Tractor-Trailer Accidents

• Motor Carrier Broker Liable for Negligent Hiring of Tractor Trailer Truck Driver

  Michael Phelan | June 18, 2008 11:36 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Virginia law recognizes a claim for the negligent hiring of an employee or an independent contractor. With respect to independent contractors, the Virginia Supreme Court recognized a rule of...

• Retroreflective tape: How Visible are Heavy Trailers at Night?

  Michael Phelan | May 26, 2008 7:50 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The term "heavy trailers" means trailers that are at least 80 inches wide and have Gross Vehicle Weight Rating over 10,000 pounds. I once handled a case in which a tractor trailer driver attempted...

• Tractor-Trailer-Bus Accidents-Danger on the Highways

  Rick Shapiro | May 05, 2008 8:28 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Note: see also the automobile accidents category. Big rigs, large trucks, semis, tractor trailers, and 18 wheelers are some of the ways that we refer to the giant, automotive machinery that runs...

• Federal Regulators Miss Chance to Lower Truck Accidents

  Michael Phelan | December 20, 2007 4:23 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Driver fatigue is a leading cause of tractor trailer truck accidents. Consumer advocates sued recently to require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to lower the current 11-hour driving limit to 10 hours. The requested change would have resulted in one less hour behind the wheel each day. The Teamsters union supports the lower limit. Alas, the Bush Administration once again...

• Trucking Company Pays For Reckless Driving Death of Two Children

  Greg Webb | December 19, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  In a Madera County, California case, Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping, a nationwide concrete pumping company, has agreed to pay nine million dollars in a wrongful death lawsuit to the parents of two children killed in an automobile accident involving one of the company's trucks. The two sisters, Korren Radke, seven years old, and Chloe Baker, two years old, were killed last June when the company's...

• Tractor Trailer Crash Yields $36.5 Million Award To Crash Victim's Family

  Greg Webb | December 16, 2007 3:44 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  In April 2004, Thomas Steven, a Wichita businessman and father of eight, was killed in an automobile accident due to the negligence of Steven Jones, a Swift tractor trailer driver. Swift is one of the largest trucking companies in the United States, hauling goods and cargo for such companies as Wal-Mart, Target, and Rite-Aid. Jones failed to slow down on a sweeping flat curve leading to an...

• Fatal Truck Crash Results in $36.3 million Verdict

  Michael Phelan | December 05, 2007 2:57 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  On a clear day in April 2004, a father of eight kids and owner of a plumbing supply company, was driving his Chevrolet Suburban and obeying the rules of the road. At the same time, a driver of a Swift Transportation tractor-trailer drove 65 mph across three sets of rumble strips designed to warn of an approaching stop sign, ran the stop sign, and crashed into the Suburban, killing the father. ...

• Truck Accidents Caused By Driver Fatigue

  Michael Phelan | July 25, 2007 3:08 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  About 100 people die each week in truck accidents. Despite this alarming statistic, the Bush Administration once again succumbed to pressure from lobbyists (this time the American Trucking Association) and, in 2005, adopted new rules permitting tractor trailer truck drivers to drive 11 hours per day. Safety experts and insurance industry analysts challenged the new rules on grounds that the...

• Negligence by truckers a major cause of large truck crashes, according to new study

  John Cooper | June 28, 2007 2:14 PM | 1 CommentNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a report to Congress in 2006 about the reasons for tractor trailer wrecks. In those cases where the action or inaction of the driver commercial truck is the cause of the collision, driving too fast for conditions and fatigue were often important factors. Big rigs accidents commonly happen when the truck...

• Trucker's logs are key evidence in tractor trailer wrecks.

  John Cooper | June 01, 2007 1:57 PM | 0 CommentsNorfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton, VA

  Your attorney needs to get all of the trucker's logs, if you are hurt in a crash where the big rig drivers was at fault. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets forth strict rules about keeping log books that apply to trucks and trucking companies.As a law firm based out of Hampton Roads, Virginia (VA) we see many accidents with serious...