Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

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

As a Maryland Trucking Accident lawyer, I know the unfortunate correlation between sleep deprivation and driver negligence, especially as it pertains to professional truck drivers and the sometimes careless operation of 18-wheeled tractor-trailer rigs. While not every over-the-road trucker pushes the limits of physical stamina, a percentage of semi drivers have been known to put in too many hours behind the wheel without sufficient sleep.

The results of sleep-related trucking wrecks can be serious, as news reports often depict. According to a recent article, a tractor-trailer accident caused apparently by an over-tired driver blocked a portion of Interstate 81 near Hagerstown, MD on a Monday afternoon last month. The accident occurred south of Showalter Road where Maryland State Police say the truck driver fell asleep, causing the rig with its 48,000-pound load of paper rolls to drift off the northbound lanes of the interstate, ending up on its side.

This is not an uncommon happening here in Maryland and across the rest of the country. A poll conducted last year by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) found that nearly 1.9 million drivers are involved in drowsy driving traffic accidents or near misses each and every year. Sadly, most drivers ignore the dangers that sleepiness can present when it comes to trucking and automobile accidents.

The NSF says that while drivers may quite good at recognizing when they are tired, this doesn’t always stop them from taking the wheel of a car or truck and hitting the road in a drowsy condition. Unfortunately, drivers many times can mistakenly believe that they can “will” themselves from falling asleep, which doesn’t necessarily work. And because a single moment of “reduced awareness” can cause a trucking accident, this kind of thinking can be very deadly.

In the case of the recent I-81 crash, the 76-year-old driver, Augustine Christian had reportedly been driving since 5am, according to state police on the scene. The driver’s tractor-trailer rig drove off the interstate just before 5pm and overturned on the right shoulder, state police said. Witnesses at the scene told police that tractor-trailer continued straight instead of following a curve in that stretch of roadway.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in the accident, which closed one of the northbound lanes for several hours as workers cleared the truck and trailer from the area. The trucker, who was charged with negligent driving, was taken to Washington County Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Tractor-trailer accident blocks portion of I-81, Herald-Mail.com, May 17. 2010

Single-truck accidents are not uncommon, however the causes can be very similar to multi-vehicle trucking accidents involving passenger cars and semi tractor-trailers. The force of such truck crashes can easily result in death of the passenger vehicle’s occupants, not to mention the truck driver himself. Whichever is the case, defective truck equipment should always be considered.

A sad fact of highway tractor-trailer and commercial truck wrecks is that lack of safety inspections can sometimes be to blame for a crash. These massive motor vehicles have a large number of moving parts and inter-related components that all need to work properly in order to keep the vehicle operating safely. Passenger car, SUV and minivan drivers, as well as motorcycle riders have died as a result of poorly maintained semi tractor-trailers.

As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, our staff has handled numerous personal injury cases in which one or more critical components have failed on an over-the-road truck, resulting in a serious injury or fatal traffic crash. State law requires truck drivers to individually inspect their vehicle assure that all major components, including safety equipment, are functioning correctly. But while the law requires this, many drivers will perform only perfunctory inspections, noting only nominal inspection times in their vehicle logs.

A recent out-of-state single-truck accident may or may not have been caused by defective or improperly maintained equipment. According to a recent news article, a Maryland truck driver died in an early-morning traffic accident when his tractor-trailer rig crashed at the bottom of an inclined roadway in Pennsylvania.

According to local officials, 40-year-old Steven Washington Robinson of Baltimore County, MD, was declared dead at the scene around 4am after apparently succumbing to severe head injuries following the crash. Robinson was reportedly an eight-year employee of CMD Logistics.

Reports indicate that Robinson was traveling eastbound on Route 422 when his big rig ran off the road and traveled down a steep embankment, striking a tree at the bottom of the hill. Fire department personnel, as well as a local hazmat team, responded to the accident. State police investigators said that Robinson was unrestrained in the cab of the rig and reported died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to a local corner’s report.

While the trucker’s death had been ruled accidental by police, toxicology tests were pending at the time of the reports. Defective equipment likely would not be ruled out until a full investigation had been carried out. That investigation was being undertaken by the police and no results were available at the time of the news report.

Trucker killed in Cherryhill Township crash, IndianaGazette.com, May 5, 2010

Motor vehicle accidents can happen almost anywhere throughout Maryland and nobody is immune. Even under the seemingly safest circumstances the tragedy of an injury accident or fatal car crash can be lurking just around the corner. As Baltimore trucking accident lawyers, my office takes nothing for granted when looking at the causes of these potentially life-threatening occurrences.

Whether someone is involved in a simple bicycle accident, motorcycle collision or commuter train wreck, the facts tell the story. Understanding those facts is one way of determining who the responsible party is. Every accident has its share of property, medical and associated costs, all of which can combine to place a strain on families who may or may not be already coping with a loss, such as the death of a loved one.

A recent accident in Pasadena, MD, reminds us that our most precious resource -- our kids -- can sometimes be placed in jeopardy. According to news reports, during a community event near Edgewater Road, a number of children were playing on one of the Lake Shore Volunteer Fire Company’s vehicles when it started rolling down a hill and struck a tree. Fortunately for everyone the eight children involved were unhurt in the accident, however a member of the fire company was injured in the Saturday afternoon incident.

According to reports, several children were on the fire engine throughout the day. Based on a statement from Battalion Chief Steve Thompson, at some point during the day the vehicle’s emergency brake was inadvertently released allowing the fire engine to roll down the hill. County firefighters received a call following the crash a little after 1pm.

The one injured firefighter, who attempted to stop the runaway vehicle, was treated and then taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie for further examination. Although the investigation had not been completed at the time of the article, defective vehicle equipment may or may not have been a factor in the crash.

Md. Fire Truck Rolls Away, Kids OK, Firehouse.com, April 24, 2010

Apparently trucking accidents can occur anywhere, even when you’re family is supposedly safe at home. That’s what happened not long ago when the driver of a trash collection truck apparently lost control and slammed into the front of a South Baltimore home. As a Maryland personal injury lawyer, I have helped many people following the aftermath of semi collisions and tractor-trailer crashes on our highways and surface streets.

Although most truck-related crashes involve other vehicles, this particular accident caused massive damage to a family’s home. It is only by shear luck that no one was seriously injured in the incident. Accidents involving large commercial vehicles can range from minor abrasions, to deep cuts and bruises, contusions, neck and spinal damage, or traumatic brain injuries.

According to reports, the family who house was damaged did receive help from the city, who owns and operates the garbage truck that hit the structure. The city’s housing commissioner was told by the mayor to do “everything possible to help this family."

In response, the city reportedly moved the family into a hotel, which is in Towson and too far from work and school for the family, which doesn’t own a car. There is apparently no close bus line which the parents can use to get to work, and their five-year-old grandson can’t easily get to school, which is located back in their Southwest Baltimore neighborhood.

Still the damage to the home is estimated at $30,000, according to news reports. In fact the structure itself had been boarded up and at the time of the reports was condemned. Based on initial reports, the garbage truck peeled away the front brick and the actual front of the home is mostly gone. The house has been boarded up and condemned.

Only time will tell if this family gets their home back in its original condition and can resume their lives with as little upset as they already have experienced.

City Helps Family After Home Hit By Trash Truck Reporting, WJZ.com, March 3, 2010

Trucking accidents are some of the most deadly for occupants of passenger cars, light trucks and motorcycles. From thrown tire treads to loose trailers and out-of-control semi-tractors on severe grades, a motorist who is in the wrong place at the wrong time could be seriously hurt or even killed as a result.

As a Maryland trucking accident lawyer and personal injury attorney, I am dedicated to assisting victims and their families recover damages following a devastating tractor-trailer collision. Big rigs, also known as 18-wheelers, can haul in excess of 30 tons of cargo. With that much weight traveling at highway speeds, a serious disaster is just one wrong move away.

Not long ago, the Maryland State Police reported a fatal tractor-trailer crash that took the life of a Washington man and seriously injured his wife. According to news articles, the collision occurred on Interstate 95 crash in Harford County, MD, when a semi hit the couple as they stood by the side of the road.

Police reports indicate that the husband and the wife, who were traveling in separate vehicles, pulled there respective cars over to the side of the northbound lanes of the interstate. The husband, 38-year-old Leonard Clark, was driving a Dodge Charger and his wife, 39-year-old Kimberly Clark, was operating a Dodge Durango aside the northbound lanes of I-95.

Apparently an approaching tractor-trailer drove too close to the couple and hit both people just after 11pm on a weekday evening. Emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene and provided treatment on site before transporting the victims to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Unfortunately, the husband’s injuries were too extensive and he dies at the scene.

The wife sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment by doctors. According to reports at the time, Mrs. Clark was listed in critical condition. Authorities were still investigating the accident and it was not known at the time why the couple had stopped and gotten out of the vehicles prior to the crash.

Husband killed, wife injured after I-95 crash in Harford, BaltimoreSun.com, February 26, 2010

Two individuals were injured by a semi driver during a highway accident near Hagerstown, MD, along southbound Interstate 81. According to news reports, the passengers of a 1992 Dodge Dynasty were taken to Washington County Hospital on the afternoon of February 13 following a harrowing car-truck wreck in Washington County.

As a Baltimore trucking accident lawyer, I and my colleagues are quite familiar with the factors that lead to tractor-trailer accidents involving sedans, minivan and sport utility vehicles. These types of accidents can frequently result in severe injuries, such as head, neck and back trauma, and can occasionally be fatal. In this instance, the two-vehicle crash on the southbound lanes of I-81 sent two occupants of the smaller passenger car to a nearby hospital, according to Maryland State Police in Hagerstown.

Based on news reports, the crash occurred around 1:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. The driver and passenger in the Dodge were heading south along I-81, just north of Md. 68, when a 2009 Peterbilt tractor-trailer made an unsafe lane change, police reports show. The semi trailer hit the Dynasty’s driver’s side, which then caused the car to spin out of control, strike the median and overturn.

Police reported that the sedan’s occupants -- 57-year-old Judith Ann Athey and 67-year-old Marshall Lee Athey -- were taken to Washington County Hospital to be treated for their injuries. The truck driver, 51-year-old Donald Paul Shallcross, was not injured, according to Maryland troopers. There was no mention at the time of the news article what charges, if any, would be brought against the semi driver.

Two hurt in I-81 crash, Hearld-Mail.com, February 13, 2010

Trucking safety requires a combination of professional driving and well-maintained equipment. While the majority of tractor-trailer rigs are serviced correctly and driven by responsible individuals, many are not. Sometimes a mechanical failure can cause a big rig to go out of control, which is one of the most dangerous traffic situations, especially along mountain roads.

As Maryland truck accident lawyers, my office represents motorists and bystanders who have been injured as a result of a semi-trailer collision. Fatal injuries are not uncommon in truck-related wrecks

A recent news article pointed up the quick thinking that truck drivers need to have to avoid fatal results. According to reports, a Virginia driver turned a potentially deadly situation on that state’s Route 135 into a happy ending. The incident occurred at Backbone Mountain after the man’s rig lost the use of its brakes as well as its transmission.

Bonzell Garland, 32, had apparently left Mountain Lake Park in his 1997 Kenworth tractor pulling a 2006 Cherokee trailer loaded with conveyor belt equipment. The rig, which is owned by Legacy Express Inc., in Richmond, was traveling down a steep nine-percent descent on Route 135 at around 12:30pm with 78,000 pounds of truck and machinery. Garland wad headed from Garrett County to Interstate 68 and eventually to his destination in Norfolk.

According to news articles, that steep stretch of Route 135 runs for about four miles from Swanton to Bloomington. Police reports indicate that the truck’s brakes and transmission failed along the decline, during which event the driver saw the lights flashing on the advance sign that signals an upcoming escape ramp, which he decided to utilize.

Reportedly, Garland told police that his transmission and brakes failed as he was traveling 45 to 50 mph when he ditched the rig into the escape ramp. Police investigators estimated that the rig was traveling close to 65mph when it hit the runaway ramp where a 3-foot deep mixture of sand and pea gravel finally brought the tractor-trailer to a halt -- more than 550 feet into the 1,800-foot runaway ramp.

According to the article, Backbone Mountain has been the scene of numerous fatal accidents over the last 30 years involving big rigs that failed to stop before slamming into the rocky embankment at the base of the mountain. Twenty or more crosses commemorating drivers who have died there are painted on the rocky hillside where Route 135 flattens out and abruptly makes a 90-degree turn past the NewPage paper mill.

Driver saved by escape ramp, Times-News.com, November 10, 2009

As Maryland truck accident attorneys, over the years my colleagues and I have represented numerous trucking crash victims and their families. Trucking collisions don’t only injure pedestrians and drivers of other cars and SUVs, these kinds of tractor-trailer and delivery truck accidents also cause injury to the truck drivers operating them. A recent article illustrates this one type of truck crash that resulted in the untimely death of a teenage driver and the severe injury of the other passenger of that vehicle.

While the preliminary police report issued at the time of the news article indicated that the single-vehicle accident was a result of driver error combined with less than optimal road conditions, there could also be a chance of defective equipment, such as worn tires or other mechanical failure.

According to news reports, a 19-year-old driver died several days following a single-truck crash on Route 100 in Anne Arundel County. Police reports showed that Dakota Kelly Alder of Pasadena, MD, died from injuries sustained during a crash four days earlier near the Route 100 and Interstate 97 interchange.

The accident report stated that the driver lost control of the vehicle around 2:30 in the afternoon p.m. and lost control of the truck. The initial police investigation stated that the truck was likely traveling at a higher rate of speed than the wet road conditions would have allowed. The young driver apparently lost control of the vehicle which then struck the guard rail and flipped over.

Rescue crews arriving on the scene administered first aid to both the driver and passenger then transported them to local hospitals. According to police, Alder was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center where he was treated but died several days later. The only passenger, 19-year-old Jordan Joshua Swick, also of Pasadena, was taken in critical condition to the Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

19-year-old driver dies days after Arundel crash, BaltimoreSun.com, November 16, 2009