Worn tires cause Wreck

A tractor-trailer accident on I-95 in Florida this past weekend, police said, was caused directly by completely bald steer axle tires.

The drive suffered only minor injuries in the single-vehicle accident, which occurred on I-95 near Fellsmere, Fla.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the Sunday morning accident happened when one of the steer tires – described as being worn down to the steel cords – blew out, causing the rig to pull into the median where it rolled onto its side.

Georgia: Trucking Wreck: Company had Poor Rating

The Alabama trucking company involved in a fatal crash that killed 11 people in Kentucky had a poor safety rating from federal regulators.
A woman stands with two little girls as they wait to go into the funeral for the Esh family in Marrowbone, Ky., Tuesday, March 30, 2010. The family was killed in a head-on interstate crash on March 26. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
Funeral home workers wait in the foreground as hundreds of mourners arrive for the funeral of the Esh family in Marrowbone, Ky., Tuesday, March 30, 2010. The family was killed in a head-on interstate accident on March 26. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
Mourners arrive for the funeral of the Esh family in Marrowbone, Ky., Tuesday, March 30, 2010. The family was killed in a head-on interstate crash on March 26. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gave Hester Inc. a rating of 88.4 in February based on inspections during the past 30 months. The agency uses a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the worst score. Any score of 75 or more is considered "deficient."

The rating is based on the roadside inspections and moving violations of Hester's 30 drivers.

Kentucky State Police say the driver of a tractor-trailer crossed the median of Interstate 65 in central Kentucky on March 26, slamming into a van and killing 11 people and himself.

Two young children survived the crash, which remains under investigation.

Trucking Wreck Causes Death - Trucking Owner gets Jail Time

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The owner of a trucking firm Tuesday received jail time for his gross negligence in the maintenance of a defective and almost brakeless tractor-trailer rig that went careening around a bend on the Schuylkill Expressway and caused a six-car pileup that took the life of a Fort Washington man in January 2009.

Victor M. Kalinitchii, 41, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in the Montgomery County prison. He will have to serve a five-year probation sentence that will begin after he completes his parole time, according to the sentence imposed by Judge Thomas C. Branca.

Kalinitchii, who was taken out of the courtroom to immediately begin serving his sentence, will also have to perform 250 hours of community service.

Branca, noting that the sentence is in the high end of the standard range, said he hopes that the sentence will send a “strong message” to the trucking community to keep the trucks in good repair and not try and cut corners or they will go to jail.
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“Mr. Kalinitchii is responsible for putting a lethal weapon on the roads in Montgomery County,” said county First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

The Jan. 23, 2009, crash took the life of 49-year-old David Schreffler, a husband and father of three who was on his way to a business meeting that day.

The other two defendants in the case, the truck driver and the owner of a state inspection center that passed the vehicle even though it did not perform an inspection, will be sentenced later today.

Seven-vehicle accident involving 18 wheeler in Cordele, GA leaves three injured

On Friday, April 9, three people were injured in a crash involving an 18 wheeler and six other vehicles in Cordele, GA. Police reports indicate that the incident began when an 18 wheeler swerved to avoid hitting a stalled vehicle in the right lane on I-75. The 18 wheeler crashed into a concrete barrier dividing the road and then struck two other vehicles. One of these vehicles was thrown into the opposite lane, where it was struck by oncoming traffic. Three people were injured. One victim was trapped in her vehicle with serious leg injuries until rescue workers could free her with the Jaws of Life. The victims were taken to nearby hospitals, but their names and conditions are not known. Police are still investigating the incident.

Being injured in an accident like this can be completely traumatic. An official investigation into this crash may determine that the victim's death was caused by the negligence of another (possibly the 18 wheeler driver or the trucking company employing him). In this case, the victims may be eligible to seek justice through an 18 wheeler accident lawsuit. Unfortunately, this is rarely a simple task. I have worked on these types of suits for twenty years, and I have seen trucking companies and their drivers go to extraordinary lengths to avoid accepting liability for this type of incident. But ultimately, the law is designed to protect the victims in these situations. With a legal professional with 18 wheeler accident experience on your side, even the trucking industry can be held accountable for its negligence.

Georgia Trucking News: CSA 2010 Delayed

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CSA 2010 was to originally start this summer, but trucking companies have realized that it will be tougher to circumvent the new rules and have asked for more time. Surprisingly, the FMCSA agreed. The trucking industry continues to try to water down the new regulations to continue "business as normal."

The new schedule calls for a so-called “data preview” to run through November 30, 2010 at which time FMCSA will begin issuing warning letters and using CSA 2010 scores to target fleets for compliance reviews and extra roadside enforcement. Full, nationwide implementation of all of CSA 2010's new enforcement tools will not begin until 2011.

The public will not be able to view the Crash Indicator scores in November because of concerns about the quality of the underlying crash data. As I understand the concerns some states don't report all the information that they should, making the crash data LOWER than it should be if all the crashes were reported. While this may make the data imperfect, it can certainly be used to find and get off the road unsafe trucking companies. If the imperfect data shows the companies are bad, the real data would show they are WORSE!

Trucker Honored for saving an Accident Victim

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The Truckload Carriers Association has honored Peter Pearce, a truck driver for Flying J, Inc., as a Highway Angel for helping an accident victim get out of her overturned car.

On Feb. 9, 2010, Pearce was heading north on Highway 42 between Debolt and Grand Prairie in Alberta when a pickup truck passed him going close to the speed limit. As the driver switched back into her original lane, the vehicle slipped on a patch of black ice, careened backward into a ditch, flipped over three times, crashed through a fence and landed upside down in a field.

Both Pearce and another motorist stopped to help. While the other driver called emergency personnel, Pearce ran down the embankment and leapt over a crash barrier to reach the pickup. The vehicle's engine was still running, and the rear wheels were turning. The driver was in a state of panic, screaming for help.

Since both doors were too damaged to open, Pearce asked the woman to cover her face while he broke a window. He then reached in, turned off the ignition and extracted the driver. He moved her a few feet away and covered her with a travel blanket that the other motorist provided. The woman had a large gash on the back of her head, so Pearce retrieved a cushion from her car to help absorb the flow of blood. All three waited together for the next 20 minutes until paramedics arrived at the scene.

For his efforts, Pearce will receive a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate, and patch. Flying J will also receive a certificate acknowledging that one of its drivers is a Highway Angel.

Kentucky Trucking Accident: Trucking Company "Deficient"

The trucking company involved in a crash that killed 11 people in Kentucky in March was rated “deficient” by regulators, repeatedly failing inspections. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gave the company, Hester Inc. of Fayette, Ala., a rating of 88.4 — with 100 the worst score — in February. The Hester driver crossed a median, killing himself and 10 members of a Mennonite family traveling to a wedding.

Source here.