Boston Personal Injury Lawyer - Tractor-Trailer Accidents

Truck Accident Leaves Beef Spilled On Mass. Pike

Chrissie Cole — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:25:00 GMT

Three tractor trailers and one car were involved in a collision on the Massachusetts Turnpike early this morning.

The crash occurred at 2:30 a.m. near the eastbound Weston tolls when a tractor-trailer struck another truck from behind, causing a third truck and a Toyota Corolla to smash into the second truck. The operator of the tollbooth was inside at the time of the crash, but was not injured.

One of the trucks, loaded with sides of beef, overturned strewing meat along the roadway.

The Corolla was wedged beneath one of the trucks. The driver was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

By 10:30 a.m., the scene was cleared. To keep traffic moving, motorists were not required to pay tolls.

The investigation is ongoing.

There have been several accidents at the toll plazas in recent years. In August, a man was killed after crashing into the Weston tolls.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Trucking Accident Statistics in Massachusetts

Margaret Embry — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:20:12 GMT

It is estimated that an average of 5,000 Americans are killed each year in tractor-trailer related accidents. In Massachusetts, there were twenty-two fatal accidents involving tractor-trailers in 2008.

The number of large trucks involved in accidents has almost doubled from 2004 to 2007 in Massachusetts, according to data from Road Safe America. In 2004, there were a total of 954 fatal and non-fatal accidents combined and 1,689 in 2007. There were 912 non-fatal accidents in 2004 and 2,228 in 2008. The number of injury accidents has also increased, with 369 in 2004 and 988 in 2008.

The following are some of the causes of trucking accidents, according to Road Safe America:

excessive speed, consumption of drugs and alcohol, failure to use protective measures such as seatbelt and helmets, poor vehicle impact protection, and poor road design.

Also,

trucking safety statistics and a new study on driving behavior found that automobile drivers were to blame 56 percent of the time, truckers 44 percent, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The probability that a truck accident will result in death or serious injury increases with each extra ton of weight over 80,000 lbs.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Margaret Embry

Freight Train and Commuter Train Collide, Over 200 Injured

Jenny Albano — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:54:38 GMT

On Tuesday afternoon a freight train rolled from a side track onto the main line and collided with a commuter train that was stationary injuring over 200 people. Around 150 people were treated on scene and another 80 were taken to local hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening and the majority were minor. There were about 300 passengers on the Stoughton-bound train.

Pesaturo said the CSX freight car, loaded with lumber, rolled about two miles from where it had been parked at a lumber yard on the siding. It traveled onto the Stoughton commuter rail branch line, then onto the main line where it struck the passenger train's locomotive near Canton Junction just before 5:30 p.m. Pesaturo said the engineer, who was among those injured, was alerted by a track signal that something was on the line and was able to stop the commuter train before the crash.

Authorities are investigating to find out how the freight train became loose. The train was number 917 and left from Boston's South Station at 4:40 p.m.

Passengers involved in the crash said that the train suddenly stopped at the Canton Junction and then there was a loud bang. Also, a small brush fire ignited outside of the train and there was dust filling up the train car. Passengers were flying down the aisles and people had fallen on the floor. According to the passengers it was a terrifying experience.

The train service resumed Tuesday night from Boston and Providence, R.I,, but passengers had to be bused from Canton to Stoughton because crews were still cleaning up the debris from the accident.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Truck Accidents Unbound

Ken Margolin — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Last week, it was a large truck that overturned on Route 128, near Lexington, creating a massive traffic jam for hours. On almost any given day on an elevated ramp near Chelsea, a truck may catapult the guard rail and fall to the road below. Large trucks so frequently cause gridlock, crashes, injuries, and death, on Massachusetts roadways, that reports of the damage they cause, seem interchangeable. Speed, long driver hours, overweight loads, time pressures, and driver inattentiveness, are amongst the causes of the truck accident carnage.

The road monsters are so prevalent and the speeds at which they travel, so excessive, that they have negatively impacted the very quality of life in this state. There is plenty of blame to spread around for the problem. It began some years back with the federal government, when the Department of Transportation required Massachusetts, with the threat of withholding of federal funds, to allow double rigs on the interstates.

Our roadways were never designed to handle these behemoths, but handle them, the roadways now must. The powerful trucking industry lobby is a major culprit, fighting tirelessly, to prevent laws and law enforcement rigorous enough to significantly reduce truck injuries. The Massachusetts State Police, by training and dedication, one of the finest in the country, is not blameless. Every Massachusetts driver has undoubtedly received his fair share of speeding tickets, but will be hard-pressed to ever recall seeing a "Statie" pull over a large truck, no matter how recklessly driven. Until the public says, "enough," and requires elected officials to come down hard and often on dangerous truck drivers, the big rigs will continue to create havoc and injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Truck Accident Victims Unite for Change

Ken Margolin — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:50:00 GMT

Sometimes the only solace after a loved one has been killed due to corporate negligence and greed, is to join with other grieving families to lobby for change. That is just what the families of children killed by truck driver negligence did, in forming Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH). Together, they call themselves the Truck Safety Coalition, and are dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries due to truck-related crashes, educating the public, changing policy, and helping families of victims of truck crashes. Daphne Izer, of Lisbon, Maine, founded P.A.T.T. in 1993, after her son and three friends were killed when a WalMart truck driver fell asleep at his big rig, while his truck crushed the car in which the victims were driving. The Texas Injury Law Blog reports that up to 15% of truck-related fatalities are caused by tired truck drivers. Until Congress forbids the trucking industry from putting profits over people, the carnage will continue.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Is Law Enforcement the Way to Reduce Truck Accidents?

Ken Margolin — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:00:00 GMT

I've posted a few blogs on this site, recounting the fearsome toll on the highways due to large truck accidents and truck driver negligence. The list of well-known causes of fatal truck accidents includes speed, excessive driver hours, drug use, oftentimes to help the driver stay awake, faulty equipment, and inadequate safety training. An excellent blog by Attorney Jeff Lowe, of Missouri, suggests that a key component of any effort to reduce truck-accident deaths and serious injuries, must be increased law enforcement. Attorney Lowe cites increased law enforcement on the highways as an important factor in the reduction of serious highway accidents in Illinois, Missouri, and 14 other states. Keeping the heat on big rig drivers and companies engaging in unsafe practices, takes constant effort. The trucking lobby is powerful, and has a vested interest in keeping the roads clear - including from troublesome law enforcement stops - for their big rig loads.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Large Truck Crashes

Ken Margolin — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") reported to Congress, the results of a 3-year study into the causes of large truck crashes. Large trucks were defined for the study, as any truck weighing 5 tons or more. The study was the most comprehensive yet conducted, involving a thorough review of nearly 1,000 crashes in 17 states. The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the causes of accidents involving large trucks so that measures could be undertaken to lessen the toll. Results of the study were surprising to many readers.

Far and away, the major causes of truck crash fatalities and truck crash injuries, was driver conduct. Tampa Bay Injury Board member, Bob Carroll, has a chilling example of the tragedy that can result from a truck-car crash. While important, factors such as equipment failure, weather, and roadway conditions, caused significantly fewer large truck accidents than did actions and failures of the driver. Many large truck accidents involved multiple driver-related causes. Legal drug use, both prescription and non-prescription, along with fatigue, was a major source of large truck crashes. Other major driver-related causes included excessive speed, work-related pressure, aggressive driving and following too closely. Of the large truck accidents studied, more than half involved fatalities or incapacitating injuries. Until and unless Congress and the trucking industry acts aggressively to drastically lessen the toll of large truck crashes, automobile drivers best keep a wary eye on these monsters of the roads.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Trucking Deregulation Endangers Roadway Safety

Ken Margolin — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:30:00 GMT

A December 3rd article in The New York Times discusses the influence of the trucking industry and lobby in Washington, DC. Recent loosening of rules concerning the trucking industry has renewed debate about the soundness of the current administration's push to deregulate industry. Truck accidents involving passenger cars continue to be a major problem, causing injury and death on our roadways. Part of the discussion justifying the deregulation measures cites the steadying rate of accidents and the small decline in deaths; yet, will the newly-lifted rules make this situation better or worse? Many of the regulations that had hitherto been in place concerned requirements for driver experience and the duration of shifts. It is difficult to imagine that allowing inexperienced drivers to work overly-long shifts will do anything to alleviate the dangers posed by the big rigs.

Even more troublesome is evidence that the decision to lift trucking regulations was evidently influenced by the trucking lobby and by the fact that major players in the trucking industry have been given positions in transportation administration after 2000. In other words, the profitability of the industry has clearly taken precedence over the safety of motorists. The New York Times' article explains that top positions in the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, among other legislative and advisory groups, are held by persons formerly involved in trucking and in the trucking industry's lobby. The article further asserts that the industry's lobby has provided over $14 million dollars in campaign funds to Republicans, with further donations and fees totaling $37 million dollars since 2000. It would be difficult to argue that these appointments and funds have not had an effect on legislation.

Of course, regulations of any kind are useless if they are not enforced, and the article's interview with a truck driver reveals common practices of altering records to make it appear that drivers are not exceeding the shift caps. The driver also explains that truckers are frequently required to work longer and more frequent shifts, (while doctoring their logs), therefore losing adequate time between shifts for rest, or face being fired or fined. Some new regulations diminish the duration and, some would say, the rigor of new-driver training. Agencies and observers outside the industry, including federal judges and congresspersons of both parties, maintain that the majority of accidents have driver tiredness or driver inexperience as the main culprits, while within the industry, passenger car drivers are blamed. It would seem that by most unbiased accounts truck drivers are underpaid, under-trained and overworked and are themselves in danger just as they pose a danger to other drivers.

It appears that he trucking industry's influence in Washington has trumped the hand of those who seek to protect workers and passenger-car drivers.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Truck Rollover Accidents

Ken Margolin — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:00:00 GMT

Rollovers of large commercial trucks cost lives as well as millions of dollars of property loss each year. Some studies have shown that speeds during steady turns, believed to be safe by the truck drivers, are often close to their truck's rollover border line. In other words, some dangerous driving by truck drivers is not out of intentional recklessness, but ignorance of the physical properties of their huge vehicles. Better training is obviously important, but not sufficient to create a large reduction in truck rollover injuries and deaths. Prevention of truck rollovers is an area in which affordable technology can save lives. Systems such as computerized braking and other rollover stability control and rollover warning devices need to be built into new heavy trucks and added onto the existing fleet.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Choosing a Personal Injury Lawyer

Staff Writer — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:34:15 GMT

A claimant will often request the advice of his or her attorney when evaluating the value of a particular claim or case. I assume that this is because the attorney has greater exposure to jury verdicts, medical issues, case law, statutes, issues relating to liability and potential weaknesses--all factors that impact case valuation. In choosing a personal injury lawyer, it is important that the attorney does in fact have experience and knowledge of these areas for the kind of case for which you are asking advice.

Legal practice is highly specialized and, the more complex a case, the more specialization that is necessary. In product liability claims, pharmaceutical claims and toxic torts, the defendants will often be a large corporations. Managers of large corporations are often very careful about many aspects of the business and even more careful about mistakes: careful against making mistakes and careful against disclosing mistakes. With this in mind, any attorney seeking to prove corporate fault must have almost as good an understanding of the business as the manager who may be attempting to cover up mistakes. Typically there will be a fairly smart person or a number of smart people who will have had an opportunity to create an explanation for the circumstances causing injury well before the lawyers arrive. Your lawyer must, for example, be able to identify inconsistencies and unusual behavior in the evidence in order to find the specific mistake and the cause of the mistake.

Each "type" of case is different--and in fact, each case is different. In a medical malpractice case, the attorney must have specialized knowledge of medicial diagnosis and treatment at issue. He or she must have an excellent understanding of the particular procedure or diagnosis about which one is complaining. This is just a start as, for example, if the claim is that a medical professional may have missed a diagnosis in rendering treatment, it must be established that proper diagnosis would likely have led to successful treatment of the underlying disease. A compentent attorney who is specialized in these particular fields should be able to identify and resolve these issues.

For additional examples of the specific specialization needed for various types of cases, please email me through boston.injuryboard.com. Thanks for reading.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer