintiff admitted that since she knew the dark spot in front of her (as she approached the semi) wasn't a hill or a curve, she figured out that "there was something wrong." The court held this was not a binding admission that she knew of and fully appreciated the dangerous circumstances posed by defendant's tractor-trailer proceeding with its unlawful U-turn. Id. at 554.
In Reliance Ins. Co. v. Bridges, 311 S.E.2d 193 (Ga. App. 1983) the jury returned, and the courts upheld, a $1.2 million verdict for the plaintiffs when their seven-year-old daughter was killed in an accident involving a tractor-trailer that became stuck while attempting to make a faulty U-turn across a busy highway. No flags, signs, flashers or other warning devices were deployed on either side of the stuck trailer.
An excellent article dealing with the issue of tractor trailer underride - particularly as it relates to unsafe U-turns - by nationally-known, ACTAR-accredited accident reconstructionist Joseph E. Badger is available at http://www.harristechnical.com/articles/ttur.pdf
I am involved in two side underride crashes at the present time. The issue isn't always visibility but the ability to comprehend what the driver is seeing as the truck makes a u-turn or left turn in the dark. Then reaction time to brake before impact.
