Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog

A woman was injured Friday morning in a Georgia trucking accident when her car was involved in a collision with a semi, the Newnan Times-Herald reported.

She was transported to an Atlanta hospital in unknown condition following the accident, which occurred at about 9:30 a.m., according to the Georgia State Patrol.

The patrol reports that the 18-wheeler was traveling south on Highway 85 when the driver attempted to turn left onto Highway 16. The tractor-trailer turned directly into the path of the woman's Acura Integra, which was heading north on Highway 85.

The victim was trapped in her car and had to be extricated by emergency personnel. She was transported by medical helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital. The driver of the semi was not hurt.

Unfortunately, this is all too typical of a Georgia semi accident; motorists frequently suffer very serious or fatal injuries while the truck driver walks away unharmed. In 2008, one of every nine fatal traffic accidents in the United States involved a collision with a large truck, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

More than 350,000 crashes involving large trucks occur in the United States each year. Fatal trucking accidents have claimed more than 4,000 lives each year for more than a decade. In 2008, a total of 4,066 motorists were killed and more than 66.000 were injured in accidents with large commercial trucks. Georgia trucking accidents killed 179 motorists that year, more than any state except California, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania.

In three-quarters of the cases, those killed were occupants of the other vehicle. Only 16 percent involved a truck occupant (another 10 percent involved a pedestrian or victim other than a vehicle occupant).