Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog

A Georgia tractor-trailer accident that occurred at about 4:35 a.m. about 3 miles south of Perry has resulted in injury to five occupants of the car it hit. According to an article on Macon.Com, a northbound Federal Express truck, pulling dual trailers came over a rise on Interstate 75 and rear-ended a Nissan passenger car being driven by 51 year old Marie Richardson of Sunrise, Florida. As a result of the collision, the car was pushed off of the roadway where it overturned into a ditch. Three of the backseat passengers were ejected as the car rolled over. According to police, the driver of the tractor trailer said he did not see the car as he came over the rise. The truck driver was charged with following too closely. The victims were taken to The Medical Center of Central Georgia where one is listed in critical condition and the remaining four are in stable condition. Although it is not known why the Federal Express driver failed to see the passenger car he was approaching, it is entirely possible that speed and/or fatigue could have been contributing causes.

Georgia injury lawyers have long since known that driver fatigue may be the number one safety problem in the trucking industry today, and is a factor in nearly 40% of all crashes nationwide. Unfortunately, it is routine practice for many trucking companies to violate the hours of service and related FMCSR safety rules. In our investigation of tractor trailer truck accident cases involving serious injuries or even death we have found that some truck drivers keep “dual” log books. Greedy, profit-driven motives have made driver fatigue in the trucking industry a vast, largely unchecked problem resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children each year.

Tractor trailer accident victims often sustain very severe injuries and incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, not to mention thousands in lost wages. In these cases, it important to retain legal counsel as soon as possible so that a very thorough investigation can be done to discover and document crucial evidence.

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Five people were taken to the hospital after being injured in a Georgia trucking accident on Thursday, Macon.com reported.

The Georgia State Patrol reports that the Perry semi accident happened on I-75 shortly after 4:30 a.m. A 27-year-old trucker, who was driving a Federal Express double-trailer truck, was cited for following too closely. The truck crested a rise in the road and slammed into the back of a Nissan hatchback driven by a 51-year-old Florida woman.

The woman's 55-year-old husband was in the front passenger seat. The couple's two children, ages 20 and 22, were riding in the back with a 69-year-old aunt. All three were ejected as the car rolled into a ditch. The son remained in critical condition Thursday at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. The other family members were reported in stable condition, according to the patrol.

The truck driver was not injured and said he did not see the car as he came over the rise. The height of a semi is one of the many dangerous factors that frequently lead to Georgia tractor-trailer accidents. A truck's extreme weight -- typically more than 20 times the weight of a passenger car -- means motorists don't stand a chance in an accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 1 in 9 fatal accidents in the United States involved a large truck. In 2008, more than 380,000 large trucks were involved in traffic accidents that killed 4,229 people. More than 90,000 were seriously injured.

Georgia semi accidents killed 179 motorists that year. Only California (304), Florida (269) and Texas (421) reported more fatal accidents involving large trucks.

Continue reading " Georgia trucking accident seriously injures 5 members of Florida family on I-75 " »

Truck accidents are very frequent in the Atlanta, Georgia area, as the highways see very large volumes of truck traffic. One question which we are often asked is “what is a large truck?”

The federal government defines large trucks as those which weigh more than 10,000 pounds and can be either single-unit vehicles or combination vehicles consisting of a single-unit truck or tractor pulling one or more trailers.

The federal commercial vehicle maximum weight standard on the interstate highway system is 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, unless a higher maximum weight existed on the state level before July 1, 1956.

Off the interstate highway system, states may set their own commercial vehicle weight standards. In most states, the maximum permitted length for a single trailer is 53 feet. Tractors pulling two 28-foot trailers are known as twins or western doubles.

Trucks that are even bigger than western doubles are allowed to travel on some roads. These trucks, called longer combination vehicles, either have three trailers or at least two, one of which is 29 feet or longer, or the tractor and two trailers have a combined weight exceeding 80,000 pounds.

Longer combination vehicles are prohibited in many states and are allowed only in states that permitted them prior to June 1, 1991.

Another question which we are often asked is whether large trucks have a higher accident rate.

According to the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety, on average, drivers of large trucks travel many more miles than passenger vehicle drivers, and a high proportion of those miles are on interstates, which are the safest roads.

In 2008, large trucks accounted for 4 percent of registered vehicles and 8 percent of miles traveled. Per unit of travel, large trucks are involved in more fatal crashes than passenger vehicles — 1.7 crashes per 100 million miles traveled in 2008 for large trucks, compared with compared with 1.4 for passenger vehicles. Large trucks have a much lower rate per mile traveled of crashes resulting in injuries or property damage only compared with passenger cars and light trucks.

Multiple-trailer trucks have more handling problems than single-trailer trucks. In general, the additional connection points contribute to greater instability, which can lead to jackknifing, overturning, and lane encroachments. But the relationship between multiple-trailer trucks and crash risk is not firmly established. A study in Washington state found that doubles (tractors pulling two trailers) were two to three times as likely as other rigs to be in crashes, but a study in Indiana found that doubles did not show increased crash risk except on roads with snow, ice, or slush. One mitigating factor may be that doubles often are operated by drivers with good safety records working for large companies with active safety programs.

The family of a California trucker continues to struggle nearly three years after a horrific 34-vehicle accident, the L.A. Times reported. Authorities blame the crash on a speeding trucker who was driving a tractor trailer with a faulty brake for a Georgia trucking company. The fatal 2007 crash killed 5 in a freeway tunnel near Santa Clarita, California.

This case illustrates the complex nature of personal injury and wrongful death litigation involving serious or fatal semi accidents. A Georgia trucking accident attorney experienced in handling cases involving multiple victims and out-of-state truck drivers and trucking companies should always be called to represent victims of semi accidents in Atlanta or elsewhere in Georgia.

In this case, the victim had scrimped and saved more than $30,000 to buy his own semi and support his family. Now, the family is trying to survive on $60 a day the wife earns as a housekeeper while their personal injury lawsuit is tied up in the California court system. Their attorney said victims in 34 vehicles and the State of California are now involved in the case and "there are so many lawyers in the courtroom it takes half an hour just to read all their names."

Atlanta semi accidents frequently involve out-of-state truckers and trucking companies as well as complex state and federal regulations. But, when multiple victims are involved, hiring an experienced and aggressive law firm becomes critical to fighting for the compensation you and your family deserve.

The Times reports that Saia Motor Freight Line, a Georgia trucking company, has not offered a settlement to the victim's family or the family of two others killed in the crash -- including a father and his 6-year-old son. Now the judge has imposed a stay that prohibits the case from moving forward. The company told the Times that other speeding drivers bear some of the responsibility in the crash, and also claimed that the tunnel was poorly designed.

As one party put it: "Delay is always on the side of the defense."

Continue reading " Georgia trucking company embroiled in injury lawsuit involving 34-vehicle semi accident " »

On June 1st of this year, a young child, age two, by the name of Zion Curney was tragically killed when a tractor-trailer truck crashed into 3 parked cars at an Auto Zone dealership located in northwest Atlanta. While the collision is still under investigation, from news reports, it appears that a private passenger vehicle traveling in the opposite direction from the tractor-trailer crossed the centerline of the road forcing the tractor-trailer to swerve to avoid a head-on collision. The tractor-trailer driver lost control and ended up crashing into the parked vehicle occupied by the child at the Auto Zone store. Not only was 2-year old Zion Curney killed, but according to news reports, his 14-year old cousin was seriously injured.

It is not known why the private passenger vehicle lost control and crossed the centerline. The operator of that vehicle, a Kelly Canty, was arrested and charged with failure to maintain her lane, reckless driving and first degree vehicular homicide. What also is not known is whether the tractor-trailer truck involved in this tragedy was speeding, which could have had an impact on whether the driver was able to properly control his vehicle after the near collision with the Canty vehicle. (While there is an indication that the tractor-trailer may have been struck by the Canty vehicle as it crossed the centerline, some of the photographs in the news media are ambiguous in this regard.) Although it is not entirely clear whether the tractor-trailer was struck by the Canty vehicle or whether the tractor-trailer was merely attempting to avoid the collision, either way, the speed of the tractor-trailer vehicle may have been a contributing factor, which is obviously one reason why the case remains under investigation.

Continue reading " Atlanta Truck Accident Kills Two-Year Old Child " »

The Georgia Court of Appeals issued an interesting opinion this week in a truck wreck case, PN Express v. Zegel.

Among other things, the Court of Appeals addressed the issue of expert testimony regarding the meaning of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Standards.

In many cases, defendant trucking companies have successfully argued that expert testimony regarding the meaning of federal regulations was not susceptible to expert testimony. The reasoning behind these rulings was twofold. The first rationale was that the court could charge the language of the regulation to the jury, and, as such, the regulation was self–explanatory. The second rationale was that the testimony went to the ultimate issue of liability and was beyond the scope of admissible expert testimony.

In Zegel, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court which allowed such testimony. In that case, the plaintiffs’ expert witness testified that the federal regulations held that once a carrier has shared its DOT number with a driver or employee, the carrier was responsible and liable for the actions of the driver or employee.

The defendant argued that the testimony was inadmissible because it addressed the ultimate issue of liability.

In rejecting the defendant’s argument and upholding the trial court, the Court of Appeals ruled that testimony of an expert, even as to the ultimate issue, is admissible where the conclusion of the expert is one which jurors would not ordinarily be able to draw themselves.

The Court of Appeals went on to hold that the expert’s testimony related to his knowledge of federal trucking regulations which were unfamiliar to laymen.

This holding should resolve this issue concerning expert testimony regarding federal trucking regulations.