The county coroner in Riverside has released the identities of two people who died recently in a fatal crash with a semi. The people who died were La Quinta residents Henry and Sandra Villanueva, ages 73 and 72, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The accident occurred around 6:00 p.m. along Airport Boulevard near Shady Lane and the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport.
Five parties were killed in a traffic crash involving a big rig in Thermal on January 14, 2023. The truck accident occurred at the intersection of State Route 86 and 81st Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A highway collision occurred recently involving a semi truck and motor vehicle in Oasis that caused multiple injuries and a fatality. The collision occurred at about 2:00 p.m. at the Highway 86 intersection with Johnson Street near the Salton Sea. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported that the semi, with two trailers attached, was going east along Johnson Street as a Toyota was progressing south along the highway when the crash occurred.
On the morning of Monday, December 19, 2022, authorities in Kings County reported a fatal big rig crash on SR-43 in Hanford. The incident occurred shortly after 5:00 a.m. on State Route 43 just north of Fargo Avenue and involved a big rig and a Toyota, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A fatal accident killed a truck driver in Santa Rosa on September 19 after he exited his semi and was in the roadway when he was struck by a dump truck and pickup. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office identified the deceased as a 59-year-old man from Keller, Texas. The accident happened on Todd Road, close to Moorland Avenue, near Highway 101, at around 5:45 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
Two people killed in separate traffic crashes recently along Highway 299 on the same day have been identified by authorities. In the first incident that day, a Hayfork resident, Michael Merlyn Mead, age 69, died after colliding with a semi near John F. Kennedy Memorial Drive off Highway 299 around noon after the driver reportedly crossed into oncoming traffic. As a result, the semi’s gas tank was ruptured, and both vehicles burned. The resulting blaze started the Kennedy fire, which burned 45 acres.
The stereotyped image of an overworked truck driver accompanied by a huge coffee mug or a multi-ounce big gulp of caffeine and sugar-laded soda is not, unfortunately, always far from the truth. Significant pressure is placed on commercial vehicle drivers to execute their jobs in spite of often long hours on-duty, both behind the wheel and working outside their truck or bus. Although regulations have been in place for decades requiring truck drivers and trucking carriers to limit driver work hours in order to reduce fatigued, dangerous driving, these limitations can only be enforced if the drivers and their employers accurately and diligently record on-duty, off-duty, and actual driving hours. Sometimes, law enforcement reports on truck accidents will explicitly note if driver fatigue is considered a contributing factor, but often only a careful examination of records required to be kept by drivers and carriers will reveal patterns of overwork. A skilled personal injury attorney will be aware of how and when to seek evidence in the written and electronic truck driver “hours of service” records required to be kept by truck drivers and trucking companies that may point at unsafe driving practices leading to driver fatigue.
Many of us have had the startling (and scary) experience of beginning to “nod off at the wheel” due to driving while fatigued. Hopefully, we pulled off the road to find a room for the night or at least take a nap before proceeding to drive further — this is certainly the sensible and safe reaction to finding ourselves too sleepy to continue. Imagine, however, if we were commercial truck drivers moving a load of merchandise or a bus driver with a vehicle full of passengers depending on us to get them to their destination on time. These drivers have much more pressure put upon them to keep driving past the point where fatigue has become a danger. For just these reasons, strict limitations on drivers’ “hours of service” have been established to restrict drivers from putting in too many hours on the road and to limit the ability of their employers to pressure them into doing so. But accidents still do happen, and when a truck accident or other commercial vehicle accident occurs, a skilled personal injury lawyer who is representing clients injured in that accident will be aware of the specific driving time limitations placed on these drivers and will know to look for evidence proving whether or not these limits were being observed.
When we think about trucks and other commercial vehicles, there are a few generalized examples that usually come to mind — the tractor-trailer rig for long-haul freight and buses for short and long-distance passenger travel are a couple that come to mind. Training that commercial drivers are required to receive in order to initially qualify for a commercial driver’s license will generally focus on these “general purpose” type vehicles, which have many, many controls and features in common with one another, along with the basic “rules of the road” and procedures for commercial driving in general. Continue reading ›
Truck Backing Accidents are preventable.
Statistics show that 25% of all trucking accidents involve backing up. Backing is an almost daily activity for most truck drivers and almost all of these accidents are preventable.
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