Archive for the ‘Trucking Accidents’ Category
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
I’m hearing some troubling things about the proposed legislative agenda being pushed by the trucking industry, such as their desire to increase truck/trailer weight limits from 80,000 lbs. to 97,000 lbs. and to once again try to increase the hours a trucker may drive without rest.
With all the trucking activity around Texas and the Fort Worth/Dallas area, the last thing we need is to let the trucks drive heavier, faster and longer. Truck wrecks and deadly accidents happen all too frequently as is and too many carriers are cutting costs by scaling back on safety and maintenance. What we do need is smarter and more-effective regulation and increased law enforcement to adequately police for violators.
Tags: truck accident, truck wrecks, trucking
Posted in Trucking Accidents, tort, truck accident | Comments Off
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Story in today’s on-line Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
At least two people are dead and a third is injured following a late night crash in East Texas involving six 18-wheelers and one car.
A dispatcher with the Department of Public Safety said Tuesday morning that eastbound Interstate 20 at exit 560 is shut down while emergency crews clear the wreckage and clean up fuel spills.
A spokesman with the Texas Department of Transportation told Tyler television station KLTV that cleanup efforts could take awhile and it’s unknown how long the interstate will be closed.
Officials said the accident began when an 18-wheeler rolled over and caught fire. Details weren’t immediately available on the two adults who died in the crash, but they were riding together in the one car involved in the wreck.
Tags: 18 wheeler, truck wreck
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Friday, August 8th, 2008
What a terrible bus wreck early this morning in Sherman. 14 dead and at least 40 injured, according to recent reports, after the bus lost control and ran off a highway overpass. Many of the victims are described as Vietnamese Catholics from the Houston area on their way to a religious meeting in Missouri. It was reported on the radio today that the charter bus company may have been operating without a license, which it apparently lost several weeks ago. Over 20 ambulances and 18 helicopters were needed to transport victims to trauma hospitals in Dallas and elsewhere. What a tragedy.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, Sherman
Posted in Trucking Accidents, consumer safety, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States carry commercial driver’s licenses despite also qualifying for full federal disability payments, and some of those drivers have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells, according to a new study.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the 30-page GAO study, obtained by the AP in advance of its release this week, said 563,000 commercial drivers were determined by the Veterans Affairs Department, Labor Department or Social Security Administration to be eligible for full disability benefits because of health problems.
Truckers’ health problems, such as diabetic seizures and sleep disorders, have been blamed in numerous fatal truck wrecks across the United States. Of Texas’ 819,300 people with commercial driver’s licenses, 22,600 receive full federal disability payments. 16,100 of those 22,600 got their commercial driver’s license after they were certified as totally disabled. Most disturbing is that Texas allows drivers to self-certify that they meet medical requirements for a commercial driver’s license.
Tags: 18 wheeler, truck accident, truck wreck
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Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
A jury in Austin today awarded truck driver Louis Martinez more than $267,000 in a suit arising out of his termination by a trucking company after he refused to drive with an unsafe load. Martinez was terminated by his employer, Safeshred, last year after refusing to haul a load of steel shelves from Austin to San Antonio. He testified that the load was imbalanced and that the securing straps were worn but he was told to leave the yard; after a few miles, he returned to the yard because the shifting load made it hard to control the truck and he told his supervisor he was afraid someone would get killed by a truck wreck from the unstable load. He was ordered to get back on the road and was fired when he refused. The company sent the load with another driver and during that trip, the load came loose and crashed through the cab of the truck.
Kudos to Mr. Martinez for his safe and sensible refusal to put himself and others in harm’s way. The maddening thing about the verdict is the arrogant attitude of the owner, Donald Wallace, who said the verdict was “exorbitant” and that he “fully expects” that it will be reversed on appeal. Unfortunately, as long as the appeals courts go out of their way to protect businesses and insurers over consumers, he could be right.
Martinez made I-35 safer for us that day. Wallace and his company “fully expect” that they’ll be allowed to continue with business as usual, even if that means putting unsafe loads on the road.
Tags: jury verdict, truck wreck, wrongful termination
Posted in Jury, Trucking Accidents, wrecks | Comments Off
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Reporter Bill Miller with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that one person has died and two others were injured early Friday afternoon in a fiery wreck involving a small car and two large rigs, including a tanker, on westbound NE Loop 820. Police, firefighters and ambulance crews responded to the wreck, which was reported at 12:44 p.m. near the loop’s intersection with Blue Mound Road, officials said. Initial police reports stated that a person in a small car was killed. Two people were being taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, a dispatcher for MedStar Ambulance Service said at 1:40 p.m. Lt. Paul Henderson, police spokesman, said he was told that a cement truck and the tanker were covered in flames.
Police said the cement truck might have lost control and slammed into stopped traffic, killing the driver of a small car. The cement truck’s exterior fuel tanks may have ruptured as the truck slid alongside a tanker truck that was in front of the car, police said.
Tags: truck
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Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
LBJ Freeway was shut down in both directions near Plano Road after a fiery and fatal crash Sunday morning. Three vehicles — including an 18-wheeler and a pickup truck — collided in the eastbound lanes of of the highway just east of Plano Road at 7:35 a.m. All three vehicles caught fire. There were still massive backups on LBJ Freeway on Sunday afternoon, more than six hours after the incident.
Also from wfaa.com regarding that same wreck:
A 22-year-old woman was killed after she was hit by a car while trying to take pictures of a three-vehicle accident on LBJ Freeway early Sunday. April Sterling, of Dallas, and her friend were heading west on LBJ Freeway near Plano Road when they stopped so she could take pictures of the accident that occurred about 7:45 a.m., said Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda.
Ms. Sterling wanted to get closer to the accident scene so she ran into the HOV lane when a vehicle traveling west struck her, throwing her into the eastbound lanes of the freeway. She was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital where she died from her injuries.
The three-vehicle accident shut down both sides of LBJ Freeway for several hours. Police said a tractor-trailer was heading east on the freeway and driving over a hill when he locked his brakes to avoid hitting two trucks parked on the freeway’s shoulder. The tractor-trailer crashed into the two pickups, causing all three vehicles to burst into flames. One driver was taken to an area hospital. That driver’s condition was unknown Sunday evening. Sgt. Cerda said the tractor-trailer driver faces a misdemeanor charge of faulty evasion action.
Tags: accident, Dallas, lawyer, lawyers, truck, truck accident, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Wonders never cease.
CNN is reporting that a former Wal-Mart employee who suffered severe brain damage in a traffic accident won’t have to pay back the company for the cost of her medical care, Wal-Mart told the family Tuesday.
Eight years ago, Debbie Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart’s health and benefits plan.
After a tractor-trailer slammed into her minivan, the 52-year-old mother of three lost much of her short-term memory and was confined to a wheelchair. She now lives in a nursing home.
Wal-Mart’s health care plan lets the retail giant recoup the cost of its expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit. And Wal-Mart set out to do just that after Shank and her husband, Jim, won $1 million after suing the trucking company involved in the wreck. After legal fees, the couple received $417,000.
Wal-Mart sued the Shanks to recoup $470,000 it paid for her medical care. However, a court ruled that the company could only recoup about $275,000 — the amount that was left in a trust fund for her care.
The Shanks appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court declined in March to hear the case. CNN told the couple’s story last week, prompting thousands of angry blog responses and at least two online petitions to boycott the company.
On Tuesday, Wal-Mart said in a letter to Jim Shank that it is modifying its health care plan to allow “more discretion” in individual cases.
“We wanted you to know that Wal-Mart will not seek any reimbursement for the money already spent on Ms. Shank’s care, and we will work with you to ensure the remaining amounts in the trust can be used for her ongoing care,” Curran said.
“We are sorry for any additional stress this uncertainty has placed on you and your family.”
On a related note, Keith Olbermann excoriates Wal-Mart here.
Tags: truck, truck accident, truck wreck
Posted in Trucking Accidents, workplace safety | 1 Comment »
