Our Pearland dump truck accident attorneys note that almost anything can cause a crash. In some cases, factors like weather, road conditions, other erratic or distracted drivers, or a momentary lapse of attention on the part of the dump truck driver all combine to cause the crash. One frequent cause of dump truck accidents consists of the driver forgetting to lower the back part of the dump truck, the dump body, into its resting position when he drives off from a pickup or delivery. Then the dump truck driver might crash into power lines or overpasses because he’s unaware he’s hauling a still-elevated dump body behind him.
Dump truck rollovers present another frequent and dangerous problem. When loaded, the dump truck’s center of gravity shifts upward into the load it’s hauling. This awkwardly high center of gravity can cause the truck to tip or roll over on a slightly too fast turn, under bad road conditions, or even when taking a curve in the road. Dump truck designers try to compensate for this tendency when they develop the truck. But if they overcompensate for the expected weight of a loaded truck, then they create a center of gravity problem for an unloaded truck.
When a loaded dump truck does roll over, the results can be catastrophic. A massively heavy dump truck can easily crush other vehicles and their passengers. The truck’s momentum and weight can carry it through some distance. The dump truck’s driver might also suffer severe or fatal injuries from the crash. Whether the truck was loaded or unloaded at the time of the accident you experienced could have a tremendous impact on your injuries and the amount of your compensation claim.
One of the most common types of dump truck accident results from a dump truck’s high undercarriage. In order to be able to stay clear of the road and its obstacles when fully loaded, designers provide dump trucks with a high suspension. This means that passenger cars in collisions with dump trucks might drive wholly or partially under the dump truck before wrecking. While the truck’s undercarriage may pass over the car’s hood, it often collides with the windshield and roof of the car. In many instances, it rips the top of the car right off, which could decapitate the car’s driver and passengers or cause massive head trauma and neck and spinal injuries. The higher the speed of the car at the time of the accident, the worse the resulting injuries from the dump truck underride accident.
Other wrecks result from the dump truck’s relatively low maneuverability and response time. When a large dump truck lumbers out into traffic, car drivers might not adequately account for its wallowing entry into their path. Sudden speed and lane changes to compensate for the presence of the dump truck could result in collisions.
If you have questions about a dump truck collision and injury claim, download our free e-book that gives you the essential steps to take after a wreck involving a heavy commercial truck. It’s free, and you might just find the information it contains to be priceless.
Texas City accident lawyer recommends delaying travel and transportation plans in the event of fog that limits visibility. In recent months, a number of high casualty multi-vehicle pileups due to fog have occurred in Texas and around the world.
Heavy blankets of fog can descend rapidly and blind drivers already out on the road creating perfect conditions for dangerous and deadly wrecks like the 79-vehicle pileup that happened earlier this month near Port Arthur, TX. Earlier today, fog was blamed as a contributor to a serious collision between a Lowe’s delivery truck and a school bus that sent scores of students and adults to the hospital, some with critical injuries.
The Lowe’s truck failed to yield right of way and ran a stop sign to collide with the school bus. News accounts indicate that truck driver negligence might not be the primary reason for the crash. They indicate the driver might not have seen the stop sign in the fog.
Heavy fog can also lead to catastrophic collisions out in the ship channels that follow the Texas coastline. Tuesday morning’s heavy sea fog led to prudent ships’ pilots halting sea traffic in the Texas City and Galveston ship channels. Some ship traffic continued to ply the Houston ship channel from the Gulf into the Port of Houston.
This Texas City accident lawyer believes it’s better to arrive somewhere late than not to arrive at all. So don’t take chances in near-zero visibility conditions caused by fog. Delay your travel until the danger has passed. If another driver’s negligence and disregard for hazardous conditions injures you, contact us for a free legal consultation. Our Board Certified Texas City accident lawyers could walk you through the legal options you have for obtaining just financial compensation for your accident from the driver who injured you.
Clear Lake truck accident lawyers find this fiery UPS truck wreck to be an exemplary illustration of the dangers and high costs associated with ordinary distracted driving. Darren Spates, 45, of Splendora, ducked down into the well of the UPS 18-wheeler he was driving to retrieve something down on the floor of the truck. While he was down there, the 18-wheeler veered off of I-45 to the outside shoulder in a construction area south of FM 830 near Conroe.
The veering UPS 18-wheeler then struck a guardrail, rode the top of the concrete wall, struck the bridge, and lost its axles. Then the truck jack-knifed and erupted into a fiery blaze around midnight. The truck burned into the wee hours of Thursday morning. Dozens of parcels lay strewn along the highway near the blaze. Ammo was among the cargo in the UPS truck. It appears that the fire set off a round of the ammunition. A bullet struck one of the Conroe fire engines battling the blaze, but fortunately the dangerous cargo didn’t injure anyone. The truck driver received transport to the hospital in stable condition.
The UPS 18-wheeler suffered heavy damage from the fiery wreck, and was hauled away on a flatbed. Emergency crews closed all northbound lanes of I-45 in order to contain the blaze, deal with the wreckage, and repair the fire-damaged roadway. Northbound I-45 reopened just before 2 p.m. on Thursday.
The fiery wreck of the UPS 18-wheeler near Conroe, TX serves as a rather spectacular illustration of the dangers and high costs of distracted driving. One can’t help but wonder what seemed so important down in the floor of the truck when the effort to retrieve it led to so much damage and destruction.
If a distracted or negligent truck driver has injured you, you can contact our Clear Lake truck accident lawyers for a free and confidential legal consultation regarding your accident. With more than 12 years of experience litigating on behalf of injured accident victims, we could provide you with the sound legal advice and strategy you need to win just financial compensation from those who injured you. Call 877-307-9500 today, or use our web contact form to schedule your free consultation. We’re here to help you win the fair compensation you deserve.
Conroe truck wreck lawyers bring to your attention an unusual truck cargo accident. An Idaho potato truck hauling a cargo of spuds to a processing plant caught its trailers’ tires on the edge of the road and rolled over onto its side. The toppling of the truck created some instant mashed potatoes. More of the spuds rolled across two lanes of an interstate exit ramp.
The truck was hauling a 48-foot farm-bed trailer. When the trailer’s tires caught on the edge of the road, the snag pulled the whole tractor-trailer slowly over onto its side. The slow motion crash left the seat-belted truck driver and his passenger uninjured, but created enough instant mashed potatoes to feed a small town.
This truck cargo accident serves to illustrate what happens when a truck’s cargo shifts. When the potato truck’s trailer caught the edge of the road, the trailer would have started to tip to that side. Potatoes, if not adequately secured, will start to roll to the lower side of their container. In a trailer 48 feet long, there are a huge number of potatoes.
The weight of that cargo of potatoes shifting to one side will push the errant side of the trailer farther down over the road’s edge, and will gradually pull the truck cab along as the whole assembly begins to shift along with the cargo. Then when the truck and trailer topple onto their side, the trailer can buckle and break, spilling cargo all across the road.
If you’re in the path of a falling truck or its cargo, you could easily suffer catastrophic injuries. A heavy truck can mash cars and their occupants as easily as it mashes potatoes. The expenses that result from the average truck wreck run much higher than those resulting from the average car accident.
If the trucker or trucking company limited its coverage to the minimum required by law (as many do), you need an experienced Conroe truck wreck lawyer to seek out all the causes of your accident and all liable parties who could owe you compensation for your injuries. For example, in the Idaho potato truck wreck, the cargo loaders could well be at fault for failure to properly secure the spuds.
If you’ve been injured in a truck wreck, you can download our free e-book covering some major elements of truck accident claims. And if you have questions about how the law applies to your accident and what compensation you might claim, contact our dedicated Conroe truck wreck lawyers at 877-307-9500 or through our web contact form for a FREE consultation. If you have questions, our experienced truck accident attorneys have answers for you.
Galveston accident lawyer’s list of some of the worst multi-vehicle crashes in U.S. motor transportation history:
On December 1, 2011 at Saundersville Road and Tennessee State Route 386 (aka Vietnam Veterans Blvd) in Summer County, 176 vehicles collided in three distinct chain-reaction wrecks resulting in 1 fatality and 15 to 20 injuries. Reports blamed the multi- vehicle wreck on extremely heavy fog.
January 9, 2008 saw 4 people die and almost 40 suffer injuries on I-4 in north central Florida when 70 vehicles collided in a major pileup. Fog that mixed with smoke from a controlled fire that went out-of-control caused a sudden lack of visibility and the consequent catastrophic multi-vehicle wreck.
On November 5, 2007, 2 people lost their lives and dozens more received injuries in a multi-vehicle wreck involving more than 100 cars, trucks, and buses. The pileup occurred on Highway 99 south of Fresno, CA from the “tulle fog” that’s a frequent feature of the fall and winter months there.
January 12, 2005 marks the day of a 200-vehicle pileup on I-96 in Ingham County, MI that left 2 dead and 35 more injured. Dense fog was to blame for the multi-vehicle wreck.
Another 200-vehicle pileup due to fog occurred on March 20, 1995 on the Jubilee Parkway in Mobile, AL. The multi-vehicle wreck included cars, trucks, and other vehicles and left 1 dead and approximately 90 people injured.
On December 2, 1994 on I-35 in San Antonio, TX, sun glare and rain-slick roads led to a 127-vehicle pileup that caused 67 injuries.
December 11, 1990 saw a fiery and deadly multi-vehicle wreck on I-75 in Calhoun, TN due to extremely heavy fog. The fiery pileup included 99 vehicles and resulted in 12 fatalities and 42 injuries.
Accident injury claims from multi-vehicle pileups involve special considerations due to their unusual complexity. To learn more about the essential elements of making a claim following your injury accident, request our free book on important things you need to know about making a claim after a serious Houston wreck. Just click on the link on our website and get this essential information at your fingertips, for free.
Your Texas truck accident attorney mentions a new truck rule you may not know about. In 2009, the U.S. NHTSA passed a new rule requiring commercial trucks to reduce truck braking distances by 30%. The rule became effective for new 3-axle trucks this year, and will be effective in another two years for 2-axle and severe service tractors.
Basically, the rule covers the approximately 130,000 new tractor-trailer trucks manufactured each year. The new truck braking distance rule requires that fully loaded tractor-trailer trucks going 60 mph now stop within 250 feet instead of 355 feet. And lightly loaded trucks at 60 mph must stop within 235 feet instead of 335 feet. Severe service tractors are permitted a greater stopping distance.
The NHTSA passed the new truck braking distance rules after an extensive study of traffic fatality data involving commercial trucks. The Texas truck accident attorney presents these alarming statistics: In 2006 alone, 385,000 large trucks crashed. 4,732 of these truck crashes caused 4,995 fatalities. An additional 106,000 people suffered injuries.
Your Texas truck accident attorney reminds you that 12% of all 2006 fatal highway crashes involved large trucks. 75% of the victims injured or killed by these crashes occupied vehicles other than the large trucks. And the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) found that the fatality rate in large truck crashes stood more than 65% higher than that of passenger car crashes.
The NHTSA estimates that commercial truck compliance with the new truck braking distance rules should save more than 200 lives, hundreds of serious injuries, and nearly $170 million in property damage each year.
The NHTSA rejected trucking companies’ objections to the cost of the new rule. The agency pointed out that there were several braking systems already in use that could allow commercial trucks to meet the new truck braking distance requirements. Enhanced drum brakes, air disc brakes, and hybrid disc/drum systems already provide greater braking control in trucks.
This Texas truck accident attorney notes that the NHTSA did accept trucking companies’ arguments with regard to severe service tractors. Data convinced the agency that modifying their brake systems to comply with the new rules affecting other trucks would increase brake locking incidents and loss of stability control.
The Thanksgiving Tanker Truck Wreck
A volunteer firefighter from Pinewood, TX, Kimberly Huckabee, was hit by an 18-wheeler while battling a blaze caused by the wreck of an oil tanker truck. The oil tanker truck wreck near Sour Lake, TX on Thanksgiving led to a succession of other collisions.
Pearland, TX injury attorneys note that Terry Dunaway of Beaumont, TX apparently fell asleep at the wheel of the oil tanker truck. The tanker truck then left the road, struck two culverts, and burst into flame. The truck’s 6,700 gallons of crude oil spilled across the highway and ignited. The highway remained closed for several hours while firefighters let it burn off. First responders to the tanker truck wreck set up a hot zone from Bevil Oaks to Sour Lake and evacuated a residence.
Causes and Consequences
Terry Dunaway was hospitalized in stable condition. Kimberly Huckabee underwent surgery to amputate her left arm after being hit by an 18-wheeler. She also suffered head injuries, and surgeons worked to try and reattach the fingers of her right hand. An assistance fund to benefit the recovery and rehabilitation of Kimberly Huckabee has been set up at the Pinewood Volunteer Fire Department (333 Commercial Dr., Sour Lake, TX 77659).
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the accident. News reports do not say what caused the 18-wheeler to strike Ms. Huckabee at the accident scene. Our Pearland, TX injury attorneys wonder why the 18-wheeler driver that struck the volunteer firefighter didn’t notice an active accident scene that was the site of a major crude oil blaze from a distance and stop in time.
Driver fatigue, driver distraction, and DWI all present possibilities. Accounts say that several accidents followed that of Terry Dunaway letting the oil tanker in his charge run from the road and crash. Thanksgiving is a major holiday for DWI accidents. But weather may have played a role in the chain-reaction wrecks.
Some Thoughts on this Tragedy
The Pearland, TX injury attorneys at Denena & Points have the utmost sympathy for Kimberly Huckabee who lost an arm trying to do good for her community. The incident seems particularly tragic because she suffered so while serving as a volunteer.
Our Pearland, TX injury attorneys let this tragic story serve as a reminder of the dangers firefighters face every day in their efforts to save us from fire dangers and death. Thanksgiving is the year’s biggest day for dangerous and deadly house fires. Firefighters must run more risks on Thanksgiving Day than on other days of the year.
Kimberly Huckabee, a dedicated volunteer, stands as another tragic firefighter victim of dangerous Thanksgiving Day fires. Our sympathies and our admiration for her efforts as a volunteer firefighter go out to Ms. Huckabee.
Your Pearland, TX injury attorneys also want to remind you of the dangers from Texas roads. Recent months have seen a number of large, chain-reaction wrecks. Many of them occurred at accident scenes while rescue workers and investigators were responding to an initial crash. Take care and drive safe. And if you have questions about a fire-related accident or a truck wreck that’s injured you, you can always contact us for a free consultation. If you have questions; we have answers.
50-year-old Neil Cavanaugh drunkenly drove a U-Haul truck into the front of the Texas Roadhouse in Lubbock, TX on Sunday morning around 7:30.
Insurance agents and emergency responders know from long experience that drivers behind the wheels of rented U-Hauls and other light moving trucks present increased risks of accidental crashes. Most of these drivers, used to smaller passenger vehicles, are operating the larger, heavier vehicles for the first time. It takes time for new drivers to acclimate to the slower, more sluggish responses of the larger, usually heavily loaded vehicles.
Many crashes happen when unaccustomed drivers take turns or curves at the speeds they normally use for passenger cars. A lot of crashes result when drivers of the light moving trucks fail to allow enough time and space to stop the vehicles. And then there are the occasional DWI wrecks like this one at Lubbock’s Texas Roadhouse, where the driver drinks before he takes the wheel of the light moving truck and then crashes spectacularly.
Fortunately no one was injured by this reckless, drunken crash. But the wreck did take out a whole section of the front wall of the Texas Roadhouse. The Texas Roadhouse managing partner, Stefan Gentry, said that the entire staff pitched in to help ready the Roadhouse for reopening. Neil Cavanaugh received an arrest for DWI. If Mr. Cavanaugh had intended to enjoy the amenities of the Texas Roadhouse into which he created his own opening, he remained unsuccessful.
The Texas City accident lawyers at Denena & Points remind you not to drink and drive. And when you’re behind the wheel of a larger vehicle than you usually drive, remember to take extra safety precautions to avoid accidents. Observe safe speeds and braking distances. And for the sake of the safety of yourself and others, never add alcohol to the equation. DWI causes dangerous crashes. Inexperienced U-Haul drivers cause dangerous crashes. For safety’s sake, don’t mix the two.
All properly registered vehicles, in theory, have an equal right to share our Freeport, Texas roads. But smaller vehicles always face a disadvantage against larger, heavier vehicles. You don’t need to be on the road with an aggressive or malicious driver to suffer. One minor misstep or brief moment of inattention on the part of a big rig driver in Freeport, Texas can destroy a smaller vehicle and kill or maim its occupants in moments.
Our Freeport accident lawyers provide a few tips you can follow to increase your level of safety in the presence of looming big rigs.
Contact us if you have problems from a truck driver’s negligent actions and they cause you injury. Our Freeport accident lawyers have dedicated more than 12 years to holding negligent truckers accountable for their harmful actions. Our efforts have helped our clients win full financial recoveries for their undeserved accident injuries. Our Freeport accident lawyers could help you too.
Download our free informational e-book on truck accidents. And feel free to contact our Freeport accident lawyers for your FREE truck accident consultation. We could help you recover.
The most frequent causes of Texas truck wrecks include the following.
Truck driver fatigue.
Truck driver’s medical conditions.
Distracted driving.
Drunken driving.
Aggressive driving.
A common thread that links these varying causes of Texas truck wrecks together is the driver’s negligence. Pressures to make more deliveries in less time make these truck drivers take to the road when they shouldn’t be behind the wheel. And even perfectly fit and non-fatigued drivers who take their attention from the road for just a moment, for instance to answer a work-related call, risk a serious accident from their distraction.
Texas truck wrecks can severely injure, maim, or even kill innocent victims that happen to share the road with the massive 18-wheelers. And the innocent victims of Texas truck wrecks get stuck paying for the serious consequences of negligent truck drivers‘ irresponsible behaviors.
When you or your loved ones have been injured by a Texas truck wreck and you’ve been stuck with paying the consequences of a truck driver’s misdeed, you could be eligible to receive financial compensation for your damages. The monetary damages from your personal injury or wrongful death claim could pay for your pain, suffering, emotional trauma, and mental distress from the accident as well as for more tangible things like your medical expenses and lost wages.
But the insurance companies that insure the massive 18-wheelers are traditionally reluctant to part with more money than they absolutely have to in order to pay your claim. You could face dirty tricks and underhanded tactics as they try and get you to settle your claim in an amount far less than you deserve. The insurance companies and the trucking companies might also use intimidation tactics to try and get you to abandon your claim altogether.
You need an experienced Texas truck wreck lawyer to help you overcome their strong-arm tactics and succeed in your claim. Contact the experienced Freeport, TX truck wreck lawyers at Denena & Points to schedule a free consultation to discuss your accident and your options for financial recovery on your claim.
Our dedicated Freeport, TX truck wreck lawyers have been successfully representing the injured victims of Texas truck wrecks for more than 12 years. We’ve successfully handled hundreds of injury claims for our clients using an aggressive, efficient, and family-oriented approach that takes into account your specific needs following a debilitating Texas truck wreck.