Category: Truck Accidents

Aug 23, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

Fleet Owner recently reported only 2 percent of trucking accidents are caused by drunk drivers. And it’s true. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows only 2 percent of truckers involved in fatal accidents have a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08, compared to 23 percent for passenger cars, 22 percent for light trucks and 28 percent for motorcycles. However, our Tuscaloosa trucking accident attorneys understand statistics in this case can be misleading for several reasons. First and foremost, you don’t have to have a BAC level of .08 to be considered drunk behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. Many states have laws that consider a truck driver drunk with a BAC level as low as .02 or .04. In Alabama, the law is .04, half the legal limit of .08 for other motorists.

Aug 17, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

One of the most complex aspects of a serious or fatal Alabama tractor-trailer accident is identifying the responsible parties and determining who to pursue for damages. A truck driver, trucking company, truck leasing corporation, truck maintenance contractor and even the owner of a truck’s freight or the manufacturer of a rig may share blame for a serious or fatal accident. Thus, properly identifying at-fault parties is critical when filing your lawsuit. In D.P. Holmes Trucking LLC v. Butler, the Mississippi Supreme Court examined whether a circuit court erred in allowing the plaintiff to amend his personal injury lawsuit to include Holmes Trucking. While Mississippi state law is not directly relevant in Alabama, such court decisions could still be looked at when establishing legal precedent in a negligent injury claim involving a trucking accident. This case involved a 2006 personal injury claim filed by Lester Butler against David Holmes and John Does 1-5. Butler was later granted permission to amend the complaint to include Holmes Trucking. However, the lawsuit language substituted Holmes Trucking for Holmes. Butler later filed a second amendment to properly identify Holmes Trucking, without permission of either the court or Holmes Trucking. The trucking company promptly moved for a motion to dismiss or summary judgement. After the court ruled against the company, finding the amendment simply corrected a “misnomer” in the original lawsuit’s language, the trucking company filed notice of interlocutory appeal, requesting the state’s Supreme Court grant a dismissal with prejudice.

Aug 13, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

Road Safe America and other traffic safety advocates are pushing The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to adopt hours-of-service regulations for truckers similar to those in place for airline pilots. “Truck drivers don’t have co-pilots, don’t have auto-pilot and must stay especially alert whenever driving since they share the public thoroughfares with the motoring public,” said RSA President Steve Owings. The Owings family lost their son in a trucking accident. New limits for pilots have been set at 8 or 9 daily hours of flying. In comparison, the feds reduced the number of trucking hours some drivers can log each day from 11 hours to 10. The revised rules were trumpeted as increased enforcement after a relaxation of old rules passed under the Administration of George W. Bush.

Aug 1, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

A shortage of truckers could be increasing your risk for an accident on Alabama roads. The Truckload Carriers Association estimates there are as many as 200,000 long-haul trucker job openings nationwide. And the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects more than 330,000 new trucking jobs by 2020. That’s a 20 percent increase on top of the 1.5 million commercial truck drivers already on the nation’s roads. The median annual wage for a trucker is just under $38,000 — the top 10 percent of drivers make more than $58,000 annually. Alabama trucking accident attorneys know there are a number of hurdles to reducing the risk of tractor-trailer accidents. CNN Money reports hurdles in the certification process contribute to the shortage. Still, a licensed driver can take an 8-week course at a cost of about $6,000 and graduate with all the skills the law requires to drive a big rig up and down the nation’s highways. Drivers can spend 7 days a week on the road, often living in the cramped quarters of a truck cab, for weeks at a time.

Jul 24, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

Serious consideration is being given to requiring all tractor-trailer’s traveling on the nation’s roads to incorporate automatic speed-limiting technologies. Officials with the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety have joined the debate with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regarding the potential requirement for large truck speed-limiting technologies. This was the result of petitions filed by Road Safe America and the American Trucking Association to help to get large commercials vehicles to slow down on our nation’s highways. Slower traveling trucks help to reduce the risks of serious injury and death in the event of a trucking accident in Alabama. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is in on it too, saying that speed governors for large trucks should be required on all commercial vehicles. The technology is already mandatory in many other countries.

Jul 16, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

One person was killed in a Calera, Alabama trucking accident recently. The crash involved two tractor-trailers and a passenger vehicle that claimed the life of a 26-year-old Bessemer man who was a passenger in the 1990 Ford Clubwagon. Three other occupants of the van were injured and taken to the hospital, as well the driver of one of the semi-trucks. The The driver of the other rig was not injured. Our Alabama personal injury attorneys know that the occupants of passenger vehicles are most at risk in accidents with large trucks. As we recently noted on our Alabama Injury Attorneys’ Blog, the government reported 110 large trucks were involved in trucking accidents in Alabama in 2010.

Jun 19, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

According to recently-released statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were nearly 110 large trucks that were involved in fatal trucking accidents in Tuscaloosa and elsewhere in Alabama in 2010. For statistical purposes, a large truck is considered a truck whose gross vehicle weight is over 10,000 pounds. Throughout the nation, there were nearly 3,700 people who were killed in these kinds of big rig accidents that year. There were also another 80,000 people who were injured in trucking accidents. Reports indicate that there were close to 280,000 trucks involved in traffic accidents in 2010. This is an issue of growing importance because the number of trucks on the nation’s roads is projected to grow substantially in coming years. And passenger vehicles are at an extreme disadvantage in the event of an accident with a large commercial vehicle. Large trucks operate differently than our passenger vehicles. They are also larger, heavier and more powerful. This is why so many of the fatalities in these kinds of accidents occur to the passengers of other vehicles involved. In 2010, nearly 73 percent of the fatalities were of passenger vehicle occupants, about 2 percent were non-occupants and close to 25 percent were of the occupants of the large truck

Mar 6, 2012 - Bessemer by Cross & Smith

Our Bessemer accident attorneys have seen far too many crashes caused by truckers who were either distracted, fatigued or reckless. Causes of accidents involving large trucks over 10,000 pounds are as varied as the people behind the wheel. A study conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2/car-accidents/alabama-traffic-accidents-likely-to-increase-with-economic-recovery/ looked at the top causes of large truck crashes, and this is what they found: Of a sample of 120,000 large truck crashes analyzed, at least one person was killed in every single case. In nearly 80 percent of these cases, the large truck was pulling one semi-trailer. In 5 percent of the cases, the trucks were hauling materials deemed hazardous. Also in about 75 percent of these crashes, the truck struck another vehicle. When investigators look at the causes of the crash, they sometimes have to analyze what was happening hours, days or even months prior to a crash. That’s because crashes can involve elements such as driver fatigue, driver training and experience or the design and manufacturing of the vehicle itself.

Jan 24, 2012 - Truck Accidents by Cross & Smith

Ray LaHood, the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation, recently announced a final rule that employs the most recent facts and stats of driver fatigue to help reduce the risks of accidents. The new rule is to help ensure that truck drivers get enough rest before setting out on our roadways and endangering innocent motorists. The newly-enacted rule is being used to revise the hours-of-service (HOS) safety requirements for commercial truck drivers, which was previously written by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). “Trucking is a difficult job, and a big rig can be deadly when a driver is tired and overworked,” said LaHood. LaHood added that this rule will help increase roadway safety, help reduce the risks of accidents and potentially save lives. To help spread the word and ensure this rule is effective, the FMCSA conducted a number of public listening sessions across the U.S. where trucking company owners, truckers, police officers, safety advocates and the public could share questions and concerns.

Dec 20, 2011 - Car Accidents by Cross & Smith

The holidays are right around the corner and our risks for car accidents in Birmingham have skyrocketed. From 2009 to 2010, Alabama actually saw an increase in the number of fatalities resulting from traffic accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just put out the new 2010 Motor Vehicle Crashes Overview. These are the full stats regarding traffic accidents that occurred throughout the year. They’re also the most recent traffic statistics available. The overall report says that there was a decrease in the total number of traffic accidents fatalities from 2009 to 2010 throughout the country. The report also says that we experienced the fewest fatalities on U.S. roadways since 1949. While this news may be good, there is some bad that comes with it. While the total number decreased, a few categories of fatal accidents saw a significant increase, including fatalities among large truck occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. And the overall number of fatal traffic accidents increased in 20 states as the economy continues to recover. Our Birmingham car accident lawyers note that while the numbers were relatively low throughout the year, they started to increase as the year progressed. This leads officials to believe the risks for car accidents will rise as our economy recovers because travelers will feel more comfortable splurging on road trips. Despite the decreased number, motorists are asked to remain cautious and alert at the wheel.