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.

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).