Posts Tagged ‘truck wreck’
Monday, February 11th, 2008
A Tennessee minister, his wife and their two children died when an 18-wheeler hit their van as they were driving to help families devastated by last week’s tornadoes in that state. Michael Welch, wife Julie, 11-year old daughter Hannah and 14-year old son Jesse died when a Wal-Mart truck slammed into the back of their van and pushed it into the car in front of them. Criminal charges are pending against the Wal-Mart driver.
In an interview just a few hours prior to his death, Rev. Welch said of his and other ministers’ efforts to comfort families affected by the tornadoes, “We cling to God, because He’s all we’ve got.”
Amen.
Tags: truck, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Monday, February 11th, 2008
Three men died when their car hit a parked 18-wheeler in Grapevine early Sunday morning. Police report that that truck was parked legally.
Tags: car wreck, truck wreck
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Friday, February 1st, 2008
FWST reports a tractor trailer wreck this morning at Western Center Boulevard and I-35 in Fort Worth, where the rig ended up hanging over a wall near a southbound overpass. Yep, a truck hanging precariously off the side of a bridge will cause on-looker delay. North-bound folks better hope the wreck is cleared before heading home today.
Tags: fort worth, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Motorists traveling Interstate 35W in south Fort Worth this afternoon should expect big delays after a wreck forced the closure of the highway’s northbound lanes, police said. Fort Worth police officials are reporting that the northbound lanes of the highway at Alta Mesa Boulevard are closed due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer that is leaking fuel. Dispatcher said the wreck, reported about 2:30 p.m., involved three vehicles. MedStar was on the scene but no one had been transported to the hospital as of 3:30 p.m., officials said.
Tags: car wreck, fort worth, truck wreck, Trucking Accidents, wreck
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Sunday, January 20th, 2008
Big flaming truck wreck on I-30 in east <a href=”http://dallas.texlawyers.com”>Dallas</a> early Sunday morning (as in 4:45 am; imagine what kind of traffic jam that would have caused on a weekday). Sounds like some idiot in an SUV went the wrong way on the freeway and hit the truck. I’m sorry for the trucker and glad he got away with just bumps and bruises, but imagine if he had been in a passenger car.
Tags: car wreck, Dallas, truck wreck
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Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
PURCELL, Okla. — Toby Keith, his mother and his siblings have been awarded $2.8 million in damages in the 2001 collision that killed the country music star’s father.
A jury returned the verdict against Elias Rodriguez and Pedro Rodriguez, operators of Rodriguez Transportes of Tulsa, and the Republic Western Insurance Co.
According to evidence presented at trial, a charter bus owned by the Rodriguezes was “in urgent need” of brake repairs before H.K. Covel was killed in the March 2001 accident on Interstate 35, said attorney Greg Dixon, who represented Keith’s family.
The Rodriguezes had been advised of the brake problem before Covel’s truck crossed the center median and struck the bus, he said.
The family initially suspected Covel suffered a medical condition that caused the truck to veer out of control. It later learned another vehicle had bumped the truck and filed a wrongful death lawsuit to clear Covel’s name, Dixon said.
The verdict was returned last week. “The jury found no fault on the part of Mr. Covel in the wreck that claimed his life,” Dixon said.
The plaintiffs, wife Carolyn Covel, daughter Tonni Covel and sons Toby Keith Covel and Tracey Covel, alleged that H.K. Covel would not have died if the bus had been equipped with properly working air brakes.
Here.
Tags: truck accident, truck wreck
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
With the increased truck traffic on our roads these days, it bears repeating that in our experience prosecuting truck wreck cases, we frequently find evidence of various safety violations by either the trucking company or the truck driver or both. Falsified logbooks and hours-of-service violations, vehicles and equipment with mechanical problems, and speeding are just some of the violations that are commonly seen in these cases. Often victims of trucking accidents are left to wonder why these problems are not caught sooner, before they lead to wrecks. Needless to say, there is much room for improvement.
Let’s hope we see continued investigative reporting from Dallas Morning News reporters Gregg Jones and Doug Swanson, who have written an excellent investigative series in the DMN.
Left alone, the trucking industry is not going to clean itself up, despite the many carriers and drivers who operate professionally and safely. Average citizens must demand more from our lawmakers: More meaningful oversight of the industry, more funds for enforcement, and more dangerous trucks taken off our roads.
Tags: Dallas, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Thursday, December 20th, 2007
This makes me seethe.
Wal-Mart employee suffers brain damage in a truck wreck, Wal-Mart’s health plan pays for medical treatment (which it agreed to do when it took premiums from the employee), employee gets a $417,000 settlement from the trucking company (which is put into trust to pay for her on-going nursing home care) and now Wal-Mart sues the brain-damaged employee for the $470,000 the health plan paid plus its attorneys’ fees (which, at least in Texas, the injured employee would not be able to recover from the trucking company). It’s called subrogation, which is a fancy word for “insurance company screws the little guy.”
The biggest corporation in the world is taking this lady’s last dime, leaving her future medical care to be paid by Medicaid, which means you get to pay for it.
Watch this video and think about this the next time you decide to shop at Wal-Mart.
Tags: insurance, truck wreck
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
Terrible tragedy on I40 in Arkansas.
(CNN) — A bus hopped a highway median and crashed into a pickup truck before being broadsided by an 18-wheeler, Arkansas police said, killing the pickup driver and two bus riders.
Forty people were hurt in Sunday night’s crash, which shut down a 13-mile stretch of Interstate-40 east of Forrest City, Arkansas, said state police spokesman Bill Sadler.
The bus was westbound en route from Chicago, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas.
Tags: Dallas, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Monday, December 11th, 2006
I’m pleased to see more great reporting from the Dallas Morning News on problems in the trucking industry.
The first article in the series investigates the numerous criminal convictions, often drug and alcohol related, which plague interstate trucking. Too frequently, these problems don’t come to light until after a terrible trucking accident causes injury or death to innocent motorists.
The second article focuses on the long hours and stressful demands faced by truck drivers. Market demands and competition among the carriers are forcing drivers to drive longer hours and farther distances for less money. Carriers are cutting costs to stay competitive and drivers are forced to put more miles behind them in order to stay afloat.
My hat is off to the honest drivers trying to earn a living under these conditions, but it seems the good guys are being squeezed out by those who are less-qualified, who violate the laws on hours-of-service, and who use drugs to stay awake for hours on end.
My hat is also off to the aggressive investigation and reporting at the DMN. Kudos to reporters Holly Becka, Gregg Jones, Jennifer LaFleur and Steve McGonigle for staying on top of this problem.
Tags: truck wreck, trucking accident
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