Trucking Accidents

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Innocent motorists and unsuspecting pedestrians have good reason to fear when an 80,000 pound semi truck looms on the horizon.

Every day, all across America, millions of people get into their vehicles and pile onto our street and highways:

• Teenagers out for a spin with their friends;
  
  
• Parents taking children to school on the way to the office;
  
  
• Workers hurrying to make service calls;
  
  
• Senior citizens running errands;
  
  
• Public safety personnel responding to emergencies; and
  
  
• The drivers of 8.8 million registered large commercial trucks, pressed by powerful big corporations to deliver their products and goods on time.

It’s a lethal combination.

The sheer size and weight of semi trucks pose significant threats in themselves. As  consumer group Public Citizen told Congress,  “There is overwhelming scientific evidence that shows the larger trucks get, the more difficult they are to control, the longer they take to stop, and the more dangerous they are to the motoring public.” One truck safety advocacy group, Road Safe America, puts it this way: The impact of an 80,000 pound tractor trailer going 70 miles per hour is equal to a car going 360 miles an hour.

When this danger is compounded by high speed, the distraction of texting or cell phone use, or by a driver who is sleep-deprived and under the gun to deliver, it is no wonder that truck-related crashes have become a major safety problem in the United States.

More than 400,000 large trucks each year are involved in traffic crashes, causing more than 4,200 fatalities and 90,000 injuries in 2008.

In some senses, the statistics about large truck crashes are deceptive. Truck crashes represent only 12 percent of all traffic fatalities: one out of nine in 2007, according to the most recent report of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis. Truck crash-related fatalities have declined slightly over the last few years – and that’s good news.

Upon closer inspection, however, these numbers become increasingly alarming:

• Large trucks are four times more likely to cause occupant deaths than are passenger vehicles. While large truck crashes are responsible for about 12% of all traffic fatalities, large trucks make up only 4% of registered vehicles.
  
  
• Large trucks are involved in multiple-vehicle crashes at twice the rate of passenger vehicles. One in four passenger vehicle deaths in multiple-vehicle collisions involves a large truck.
  
  
• Of the fatalities caused by large truck accidents, 75% were occupants of another vehicle and another 8% were non-occupants; 17% were truck drivers or other occupants of the truck.
  
  
• Similarly, 75% of injuries in large truck crashes were incurred by occupants of another vehicle, 2% by non-occupants, and 23% by drivers or other occupants of the truck.
  
  
• One 80,000 tractor trailer truck does as much damage to roads and bridges as 9,600 cars, and the cost of large truck crashes is more than $41 billion a year.

As alarming as these statistics are, even greater tragedy is registered in the faces of victims and their loved ones, whose lives have been devastated by large truck crashes.

At a May 4, 2009 hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
some of the truck crash victims and family members who argued for stronger truck safety regulations were:

• Tracy Quinichett of Laurel, Maryland, whose pregnant daughter Channing was killed when a large truck lost a tire while being towed on the Capitol Beltway.  The tire smashed through Channing’s windshield, in just seconds depriving Mrs. Quinichett of both a precious daughter and an eagerly-anticipated grandchild.
  
  
• Kathleen Ellsbury, a Seattle, Washington physician whose husband Anthony and his colleague were killed in a 2005 crash caused by an overloaded logging truck. At the time of the crash, the truck had already received multiple citations for safety violations.
  
  
• Dawn King, who traveled from Davisburg, Michigan to testify on behalf of her late father, William Badger. Badger was killed in 2004 when a tractor trailer driver feel asleep at the wheel and the truck hurled into Badger’s car.
  
  
• Frank and Michelle Wood, of Falls Church, Virginia, parents of East Carolina University student Dana Wood. Dana was driving with a classmate when their car was struck and dragged 1500 feet by a truck driver who had been on the road for nine hours. He was driving with a suspended license.

Attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley have achieved substantial settlements and verdicts for victims and families involved in truck accidents. In several cases, the law firm’s meticulous investigative process uncovered a critical piece of evidence that determined the outcome. One such case involved a van line driver whose fatigue and negligence caused the fiery death of a family in a car stopped by the side of the road. In other cases, the firm’s ability to fund extensive investigation and protracted litigation has made the difference in seeking the full measure of justice.

Here are just some of the faces behind the facts and figures of Searcy Denney truck crash cases.

• A young wife and mother was killed when she was rear-ended by an 18-wheel tractor trailer truck driven by a distracted, exhausted trucker eager to deliver sod to a highway construction site. Searcy Denney’s pursuit of justice for the surviving family resulted in a $12.5 million verdict.
  
  
• A woman visiting Florida to care for her ailing father was burned to death when the driver of a tanker truck lost control and crushed the woman’s car against a guardrail. The tanker truck, loaded with fuel, exploded into a fiery inferno so intense that only ashes remained. Action against Floval Oil Corporation by Searcy Denney attorneys achieved an award of $13 million for the woman’s husband and $500,000 for each of her children.
  
  
• A motorcyclist on his way home from work had his left leg ripped out and fractured his right leg and hip when he collided with a semi tractor trailer illegally parked on the wrong side of the road. The truck had neither lights nor any other warning devices. A Searcy Denney attorney obtained a $10 million default judgment against the Canadian trucking corporation.

Click here for information about more of Searcy Denney’s truck accident cases.

If the tragic physical, financial, and emotional consequences of a large truck crash have devastated you or your family, attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley can help you understand your rights, sort out your options, and pursue justice. Please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange a confidential free consultation.