Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

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