Archive for the ‘wrecks’ Category
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
Posted in Trucking Accidents, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Good article in the Houston Chronicle today about how the recent bus wreck tragedies in Texas, Nevada and Mississippi have brought bus safety to the forefront of the politicians in D.C. and Austin. Among other things, there are bills being floated that will require buses to have seatbelts for passengers. That sounds reasonable and somewhat of a no-brainer. I would also suggest that bus carriers be required to carry vast amounts of liability insurance, something on the order of $25 million or thereabouts. Because when a tragedy occurs like the one we just saw in Sherman, dozens of lives are affected and I’ll bet there will be little - if any - insurance to help compensate victims.
One striking statistic in the Chronicle article is that in the past six years, 52 people have died in passenger bus accidents in Texas. That is appalling.
As an aside, Chronicle writer Clay Robison has had some great articles in the past exposing the plights of injured consumers. Tip of the hat to Clay.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, legislation
Posted in car wreck, consumer safety, personal injury, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
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
Posted in Trucking Accidents, wrecks | Comments Off
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
Monday, July 14th, 2008
If you bought a tire or had a flat fixed at Discount Tire or America’s Tire in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, norther California, or Arizona between August 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007, you should take you car back to the store for an inspection of the tire stems. Those companies are participating in a recall of valve stems manufactured in China for Dill Air Controls and distributed by Tech International. The rubber in the stems may crack, creating a safety hazard due to sudden or gradual loss of air pressure, which can cause wrecks due to loss of control or catastrophic tire failure. For more information, see this Discount Tire website.
Tags: defect, recall, tire stem, valve stem, wreck
Posted in Product Liability, wrecks | Comments Off
Friday, January 4th, 2008
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The driver of a passenger bus that crashed in east Arkansas, killing four, faces four counts of felony negligent homicide after he tested positive for amphetamines, a prosecutor said.
Witness statements portrayed the driver as acting and driving erratically on the rain-slicked portion of Interstate 40 near Forrest City. The bus crossed the interstate median, colliding with a pickup truck and a tractor trailer. Three people on the bus, as well as the driver of the pickup, died from their injuries. More than 20 others suffered injuries.
Tags: bus accidents, car wreck
Posted in wrecks | Comments Off
