Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

Peter Morano underwent facial surgery last week for injuries he sustained when a sheet of ice fell from a semi-truck crashed through his vehicle’s windshield. The Aurora injury accident happened between Illinois Route 59 and Eola Road last Monday morning. The ice came off the commercial vehicle, which was covered with a foot-and-a-half of ice and snow, as it drove under a viaduct.

Morano compares what happened to an “explosion,” with “blood and glass everywhere.” He says that as he stopped his vehicle, other motorists rushed from their cars with rags to help stop the bleeding from his wounds. According to the Chicago Tribune, the truck driver kept on driving.

Doctors were concerned that the violent impact may have given Morano a traumatic brain injury, but tests results fortunately show otherwise. However, his nose, which was broken and smashed in a number of places, had to be reconstructed. He also shattered the orbital, which is under his left eye socket, and glass bits tore his iris and cut his eyelid. He may have permanent vision damage. Morano had to have stitches on his face.

His wife Debbie says other people she has talked to have experienced ice flying off motor vehicles. She doesn’t see why a commercial truck can’t be de-iced.

Currently, there is no law mandating that people remove the ice from their autos. However, snow on top of vehicles has proven to be dangerous on more than one occasion. In 2005, a woman died after a 9-foot ice piece came off an 18-wheeler truck, striking another truck’s windshield. The impact of the crash caused the second truck driver to lose control of the vehicle, which then collided into the woman’s auto.

Ice shatters man's face while driving in Aurora, Chicago Sun-Times, January 7, 2010

Aurora driver seriously hurt in ice accident, Chicago Tribune, January 7, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Driving in Snow and Ice, The Weather Channel

Continue reading "Aurora Man Sustains Facial Injuries When Ice From Semi-Truck Falls through His Car Windshield" »

Last week, truck driver Kyle Wentland was charged with negligent homicide with a commercial vehicle and failure to keep right on a curve over his involvement in the tragic April 3 truck crash that claimed the life of a 33-year-old woman. Wentland, 26, faces up to six months in jail and an up to $2,000 fine. The family of the victim, Heather Gunther, is suing Wentland for her wrongful death. The truck accident victim died of massive traumatic injuries.

According to police, Wentland and Gunther were driving their vehicles at speeds of over 50 mph on a slick road when Wentland’s tractor-trailer crossed the center line to strike Gunther’s sport utility vehicle.

Wentland has told police that he inspected the large truck before getting on the road that morning, but a State DMV inspector says the truck’s brakes were out of adjustment—which is grounds for grounding a truck. Court documents indicate that one of the truck’s tires was unsafe. In addition to faulty breaks, there was oil leaking on a brake line. On investigator says the vehicle shouldn’t have even been on the road.

One witness who saw the tragic tractor-trailer crash says it appeared as if the truck had blown a tire and its brakes were locked up. Another motorist says that when Wentland’s truck hit Gunther’s sport utility vehicle, the SUV’s back end rose about six feet.

According to Federal and state transportation records, the tractor-trailer isn’t the only vehicle belonging to Sysco Food Services that has been cited as unsafe in the last two years. In August 2007, a Sysco truck with a broken steering component crossed a ditch. In January 2008, a Sysco truck received a citation for a broken tail light. In November 2008, a Sysco’s truck latch was found to be improperly secured. Last month, a truck and a trailer had low tire pressure.

Records show trucking company in fatal Winsted crash had other unsafe trucks, Republican American, November 4, 2009

Man charged with negligent homicide in fatal accident, The Register Citizen, October 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Sysco

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Continue reading "Tragic Truck Crash May Have Been Caused by Vehicle Defects and Poor Maintenance" »

The National Transportation Safety Board is suggesting to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that it put together a program to identify commercial truckers who are at high risk of suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. The NTSB is recommending that the FMCSA withhold medical certification until a worker proves that he or she has been medically examined and either doesn’t have OSA or is getting treatment for the disorder.

Sleep apnea has been cited as a factor in a number of US trucking accidents. In one case, a tractor-trailer crashed into a police car, killing the officer in the vehicle, and then drove across a median, injuring another driver. The trucker was suffering from sleep apnea.

According to a recent study, 12 – 17% of drivers do suffer from “significant” obstructive sleep apnea. Some members of the trucking industry, however, dispute that there is a link between OSA and truck crashes.

Regardless, drowsy driving (whether the motorist is suffering from a sleeping disorder or didn’t get enough sleep or is just tired after a long day of work) is known to cause catastrophic truck collisions and other deadly motor vehicle accidents. If a person is suffering from sleep apnea, managing to stay awake while driving can be tough—especially when the driver is driving long distances for hours at a time. A trucker who is driving a tractor-trailer, 18-wheeler truck, or another kind of large truck while his or her mind is foggy or who has fallen asleep is a danger to pedestrians and the occupants of other vehicles.

About 18 million people in the US suffer from OSA. According to the American Sleep Apnea Association, because many investigators are not properly trained to identify the role sleepiness plays in causing a traffic crash, this contributing factor can get overlooked.

Getting behind the wheel of any motor vehicle when you are drunk, drowsy, or distracted is careless conduct. The negligent trucker, car driver, motorcyclist or bus driver can be held liable for Chicago injury or wrongful death.

Sleep apnea program should be law: US safety board, Today's Trucking, October 22, 2009

Study Says Number of Truck Accidents Might Go Down If Truckers Were Tested for Sleep Apnea, ChicagoTruckAccidentLawyerBlog, March 29, 2009

Sleep Apnea and Driving, American Sleep Apnea Association

Related Web Resources:
Obstructive Sleep Apnea

National Transportation Safety Board

Continue reading "Preventing Truck Accidents: NTSB Wants FMCSA to Put in Place Program to Treat Truckers with Sleep Apnea" »

On August 14, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill, the Uniform Speed Limit, into law that will increase the speed limit for large trucks on interstate highways from 55 mph to 65 mph. The new law goes into effect beginning January 1, 2010.

Many truckers in Illinois are reportedly greeting this new law with enthusiasm. Glen Bernis of Sisbro Trucking says that the new mph speed limit is a positive move forward from a safety standpoint because people riding in cars won’t get stuck behind semi-trucks now that both cars and large trucks will have to adhere to the same speed limit. George Billows, of the Illinois Trucking Association, echoed the sentiment that a single speed is safer than having split speed limits.

The new trucking speed limit will give truck drivers the opportunity to make more money. It will also allow them to drive more miles each day. Up until now, many truck drivers have avoided driving through Illinois or have opted to take the shortest route possible.

Exempt from this new law are Cook County and the five collar counties, DuPage County, Will County, Kane County, Lake County, and McHenry County.

While some parties are happy about the new speed limit, highway safety advocates are concerned about whether more injuries and deaths will result now that large trucks are legally allowed to go at a faster speed. The Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Transportation would have preferred keeping a separate, lower speed limit for trucks.

AAA says another 115 Illinois traffic deaths a year are likely to result because of the new speed limit. According to Beth Mosher, an AAA spokesperson, the faster the speed of the truck, the longer it takes for the vehicle to stop. This increases the chances of an Illinois truck accident occurring.

If you were injured in a Chicago truck accident and you believe that the driver of the semi-truck, garbage truck, 18-wheeler truck, tractor-trailer, or another large truck was negligent or careless, you should speak with a Chicago truck crash lawyer immediately.

Truckers look forward to speed limit rising to 65, Whig.com, August 21, 2009

Take notice: truckers will be hitting the gas, SouthtownStar, August 25, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Maximum Posted Speed Limits

House Bill 3956, Illinois General Assembly

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants tractor-trailer drivers to abide by tougher braking standards. Under the new rules, a tractor-trailer moving at 60mph will have to fully stop in 250 feet when braking rather than in 355 feet.

The NHTSA says the new regulation should save 227 lives and prevent 300 serious injuries every year. It will also hopefully reduce property damage by more than $169 million annually.

Any help from the government to decrease the number of Chicago truck accidents that happen is positive progress. Large trucks can cause catastrophic injuries during an Illinois truck crash, with brake failure and human error as two of the leading causes of trucker-related collisions.

While truckers have a large vehicle weighing thousands of pounds protecting them from the impact of colliding with a smaller vehicle, the occupants of the autos involved in an accident with a tractor-trailer are not as fortunate.

An experienced Chicago, Illinois truck accident law firm will know what questions to ask when proving liability in a truck crash. They should also have access to a team of experts, such as accident reconstruction experts and medical professionals that understand the extend of your injuries and how much time it will take and how much money it will cost for you to recover, that can help you obtain the maximum recovery possible for your trucking injuries.

Trucking companies are known for sending someone to the Chicago traffic crash site as soon as possible to try persuading you to settle before you even know what’s happened to you.

Tough New Braking Rules For Large Trucks Will Save Hundreds of Lives Annually, NHTSA, July 24, 2009

Trucking Accidents Caused by Brake and Tire Failure, NOLO

Related Web Resource:
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Continue reading "Will New Tractor-Trailer Brake Laws Decrease the Number of Chicago Truck Accidents? " »

According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, truck drivers who text message while driving increase their collision risk by 23 times. The institute’s findings are based on two studies involving seven large trucking fleets and 200 truck drivers who drove 55 long-haul trucks. One study took place in 2004. The second study occurred in 2007.

There were 197 near truck collisions (crashes that the truck driver managed to just narrowly avoid) and 21 truck crashes caused by a number of factors, including texting. Some 3,000 other near truck crashes that weren’t as difficult for truckers to avoid also occurred, as did approximately 1,200 unintended lane deviations.

Researchers compared what happened in dangerous situations to some 20,000 segments of videotape that were shot by each truck using five small cameras. The cameras confirmed that in 31 near crashes, the trucker was texting. There were also random incidents of videotape that showed truckers were texting but that software did not see these situations as dangerous.

Meantime, reaching for or using an electronic device or dialing a cell phone increased the chances of a driver becoming involved in a motor vehicle crash by six times. Findings indicate that just before a near crash or a traffic collision, passenger vehicle drivers and truckers had spent almost five seconds looking at their devices. If a motor vehicle is moving at 55 mph, this is enough time for a car or truck to travel the length of a football field.

The institute says that listening or talking to a cell phone lets drivers keep their eyes on the road, which means that using a cell phone for conversations doesn’t pose as much of a safety risk as texting does. The institute is recommending that all drivers be prohibited from texting while operating a truck, car, or bus, and all teen drivers who just have gotten their licenses should be banned from using cell phones while driving. It also notes that it is clear that keeping one’s eyes on the road improves safety on the road.

According to the study, using a headset when using a cell phone isn’t necessarily safer than using a hand-held phone because the driver will still likely have to answer the phone and dial, which can require the motorist to take both eyes off the road. Voice activated systems might be less dangerous if they are designed in such a way that a motorist won’t have to take his or eyes off the road to operate them.

Our Chicago truck accident law firm wants to know if you were injured in an Illinois motor vehicle crash because the truck driver was texting, talking on the cell phone, or involved in another form of distracted driving.

In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin, NY Times, July 27, 2009

Va. Tech Institute: Texting while driving much more dangerous than talking on cell phones, Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Read more about the findings (PDF)

Continue reading "Truckers Who Text While Driving Increase Truck Accident Risk by 23 Times" »

According to Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, large truck safety in the US trucking industry improved in 2008. Included in the findings from the 2008 truck safety Roadcheck conducted by the CVSA:

• 95% of drivers tested during the CVSA’s three-day safety enforcement event passed the safety inspection—that’s 14.5% more than in 2007.
• Last year, 96.2% of drivers complied with hours-of-service rules—this figure is up from 95.1% in 2007.
• 97.6% of drivers were in compliance with regulations involving hazardous materials—up from 95.1% in 2007.
• 79.2% of vehicles passed roadside inspections—up from 78.5% in 2007.

Truckers and trucks that took part in the Roadcheck inspections were selected based on the participants’ past safety or inspection record or through the use of a computerized Inspection Selection System.

It is very important that truck drivers are in compliance with the safety, work, and rest regulations set up by the federal government for the trucking industry. A driver that is too tired or has not followed the proper safety precautions or has failed to properly inspect his vehicle places other motorists and pedestrians at risk of getting seriously hurt if his or her negligence results in a truck accident.

An experienced Chicago truck crash lawyer should be familiar not just with the different regulations that govern the trucking industry and its truck drivers but also with how to prove that the truck company, the truck owner, the truck driver, or any other parties were liable for causing your Illinois truck accident.

Truck safety improves in 2008, Trailer.BodyBuilders.com

Related Web Resources:
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

Public Citizen

Continue reading "Chicago Truck Accident Law Firm: Trucking Group Reports Improvements in Truck Safety for 2008" »