Norfolk-Portsmouth Personal Injury Lawyer - Tractor-Trailer Accidents - Most Commented

Old Dominion Freight driver accused of badly injuring cyclist while using wireless device

Rick Shapiro — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:27:22 GMT

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., which has a substantial presence in Hampton Roads, has been accused of employing a driver who was distracted from the road by a wireless device – a distraction that caused him to hit a motorcyclist who remains hospitalized more than two months later.

Old Dominion has denied the claim, made in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls, S.D., the Associated Press reported.

Old Dominion driver Jeffrey Peterson was driving on Interstate 229 in Sioux Falls on July 31 when he rear-ended motorcyclist Randy Helwig, according to the AP report.

Peterson was “using a messaging device to communicate with the company,” the story said, and was cited for careless driving.

Old Dominion, in court papers, said Peterson “glanced” at the device but was not “utilizing” it.

It is common for truckers to have laptop computers or other devices always deployed in the cab to get updates and orders from their dispatchers, The New York Times reported last month.

Helwig suffered a broken pelvis, broken ribs, broken back, lacerated liver and spleen, head injury, and a badly damaged left arm. He lost one kidney and his small intestine.

Helwig is fed through a tube, has nine drainage tubes coming from different parts of his body and is still undergoing surgeries, according to his CaringBridge Web site.

Texting and other wireless-device use have been in the news lately, and have even received attention from President Barack Obama. I hope people heed advice to avoid using these devices while driving.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard andNorfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

(MM)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Negligence by truckers a major cause of large truck crashes, according to new study

John Cooper — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:14:36 GMT

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a report to Congress in 2006 about the reasons for tractor trailer wrecks.

In those cases where the action or inaction of the driver commercial truck is the cause of the collision, driving too fast for conditions and fatigue were often important factors. Big rigs accidents commonly happen when the truck drivers are feeling under pressure by their motor carrier employers or they are unfamiliar with the roads. Bad brakes was the main reason for collisions where a defect or maintenance problem with the truck's equipment was involved.

Over 60% of the studied trucks involved in these crashes were tractors pulling a semi trailer. Most of these are the commonly seen 18 wheelers that carry most of the freight on U.S. Highways. There are over 141,000 truck crashes that occurred in the U.S. over a two year and nine month period of study. This is over 40,000 wrecks involving tractor trailers a year. Some of the types of accidents in decreasing order of frequency were leaving the lane/running off the road, side swipes, roll over's, and head on collisions, among other types.

Here in Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) we have more than our share of tractor trailer trucks, because of the ports and intermodal rail shipping. This risk of the road is part of every day living in our area cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Chesapeake, and Suffolk, Virginia (VA).

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Tractor-Trailer Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Questions remain after fatal tanker crash on I-664 in Newport News (VA)

Rick Shapiro — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:40:54 GMT

Questions remain after an explosive tanker truck crash on Interstate 664 in Newport News (VA) near the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel in September that left the truck driver dead.

The crash scene still bears the sad scars of the Sept. 4, accident, the Daily Press of Newport News reported Sunday. The pavement at the 35^th street exit is still scorched and blackened, as are the neighboring jersey barriers. The fence that separates the highway from a pedestrian/bike path is twisted and smashed.

"Nobody will know why it happened now," Brenda Dawson, fiancée of the deceased driver, told the Daily Press. "It's unbelievable. It just does not fit."

The driver, Larry Overall of Chesapeake, was badly burned in the crash and later died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Overall was able to escape from the truck after the crash but was “fully engulfed” in flames, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman told the newspaper at the time.

The truck, A Kenworth carrying diesel fuel, crashed when it ran off the road to the left and flipped over, triggering an explosion that left burning fuel on the roadway and on the CSX railroad tracks below the highway.

Smoke from the crash could be seen for miles and dominated the southern Newport News skyline for hours afterwards.

Dawson said her fiancée had been working for E.V. Williams of Inc. Virginia Beach for two years.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

(MM)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Portsmouth (VA) man dies in crash near Portsmouth Marine Terminal

Rick Shapiro — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Edgar R. Mansfield Jr. of Portsmouth (VA) died during the Monday rush hour when he crashed into the rear of an 18-wheeler, WVEC-TV reported.

Mansfield, 53, hit the back of the truck when both were in the 300 block of Railroad Avenue, Matthew Bowers of The Virginian-Pilot said.

The crash happened near the entrance to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, a 219-acre facility owned by the Port of Virginia. Railroad Avenue, a key road into the terminal, was closed for several hours while police investigated the crash.

Authorities told WAVY that Mansfield collided with the rear of a truck that started moving after being stopped for a red light.

Mansfield lived in the 200 block of Plover Drive, less than a mile from the crash scene. Railroad Avenue is a busy street near where Virginia Highways 164 and 337 meet. The area is thick with 18-wheelers going in and out of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, as well as the new APM Terminal nearby.

The APM terminal, which opened in 2007, was expected to put another 3,000 trucks on area roads. Area residents have been pushing for a new sound wall to separate their homes from the noise of an interchange that accompanied the terminal.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY, who handle car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more.

(MM)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Kansas Jury Awards $23 Million To Family Members in Trucking Accident

Randy Appleton — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:34:06 GMT

A Kansas jury awarded $23.5 million to a husband and wife for injuries they suffered in a truck/semi-trailer accident that arose in New Mexico (involving their tractor trailer struck by a second truck operated by Robin Getchell). The actual verdict was reduced because the judge found the truck driverwith Swift Transportation was liable for 65% of the total fault of the accident. Also, the truck driver found responsible, Robin Getchell, tested positive for methamphetamine, while she had been driving for her employer, Swift Transportation. Evidence presented on behalf of the family members injured proved that Getchell was actually backing up her truck from a rest stop onto the two-lane highway when another truck collided with hers, which was operated by plaintiff Terry Frederick, who was driving a truck for Yellow Freight at the time. His wife Donna was a passenger. The defendant truck driver did not have much credibility, including the positive test for illegal drugs. Trucking accident cases involve careful review of regulations that may apply to the circumstances of the accident, and usually require some accident reconstruction, and many issues that are unique to trucking accidental injury cases.

Click here for a more complete article on this trucking injury verdict, and for other actual case results in serious trucking injury cases, and how our injury law firm developed strategies for trucking injury case success, click here.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm's website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits two injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Randy Appleton

Commercial Trucks Can Cause Serious Injury, So Are Required to Have Large Insurance Policies

John Cooper — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:49:55 GMT

The tractor trailers which haul so much of the products to stores in Virginia (VA) and throughout the United States are everywhere in our cities and towns, and especially on the major highways like Interstate 64 (I 64), Interstate 95 (I 95), and Interstate 81 (I 81) which are the major arteries in Virginia (VA) headed to neighboring states like North Carolina (NC), West Virginia (WV), Maryland (MD), and the District of Columbia (DC). There are especially a lot of big rigs hauling container boxes in the port cities in Hampton Roads, Virginia, such as Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk. Because of the size of these large vehicles and the weight of the material they often carry, they pose unique risks to other drivers on the road. The danger of a serious injury caused to someone in a car by an eighteen-wheeler is significant, especially if the big rig turns over or loses control striking a car. With all that weight, there are special problems posed by trucks as far as being able to safely operate them, including the brake systems and the proper loading of material to prevent shifting of the cargo.

Federal Motor Carrier Regulations require these large commercial trucks, which cross state lines, to carry minimum insurance coverage. Typically, a commercial transportation company will have at least a million dollars ($1,000,000.00) of insurance coverage on each component of the big rig. This means that the tractor probably has at least a million dollars of insurance coverage on it and usually the trailer, a similar amount. This is true even for smaller companies which haul freight. These rules are a good thing to protect the public because with the big risks of injury and death to other people on the road comes the responsibility to provide insurance in the event somebody is hurt.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Trucker's logs are key evidence in tractor trailer wrecks.

John Cooper — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:57:49 GMT

Your attorney needs to get all of the trucker's logs, if you are hurt in a crash where the big rig drivers was at fault. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets forth strict rules about keeping log books that apply to trucks and trucking companies.
As a law firm based out of Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) we see many accidents with serious injures and often death involving semis. If you or your family has suffered an injury or wrongful death as a result of bad driving by a trucker, it's important to hire a competent personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to enforce your rights and make sure that you get full and fair compensation.

Your attorney needs to get all of the trucker's logs, if you are hurt in a crash where the big rig driver was at fault. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets forth strict rules about keeping log books that apply to trucks and trucking companies. The attorney for the person making the claim against the truck for bodily injury must get all copies of these log books as soon as possible, before the trucker or trucking company gets rid of any incriminating information in them. There are strict safety rules about the number of hours that truck drivers can drive per day and per week. However, the regulations on interstate truckers only require that these log books be kept for a certain period of time. The best lawyers who handle trucking accidents cases know that they must make request for the preservation of this data as soon as possible, so that if it is deliberated discarded by the trucking company they can be held responsible for failing to comply with the federal rules.

One of the main reasons that trucker have collisions with other vehicles is because of driver fatigue. The log books often show just how tired, or overworked, the person behind the wheel of that semi was when he had his wreck. Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC) have a lot of trucks moving through our states on the interstate highway particularly on the Interstates 95, 85, and 64. Likewise, the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel leading from our home city of Virginia Beach up to the Eastern Shore of Virginia (VA) and Maryland (MD) has many large trucks on it. Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) has a particularly high concentration of trucks as they pass through Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Suffolk, Virginia (VA), on their way to the large international ports where container boxes are put onto ships for import and export purposes. As a law firm based out of Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) we see many accidents with serious injures and often death involving semis. If you or your family has suffered an injury or wrongful death as a result of bad driving by a trucker, it's important to hire a competent personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to enforce your rights and make sure that you get full and fair compensation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Death From Tractor Trailer Truck Accidents

John Cooper — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:36:34 GMT

As an injury attorney, I pay attention to the numbers of accidents reported by the government. United States Department of Transportation issued a report that in 2002 there were over 4,500 tractor trailers involved in fatal collisions. Over 5,000 people died in these truck wrecks.

The study put out by the USDOT and the federal motor carrier safety administration indicated that most tractor trailer wrecks occurred during daylight during the week between Monday and Friday and during normal weather. Additionally the study of truck related crashes and death in the US showed that most truck wrecks involving fatalities occur on rural highways. These statistics are not broken down by state. However if the 5,000 deaths were spread equally over the 50 states it would be approximately 1 tractor trailer related death on the highways of each state for example Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland etc every three days. States like Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina which may have more rural highway than other states also have more death as a result of truck wrecks. Seventy percent of the fatal tractor trailer accidents happen on rural highways.

A reason that so many of the highway fatalities occur during daylight hours Monday through Friday is that there is more traffic during those days and times. What is hard to understand is that most accidents took place on dry roads in normal driving conditions. This means that rain and other bad driving conditions are not the cause of most of these deaths in tractor trailer accidents.

Keep in mind that most of the accidents involving tractor trailers on the nations highways don't result in death. This means there are many more incidences than the 5000 deaths a year where significant injury results. According to the statistical information put together by the department of transportation, driver error by the tractor trailer driver accounted for almost one-third of all fatal accidents in the U.S. Some of the factors included driving too fast, running off the road, improper turns, and driver fatigue. Tractor trailers are approximately eight percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes each year. The number of tractor trailers on the nation's highways has increased by more than forty percent in the last twenty years. There are 8 million tractor trailers in and around our country.

The threat posed to the average motorist by big rigs is not just in the imagination. The danger is real. Our firm has been representing people injured in tractor trailer accidents for many years. To learn more about some of our actual cases please look at our real case results section on our website at www.hsninjurylaw.com. Giving these giant trucks a cushion of safe distance from your passenger vehicle is smart defensive driving.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Log Truck Accident Closes Route 220

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:27:38 GMT

A log truck overturned on Route 220 near Fincastle, Virginia on Monday morning. The accident happened near Country Club Road. No one was injured in the accident.

The driver tells State Police he heard something pop, then lost control. Logs spilled across the median and both northbound lanes, making for a long cleanup. Traffic was slowed in both directions for hours as crews removed all the spilled logs.

Cleanup took most of the day due to the logs all over the road. Route 220 was opened back up by 5:00pm.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann