Posts tagged "truck accidents"

We often discuss the importance of being aware of your surroundings while driving. This is true whether you're behind the wheel of a giant tractor-trailer or a comparatively tiny hybrid vehicle. Not only should drivers regularly scan the traffic around them to avoid collisions, but they should make sure their vehicles are in good working order and free from any defects that could affect other people. If you're carrying a load of items in the bed of your pickup truck, you must ensure that it's properly tied down. If your rapidly rusting muffler is in danger of falling off your car, you should either secure it or replace it.

Failure to secure your own vehicle or anything it's carrying can be just as dangerous as losing control behind the wheel. Chances are good that you won't notice that a piece of luggage strapped to your roof or a load of lumber in your truck has come undone until it's too late. Once it leaves your vehicle, the drivers and passengers around you are instantly put at risk of an accident like the one that happened just over the Ohio border earlier this week.

Ohio residents take their choice of vehicles seriously. Not only is our state a leading manufacturer of auto parts, but like other consumers across the country, Ohioans are concerned about fuel economy. The desire to save money at the gas pump has pushed car buyers to move toward smaller vehicles, which tend to be more fuel-efficient.

This trend is significant because it marks a departure from the heavy-duty pickup trucks, SUVs, Hummers and minivans that have dominated the roads over the past decade or so. There's something decidedly American about driving an oversized vehicle, especially when the owner is a single person who rarely fills the passenger seats. The logic is that a high profile makes it easier to see other vehicles, and the larger the frame, the safer it is in the event of an accident.

In our last blog post we discussed a simple rule in the state of Ohio designed to prevent high-speed crashes. While not all motorists may be aware of the law requiring drivers to change lanes when cars or emergency vehicles are stopped on the side of the highway, it's a fairly common-sense law that also applies in other states. Sometimes, unfortunately, even the most well-known traffic laws go unheeded. When this happens, crashes often occur.

Even more dangerous than the average car crash is an accident involving a semitrailer or other large truck. When such a massive vehicle collides with a passenger car, injuries or death are highly likely. That was the case in a truck accident that happened last week near Montpelier, Ohio. It was Thursday morning when a pickup truck was heading north on Ohio state Highway 15. As it came up on Highway 20A, a semitrailer was heading east on that road. The big rig had a stop sign at the intersection, but failed to stop and collided with the side of the pickup truck. In turn, the smaller truck smashed into a utility pole. The driver of the pickup truck, a 39-year-old Montpelier man, was killed in the crash.

Many car drivers and passengers might assume they're most at risk while they're in motion. But as Ohio's emergency vehicle drivers know, the risk of a serious accident is just as high -- and perhaps even greater -- for people pulled over on the side of the road.

A truck accident that occurred at the end of last month just outside Dayton sheds some light on the dangers that tow truck drivers and other motorists who are stopped on roadsides face. A tow truck driver who had stopped to change a tire of a stalled vehicle on Interstate 271 was killed when a tractor-trailer hit the tow truck and the driver. The tow truck's amber emergency lights were apparently on and the accident occurred in the middle of the day, so visibility should not have been a factor in the crash.

There has been a lot of focus on the dangers of distracted driving in Ohio in recent years. It's easy to think that the issue is one that's restricted to young people absorbed with their cellphones as they drive. But the reality is that distractions can come from a lot of different sources and they can affect motorists of any age.

The result, as a recent tragic multi-vehicle wreck in Central Ohio reflects, can be serious personal injury and even death. In this particular crash, all the victims were over 60.

A 30-year-old driver of an asphalt truck acknowledged his guilt in court recently for causing an accident resulting in another motorist suffering severe burns and injuries. The truck accident took place on Route 65 in Freedom, Ohio. The truck he was driving was speeding and hit a road barrier so hard that the vehicle tipped over.

This caused extremely hot asphalt to pour out of the truck, hitting a car and scalding the 47-year-old man driving it. The car was stalled in traffic at the time because of ongoing road construction. The accident occurred just over a year ago, on Sept. 9, 2011.

A horrific traffic accident not far from Cincinnati resulted in the death of a man from Morrow, Ohio, this week. The six-vehicle pileup, which involved two semitrailers, serves as a painful reminder of the high risk of injury or death associated with truck accidents.

The crash happened Monday morning in the northbound lanes of Interstate 71 near the exit for Ohio 123. Just before 10 a.m. as traffic slowed in the right lane, a tractor-trailer rear-ended a Chrysler PT Cruiser. The impact was so severe that the car was forced into another tractor-trailer in front of it. The car's driver, a 52-year-old man, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The tractor-trailer that hit the car continued north and crashed into three more vehicles, sending the driver of one of the vehicles to the hospital with injuries.

One of the risks that come with the operation of tractor-trailers and other large trucks is the difficulty in stopping or slowing such a massive vehicle. Drivers of large trucks learn how to effectively handle them, for the most part, but in congested traffic or a scenario where a truck driver is required to stop suddenly, a full load of cargo can prevent them from doing so. The result is a crash that results in an unusual amount of force, usually with a much smaller vehicle.

A crash earlier this month not far outside Cincinnati appears to be the result of a semitrailer's inability to slow down in time. The accident, which happened on Interstate 71 July 16, involved five vehicles and prompted a shutdown of that portion of the highway.

Two graduate students in engineering are working together to reduce fatal and injurious truck accidents nationwide. The students are examining statistics involving tractor-trailers in order to increase public safety. Large trucks account for less than 5 percent of vehicles on the road in this country, but truck accidents are far more severe than those that only involve smaller vehicles.

In fact, nearly 10 percent of traffic fatalities in the United States are attributable to collisions with large trucks. That's about 3,000 to 3,500 people who die each year in truck accidents.

In previous posts we've discussed the risks associated with long-haul trucking, both for drivers of these trucks and other motorists on the road. Truck drivers are under constant pressure to deliver their goods on time, often without adequate rest. Although regulations exist to ensure that truck drivers aren't putting themselves and others in danger by falling asleep and causing an accident, some transportation companies have been accused of circumventing these regulations for the sake of profit.

The widow of a 26-year-old truck driver is suing two companies she says are responsible for the accident that killed her husband, which happened as he and his co-workers were driving from Ohio to West Virginia in July 2011. The men were part of an exhausted work crew being forced to drive without rest as part of a 22-hour workday, the woman's wrongful-death lawsuit says. The defendants are an energy company, its chief executive and a shell company the executive allegedly formed to avoid federal safety regulations. The lawsuit also names the driver in the fatal accident, who's filed his own injury claims against the company for forcing him to drive 200 miles even though his supervisors knew he was too tired to do so.

A sleep-deprived truck driver is an incredible liability out on the road. Nodding off behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler can prompt a truck accident that could potentially claim many lives.

There are many reasons why truck drivers might not be fully rested when in the driver's seat, and sleep apnea, a condition that can cause hundreds of short interruptions in breathing that jolt the sufferer awake, is one of them. Now, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is laboring to adopt more stringent standards when it comes to truck drivers and sleep apnea.

A grand jury is set to determine whether a driver will face charges in a truck accident that killed a construction worker and seriously injured two others on the Ohio Turnpike in January. The tractor-trailer driver could face charges of aggravated vehicular homicide for causing the crash near Fremont, Ohio.

The three workers were conducting bridge maintenance work at the time of the Jan. 24 crash. The two right westbound lanes of the turnpike were closed and marked off with orange cones. But a semitruck drifted through the closed-off area and into the work zone, striking three turnpike vehicles and the workers. Two of the workers and the truck driver were airlifted to hospitals. The third worker was pronounced dead at the scene.

Most of us have a pretty good idea of how much sleep we need every night to function adequately. It may not be as much as we'd like, but it's enough to stay awake and be productive. Sometimes, though, our jobs, families and friends push us beyond that limit, leaving us sleepy, irritable and unable to focus.

Truck drivers, pilots and others who transport people for a living can't afford to be too sleepy at work without the risk of an accident. A survey released last week found that about one in five pilots have made a serious error on the job because of sleepiness. And about one in four pilots and train operators say that being tired affects their job performance at least once a week. The poll surveyed the sleep habits of hundreds of pilots, truck drivers, rail workers and bus, taxi and limousine drivers.

Often when people think of truck accidents, they imagine a large 18-wheeler causing extensive amounts of damage and injuries or even death. But not all truck accidents are the fault of the person operating the big rig, even though such enormous vehicles carry a high risk of damage when they're involved in crashes.

A massive chain-reaction crash on Interstate 71 not far from Cincinnati appears to have been caused by the driver of a car. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said a man driving a Mercury Mystique failed to maintain a safe distance from the car in front of it and rear-ended it. The impact pushed that car, a Toyota Matrix, into the next lane over, causing it to crash into a tractor-trailer. As a result, the tractor-trailer traveled to the right and struck a Sprinter van, which was pushed off the right side of the road and onto the highway embankment. Meanwhile, the tractor-trailer overturned, blocking all four lanes of I-71 northbound.

Pulling out in front of another driver could have serious consequences and for an Ohio man, his decision to pull out in front of a semi-truck driver, cost him his life.

The fatal car accident happened this week when a man, 85, failed to yield at a stop sign, pulling out in front of a semi-truck. The truck hit the driver side of the car and then flipped on its side.

An accident between any two vehicles has the potential to be serious, but the risk of injury or death is particularly high when semitrailers or other large trucks are involved. Most cars and even SUVs are simply no match for the enormous size and weight of an 18-wheeler, which has a harder time slowing or stopping even if the driver anticipates a collision.

A fatal truck accident in northeast Ohio recently demonstrated what can happen when cars and large trucks collide. A 16-year-old high school student was heading west into a busy intersection when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of his pickup truck. The pickup crashed into the side of the big rig and the young driver was killed. It's not known whether the high school student died instantly, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Serious accidents can happen to anyone, even the rich, famous and well-loved. Residents of Greater Cincinnati were reminded of this when philanthropist and northern Kentucky matriarch Mary Middleton was killed in an accident with a garbage truck last week.

Middleton, 83, was apparently taking a bag of garbage out to the front curb of her home when she was struck by the truck. It was a rainy morning, and police reports say she was hit in the street. The rain prevented a medical helicopter to respond and she died at the scene.

Fumbling for dropped documents turned Nov. 10, 2011, from a normal workday into the worst workday ever for a semi-truck driver, and it also turned into the last ever for a roadside construction worker.

The fatal accident happened on an Ohio stretch of I-77 undergoing a lane addition scheduled for completion at the month's end. No alcohol is believed involved in this truck accident, though the driver was routinely given a blood alcohol test at the scene.

Hayrides are a fall tradition in the Cincinnati area. You may think that a hayride should be a relatively safe way to have fun, but that is not always the case. On Oct. 22, more than two dozen hayride passengers in Ohio were victims of a serious tractor accident along Patton-Tract Road in Perkins Township just south of Bogart Road, around 10:30 p.m.

Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol say a 47-year-old Sandusky man was driving a tractor, pulling two trailers enclosed by bars, carrying between 60 and 80 passengers in all. The driver somehow drove off the right edge of the freshly paved road, overturning the second trailer he was pulling. The abruptly overturned trailer ejected its occupants, injuring 28 people seriously, some with broken bones. Two passengers were airlifted to Bellevue Hospital and are said to be in fair condition.

An Ohio woman was due in court this week following her alleged involvement in a truck accident that endangered the lives of 12 residents of an assisted living building in Mentor. According to investigating officers, the woman driving the truck drove over a curb, into a parking lot, and struck a fence and dumpster before driving into a bedroom in the care facility. Police claim that the woman then backed her car out of the building and attempted to flee the scene of the accident.

Officers and rescue crews were called to the scene on reports of smoke billowing from the facility at around 9 p.m. Although the vehicle involved in the accident was no longer on the scene, police located the truck a shortly thereafter. Firefighters were the first on the scene, followed by the Mentor city police department.