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, 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
