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

To some repair garages, dishonest trucking companies and thoughtless semi tractor-trailer drivers, saving some cash now is worth the risk of causing a serious traffic accident in the future. Cause and effect are not always considered by unscrupulous garage owners and the semi truck drivers that employ them. But the dangers are real and the results can be deadly in many cases.

As Baltimore trucking accident attorneys, our office helps the victims of 18-wheeler and commercial big-rig accidents. For those unfortunate families who have lost a loved one as a result of another person’s negligence, emotions can run very high especially when deception and outright fraud are involved.

This was apparently the situation in a case where the owner of a repair garage allegedly sold inspection stickers for a 1997 Kenworth semi with worn brakes that killed a motorist along the Schuylkill Expressway in 2009. New reports say that the garage owner, 62-year-old Joseph Jadczak pled guilty in 2009 to vehicular homicide and also to permitting the operation of a motor vehicle equipped with unsafe equipment.

An investigation of the tractor-trailer rig involved in that truck crash showed that each of the vehicle’s ten brakes were all severely worn. Despite this, and to the apparent astonishment of the investigators, the rig possessed all of its current and up-to-date inspection stickers. The scary part is that this truck was stopped by police in Maryland and three other states before the accident that claimed the life of 49-year-old David Schreffler on January 23, 2009, in Pennsylvania.

That accident, which occurred on I-76 resulted in the truck being unable to stop with a reported load of 74,000 pounds and then plowing into six cars including the deceased victim’s vehicle. Police reports show that the driver, 56-year-old Valerijs Belovs, had to use the truck’s emergency brake to slow the vehicle, but not enough to avoid the fatal crash.

According to reports, Belovs and the trucking company’s owner, Victor Kalinitchii, pleaded guilty last year to vehicular homicide. The driver was sentenced to time served (just over three months in prison) and was released following his April sentencing hearing. Kalinitchii, who reportedly ordered Belovs to drive cross-country in the truck knowing the brakes were defective, was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months by Judge Thomas C. Branca that same day.

Garage owner petitions to withdraw guilty plea, TimesHerald.com, May 12, 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

After a rough winter such as Maryland and the East Coast has recently experienced it is easy to say that weather is unpredictable and that drivers can be caught off guard with little recourse to prevent an accident. While trucking accidents can and do happen every week on the highways and surface streets in and near cities such as Annapolis, Frederick, Rockville and D.C. the weather is just one factor.

As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, my office understands how severe a tractor-trailer, delivery truck or commercial carrier accident can be. Many times, persons injured as a result of a truck driver’s negligence must pursue legal means to recover damages, such as medical costs, lost wages and other accident-related expenses. Of course, fatal auto accidents are the worst-case scenario for a truck-related wreck, which unfortunately no amount of compensation can make up for the tragic loss of life.

A recent editorial in the Baltimore Sun brought up the point that truck drivers should be held responsible for situations involving tractor-trailer jack-knifing. While there are many who would argue that weather conditions themselves make a jack-knife accident less avoidable, it is not unreasonable to expect that all drivers are responsible for operating their vehicles within its physical limits based on weather and road surface conditions, such as snow and ice.

The author of this editorial piece suggests that tractor-trailer drivers who cannot control their rigs on Maryland highways should be labeled as “Public Enemy No. 1.” This came out of the suggestion that some truckers are not competent to operate commercial trucks in winter weather conditions.

As the author suggests, if a truck driver is capable and responsible he or she should be able drive their rig at a speed appropriate for conditions and avoid a jack-knifing accident.

As motorists, we all must trust the abilities of these big-rig operators. But many of us have also seen the carnage created by those all-to-frequent trucking accidents in which a smaller passenger car gets hit or forced of the road by a larger and more threatening 18-wheeler.

There is no doubt that some accidents occur as a result of another person’s negligence, in which case the police investigation is crucial in determining cause and fault. Regardless of how the accident happens, if the truck driver is at fault the victim and his or her family deserve to be compensated for injuries and other losses from that crash -- all the more reason to consult a trucking accident attorney to understand your options.

Truckers have choice words about jackknife cause, BaltimoreSun.com, February 15, 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

News out of Baltimore, Maryland, shows great support from the Teamsters Union for new trucking rules regarding the transportation of flammable liquids, specifically the regulations that would ban these liquids from being carried in the relatively vulnerable transfer lines on tanker trucks. This new Congressional legislation would most likely increase the safety of innocent drivers and pedestrians who may be killed or injured in tanker truck-related accidents in the future.

According to news reports, the Teamsters announced that they will support a new law banning the transport of flammable liquids in tank truck loading lines. According to the union, approximately 30 to 50 gallons of flammable liquid, such as gasoline or heating oil, can typically be held in the mostly unprotected loading lines beneath most tanker trucks.

The report quoted a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report that described a recent highway accident in New Jersey involving a tanker truck in which the driver of a smaller vehicle was killed. In that crash, the NTSB concluded, the ensuing fire probably wouldn't have occurred if the loading lines had been empty. According to reports, there have been 184 accidents over the past 10 years in which loading lines were damaged or ruptured.

An accident involving a tank truck loaded with gasoline, diesel fuel or heating oil, can cause severe burn injuries to the truck driver, occupants of other vehicles, and even pedestrians. Frequently, injuries such as third-degree burns can result in death.

According to news reports, the Teamsters director of Safety and Health, LaMont Byrd, said the requirement would be worth the cost -- $2,000 to $4,000 on vehicles worth $80,000 to $100,000 -- for equipment to purge the loading lines, known as "wet lines."

"It is clear that these wet lines present a real danger when tank haul trucks are involved in accidents to not only the traveling public, but to the drivers of these vehicles," Byrd said.

Teamsters Support Comprehensive Hazmat Regulation, PRNewswire.com, November 16, 2009

A recent study had some interesting findings about tractor-trailer operators, traffic accidents and cell phone texting habits. Because our firm, Lebowitz-Mzhen, LLC handles a large number of trucking accident injury cases, we were not surprised to learn that the chance for truck drivers to be involved in a highway collision is directly proportional to whether they are texting on their cell phone while operating a big rig.

According to the report, on released from a new study this week report that texting while driving increases the chance that a truck driver will be involved in a traffic accident or near-accident by 23 times. Researches from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute looked at commercial trucking information from two studies -- one in 2003 and the other in 2007. More than two hundred truck drivers who drove over three million miles took part in the study. The institute looked at 4,452 events considered “safety-critical,” including 197 near accidents and 21 truck crashes.

Video cameras were used to record event in the cabs of the trucks during the study. Those cameras shot footage of truck drivers’ facial reactions in the final seconds right before a near miss truck crash or an actual truck accident. The footage showed that the main reason texting while driving is so dangerous for truck drivers is that they have to take their eyes off the road.

A representative for the institute’s Center for Truck and Bus Safety, Rich Hanowski, said that taking one’s eyes off the road when driving for more than two seconds constitutes a dangerous situation. Yet in the last six seconds just prior to these truck accidents and near collisions, a number of the truckers spent an average of 4.6 seconds with their eyes on their communication device rather than the road. In that length of time, a truck moving at 55mph will have traveled more than the length of a football field.

Hanowski reminded that texting while driving isn’t just a dangerous pastime for truck drivers, it’s a risky behavior for any driver, including passenger cars, SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans. While Maryland law will make it illegal for motorists to text while driving starting in October 2009, legislation this isn’t always enough to get drivers to stop texting while driving. Yet the consequences can be catastrophic, such as when a large tractor-trailer ends up slamming into a small passenger car because a trucker was busy checking messages.

Texting and Driving Don't Mix, WashingtonPost.com, July 29, 2009