Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

Police believe a truck crash on Maryland’s Interstate I-695 in late July was the result of a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. According to news reports, the accident was so severe that Maryland State Police had to shut down the entire inner loop during the morning commute. As a Baltimore trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know that drowsy driving is one of the major causes of commercial truck crashes.

A semi tractor-trailer rig is a formidable piece of machinery when compared to even the largest sport utility vehicle or light truck. Passenger cars have little chance of escaping serious damage when hit by an 18-wheeler that is out of control. Even a fully loaded box truck can cause serious property damage and bodily injury if it hits another, smaller vehicle.

According to news accounts, 23-year-old Michael Angel Ocasio was driving a white 2006 GMC box truck along the beltway, a short distance south of the Baltimore National Pike. Authorities said the driver apparently fell asleep and ran into the back of a flat bed trailer around 6am in the morning.

Emergency crews from Baltimore County Fire and Emergency Services working at the crash scene had to extract the truck driver from the wreckage. Ocasio was treated and then transported to Maryland Shock Trauma where doctors provided medical care for the driver’s severe leg injuries.

The driver of the flat bed trailer was taken to Northwest Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. At the time of the article, Maryland State Police police were still investigating the accident.

Police believe I-695 accident this morning was caused by driver who fell asleep, ABC2news.com, July 20, 2010

There are many different causes of trucking-related traffic accidents. From poorly maintained or badly designed vehicle equipment, to poor road conditions and driver error, most highway tractor-trailer accidents are hardly ever that… accidents. As Maryland truck accident attorneys, my office knows what to look for when it comes to injuries caused by the negligence of a truck driver or trucking company.

One cause of commercial truck crashes that is frequently in the news is that of driver fatigue. Government regulation limit trucker to a maximum number of hours behind the wheel, which ideally means that the driver then gets sufficient rest before the next day’s driving shift. What the law can’t easily address is how well truckers sleep and whether or not they are fully rested as a result.

Enter the problem of sleep apnea. A common problem with the general public, this affliction can cause loss of concentration and has been known to result in motorists falling asleep at the wheel. But for the average office worker, sleep apnea is more likely to get him chewed out at work than cause him to crash his automobile into a family of five on the interstate.

Unfortunately for the driving public, sleep apnea in truck drivers is a serious and potentially deadly condition, especially since these individuals not only drive eight to 10 hours a day, but their “office” is a 25-ton 18-wheeler traveling at close to 70mph on the expressway.

Apparently the trucking industry is taking this problem seriously as well. According to a recent news report, a recent gathering in Baltimore — the Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference — where industry leaders, medical sleep professionals, regulators and vendors came together to address sleep apnea in trucking.

It is acknowledged by the industry, in general, that sleep apnea among truckers is a public health concern and that drivers, who admittedly have an already difficult job, can also suffer from multiple health problems. One researcher, Dr. Martin R. Walker, pointed out to attendees that the prevalence of sleep apnea in commercial truck drivers may be greater than most people know — a 2002 study determined that nearly one-third of commercial drivers have mild to severe obstructive sleep apnea.

One interesting item that came out of the conference was a statement by a legal expert who said until that now sleep apnea has not been a “major player” in trucking accident litigation, however it will likely become part of the “legal landscape” sooner rather than later.

Sleep apnea problems discussed, eTrucker.com, May 13, 2010

Commercial truck accidents can cause some of the most serious injuries to surrounding passenger vehicles, pedestrians and other innocent bystanders. Tanker trucks in particular are some of the most dangerous vehicles on the roads these days. Many of these vehicles carry flammable cargo, such as gasoline, fuel oil, compressed natural gas and propane, not to mention dangerous chemicals.

Serving the residents of Baltimore and surrounding Maryland communities, my personal injury law office knows how quickly an accident involving a semi tractor-trailer rig can cause serious injuries or even death to other motorists. Recently, the Pennington Avenue Bridge was closed down due to a bad collision between a gasoline tanker and a construction vehicle.

According to reports, the force of the accident nearly pushed the tanker off the bridge entirely. Based on police reports, the fuel tanker was en route to pick up 9,000 gallons of gasoline when it was struck by the other vehicle. The accident caused the tanker to became wedged over a concrete barrier wall. Although the tanker was reportedly empty at the time of the crash, the entire area was sprayed with foam as a precaution against fire.

The construction vehicle, according to reports, crossed over into the oncoming lane and hit the tanker trailer at its midsection. The truck was apparently destroyed in the vehicle crash, which left the tanker hanging partially off the bridge. Witnesses reported that the driver of the construction vehicle avoided serious injury. Based on news reports, the driver received only a bloody nose and a sore arm, according to a Baltimore Department of Public Works employee.

The accident caused sufficient damage to the bridge that engineers were concerned about the integrity of the entire structure, which comprises not one but two drawbridge sections. A four-man engineering and inspection team did a complete check of the structure and finally approved it for traffic about two hours later.

Eastern Bridge Reopened After Tanker Accident Reporting, WJZ.com, April 16, 2010

Traffic accidents caused by large semi and tractor-trailer rigs are fairly commonplace on Maryland’s roadways. But crashes involving fire and rescue vehicles can also occur and have similar and possibly tragic results. As a Maryland injury lawyer and commercial truck accident attorney, I see reports of motorists injured as a result of these kinds of wrecks fairly often in the Baltimore area and around our state.

As recent a news article pointed out, the potential for injury or death from a trucking accident can impact the lives of both drivers and passengers traveling in smaller motor vehicles. These individuals are most vulnerable, as are pedestrians, when caught in crashes involving big rigs and delivery trucks. According to reports, witnesses stated that a Calvert County fire engine hit another Anne Arundel County ladder truck while apparently on the way to an emergency call.

The collision, which reports described as a side-swiping accident, also affected two passenger cars when the Calvert County truck sideswiped the Anne Arundel ladder truck on a Sunday afternoon in Galesville, Maryland.

Witnesses to the accident claimed that the driver of the Calvert County fire engine hit the West Annapolis-based Tower 40 and then continued on without offering assistance. The accident occurred just after 4pm, according to Anne Arundel police, at the intersection of Muddy Creek and Owensville roads. At the time of the article, police said that a 24-year-old volunteer with the Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department in northern Calvert County was at fault in the wreck.

Although no body was seriously injured in the crash, the incident resulted in putting the Anne Arundel ladder truck out of service for the rest of the day and caused damage to two private vehicles. One driver of the two smaller vehicles that were hit reportedly took himself to the hospital for observation.

According to police reports, James Russel Carey Jr., a firefighter who started driving fire department vehicles in 1993, was driving Tower 40 south on Muddy Creek Road through the intersection of Owensville Road on a green light. While crossing the intersection, the county ladder truck was struck by an eastbound fire engine manned by the driver and four other Dunkirk volunteer firefighters.

Continue reading "Baltimore Trucking Accident News: Maryland Motorists Involved in Calvert County, MD, Fire Truck Crash" »

As a Baltimore trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know the heartache associated with the physical injuries sustained during a bad traffic accident. Most of the people we represent in the course of our work are drivers and passengers of sedans, minivans and pickup trucks. When these smaller vehicles go up against a larger motor vehicle, such as a Peterbilt, Kenworth or International semi tractor-trailer rig, the passenger car and its occupants usually end up losing.

While most Maryland trucking accidents result in minor to severe injuries, occasionally occupants can suffer fatal injury as a consequence of a trucking wreck. The higher the speed, the more seriously people can be hurt. Multiple vehicle crashes involving semi trucks can raise the injury or death toll at an accident scene.

A recent news article reported a multi-vehicle collision involving a tractor-trailer on Route 113 in Worchester County and Ironshire Station Road near Berlin, MD. The incident occurred just after noon during bad weather and poor visibility, which police say were contributing factors to the afternoon crash.

According to reports, a Honda passenger car and a following van both were slowing down because of the poor weather conditions when a semi struck the two vehicles from behind. The tractor-trailer then jack knifed, blocking the southbound portion of the roadway.

A passenger vehicle following the truck slowed down for the first accident and was rear-ended by a other motor vehicle. That impact pushed the vehicle into a third one, causing some minor injuries.

The chain-reaction continued as a second tractor-trailer rig slowed to a stop to avoid the second crash site, which resulted in a sport utility vehicle (SUV) crashing into the second semi. The SUV was subsequently hit from behind by a pickup truck. Several drivers in all were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The drivers of the two semi trucks were not injured.

The three related accidents, which resulted in a total of nine damaged vehicles, caused Route 113 to be closed for nearly two hours while emergency crews cleared the wreckage.

Multi-Vehicle Crash in Worcester County, WBOC.com, February 11, 2010

Trucking accidents, especially on the interstate, can be horrendous events. Occupants of passenger cars, SUVs and light pickup trucks can be severely injured if their vehicle is hit by a semi truck, such as a Peterbuilt, Kenworth or International long-haul commercial truck. As a Maryland injury law firm, my staff has helped numerous individuals who have been hurt in traffic accidents involving large, big-rig tractor-trailers.

This is not to say that truck drivers themselves do not become injured as well. With a dozen or more tons of cargo on the trailer behind the truck cab, an over-the-road trucker can easily be hurt or killed in a high-speed crash or even medium-speed trucking accidents. A news article highlighted what can happen when two trucks collide on the expressway.

According to news reports, there was a double tractor-trailer crash just north of the Maryland border in mid-December that injured the drivers of both rigs. The accident, which occurred around 2am on I-78 in Delaware County, PA, apparently tied up traffic for hours.

Based on police reports, a truck driven by Baltimore resident Joe Craig was parked along the shoulder of the interstate. Craig had reportedly stopped to look at a map when another semi truck apparently lost control and clipped the front of the Maryland man’s trator-trailer. The out-of-control rig then careened down a 30-foot embankment. In the process, the truck tore off about 200 feet of safety guard rail on the roadside before rolling down the hill. It was unknown if the cause was due to defective vehicle equipment.

Before emergency crews arrived, Craig helped the other driver to safety. He reportedly said that he thought the man had died in the accident, which threw debris all around the crash site. Fortunately, neither of the drivers was seriously injured, although the driver who lost control was taken to a local hospital with reportedly non-life threatening injuries.

Double Tractor Trailer Accident Along Interstate 78 Injures One, Closes Right Lane, Fox43.com, December 15, 2009

To the average motorist, there may be nothing quite as frightening as a highway accident involving a tractor-trailer rig. Passenger cars and light trucks are no match for these huge vehicles when things go wrong and a crash is imminent. These days it is not uncommon to be surrounded on the expressway by maybe a half-dozen heavy trucks. As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, we at Lebowitz-Mhzen, LLC have represented individuals injured as a result of a truck driver’s errors. Our hardest task is seeing the heartache of families who have lost a loved one through another person’s negligence.

Recently, a two-truck accident closed a section of Maryland’s Route 50 just before the Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured during the tangle between these two tractor-trailers, however, it is only shear luck that the accident occurred in the early morning hours, which meant the roadway was not clogged with holiday travelers.

Had this been during the daylight hours, more than one passenger car would likely have been caught up in the crash. From the perspective of the attorneys here, any truck driver responsible for a serious collision on a public road will more than likely seriously injure or even kill an innocent motorist stuck by that driver’s tractor or semi-trailer. A tractor-trailer's size and weight amplifies the injuries and damage resulting from a traffic accident -- and the higher the speeds, such as on highways, the greater the chance for fatalities.

As professional driver, tractor-trailer operators are required to observe and obey specific federal and state safety laws, including those laws and regulations that are specified by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Often, driver fatigue can cause a truck driver to crash his vehicle, as was likely the case in this latest crash on Route 50 just south of Wye Mills and Route 404. Another frequent cause of truck accidents is defective equipment, such as faulty or poorly-maintained brakes.

According to police reports, the incident occurred around 2am on Friday morning, but resulted in no injuries. As I mentioned earlier, it was just lucky that this accident happened during a lull in the traffic. Had this happened during rush hour or at peak holiday travel volume, then the story would be quite different I assure you.

Regardless, if you or a loved one is hurt as a result of a tractor-trailer accident, through the negligence of a truck driver who is inattentive or operating his rig while drowsy or under the influence of alcohol, prescription drugs or other substance, you should contact an experienced legal professional to learn about your options.

Continue reading "Trucking Accident News: Two Tractor-trailers Crash on Route 50 in Talbot County, Maryland" »