Big Truck Crashes by the Numbers
The ABRAMS LANDAU trial team is currently working on a case where a box truck smashed into not one, not two, but three other vehicles before taking out a sign on Route 66!
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Traveling at a high speed on interstate 66, a local contractor’s box truck did not slow down for traffic ahead. It was late rush-hour, and there was an assertion that there was construction activity with cones, barrels, and flashing lights. Evidence tends to suggest that there was a VDOT sign indicating traffic was stopped ahead by the next exit due to an accident. The unsafe trucker claims now that he was distracted, blinded, or otherwise interfered with by the bright lights of a truck or other vehicle behind him..
Witnesses counter that there was a long line of brake lights on this straight stretch of Route 66 in Prince William County, Virginia. All three vehicles that his truck hit were totaled. While two of the victims have since settled their cases from this crash, our client’s case is going to trial. According to the NHTSA, FARS, and IHS, around 68% of truck crash fatalities are vehicle occupants.
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One would assume a decrease with less people on the road during Covid, however, statistics disagree. There has been a 52% increase in trucking crashes since 2009. In addition, 11% of car collision fatalities are from crashes with semi trucks. A semi truck refers to a vehicle that is formally known as a semi-trailer truck, hauling a trailer sized cargo load. A box truck, in contrast, is smaller and the frame is usually bolted.
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To drive a semi truck, the operator needs valid Commercial Drivers License (CDL). According to Valley Trucking Insurance, “obtaining a license involves an extensive background check, CDL training, a written permit exam and a driving test. To be eligible for a CDL, you must be at least 18 years old. You must be at least 21 to drive a truck from state to state.” Many ABRAMS LANDAU have CDLs and have to go for regular physical exams and comoplete other paperwork to maintain their legal, commercial truck driving status
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There are over 5,000 truck crash injuries per year. This tragic statistic is not surprising in light of the fact that the average weight of a tractor-trailer is 40 tons. While Doug Landau’s client was not struck by a tractor-trailer, the wreckage and damage caused by this vehicle has left his client with permanent injuries and deficits and rendered the other cars involved undriveable. They all had to be towed from the scene and were total losses..
The ABRAMS LANDAU client was unconscious at the scene, and has no memory of events thereafter. He is trying to put his life together and has returned to the workforce, but he is at a much lower level of productivity and pay. In fact, he worked two full-time jobs in order to make what he had been earning before the crash, to pay his living expenses and medical bills. The unsafe driver has never made an offer to settle the case, even though the other two victims’s cases have been resolved.
If you or someone you know it’s been involved in a crash with a tractor trailer, box, truck, or other large vehicle on Interstate 66, I-95, I-64 or other major highway (like I-66), and there are questions about the laws and your legal rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at 703-796-9555 or email frontdesk@landaulawshop.com. There are strict, legal deadlines, and evidence in these kinds of cases tends to disappear very quickly. If you wait, do you not only risk important, legal rights, but evidence critical to your case, may never be able to be recovered.