PATCO to Pay $10 Million in Crash Settlement

After only twenty minutes into a car accident trial last week, a recess was called and the two parties came to agreement on a $10 million settlement to be paid by the Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO).   The transit authority had admitted before trial that its truck driver was liable for the collision.

A 55-year-old Berlin, NJ man was driving to work in July 2007 when he was struck by a PATCO truck in Philadelphia, PA.  The man had just crossed a bridge into Philadelphia when the PATCO driver ran a red light and shoved the man’s vehicle into a median strip.  The accident resulted in shattered bones and a broken ankle to the driver.

The man has since undergone 12 surgeries and a painful debriding procedure to try to rid the leg of a serious infection which had begun to cause his flesh to rot.  […]

Family Awarded $7 Million in Wrongful Death Claim

Man volunteered to drive church bus, gets hit and killed by tractor trailer

A widow and her two sons were awarded $6.7 million by a jury in Fresno County, California in the death of her husband who was struck by a tractor-trailer while filling the bus he had been driving with fuel.  The wrongful death award also included over $500,000 for a nephew who witnessed the accident and has suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The deceased had volunteered to drive the Sierra Pines Church of Oakhurst bus.  When he pulled over on the side of highway State Route 99 in Merced County to put fuel in the bus in April 2009, two approaching semis “became entangled as one attempted to pass the other.”  One of the trailers hit the man and the bus.

Lawyers presented testimony, which led to a verdict well beyond the $3 million offered as settlement, […]

Boy Died in Tractor Trailer Crash as his Mother Fled Police

Woman flees from police and hits tractor trailer killing 8 year old son

Kansas City Boy Dies in Tractor Trailer Crash as His Mother Flees from Police

A Kansas City mother driving a Kia Optima, with her two children as passengers in the rear-seat, was fleeing from the police and slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer killing her 8-year-old son.  The police had tried to stop the mother only minutes earlier after she almost hit them while they were conducting a traffic stop. She initially stopped, and then as police approached her car, she sped away – the police abandoned the chase and were not pursuing her at the time of the wreck.  The mother is left with life-threatening injuries.  Her 11-year old daughter suffered minor injuries.

CHP Officer Dies in Car Accident

California Highway Patrol Officer Thomas Adams was killed Tuesday in an automobile accident on Highway 101 in California.  […]

Preliminary Truck Crash Data For 2009 Released

Preliminary statistics on 2009 tractor trailer crashes have just been released. The Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts: Early Release is based on crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), as well as preliminary total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data from the Federal Highway Administration.

Among the highlights:

• Of the 286,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks in 2009, 2,987 (1 percent) resulted in at least one fatality, and 51,000 (18 percent) resulted in at least one nonfatal injury.

• Single-vehicle crashes made up 20 percent of all fatal crashes, 16 percent of all injury crashes, and 35 percent of all property damage only crashes involving large trucks.

• Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of all fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred on rural roads, and just over one-fourth (26 percent) occurred on rural and urban Interstate highways. […]

$6.5 Million Awarded in Deadly Tractor Trailer, Pick-Up Truck Crash

Tractor trailer driver and farm at fault for fatal accident

Two years after a 32-year-old woman was killed when a tractor trailer rear-ended the pick-up truck in which she was riding, her family has been awarded a $6.5 million award in their wrongful death lawsuit, reports the Courier-News.

On Halloween, 2008, the East Dubuque, Illinois woman, her husband, and their 3-year-old son were on the way to Goebbert’s Pumpkin Patch when a tractor-trailer rear-ended their pick-up truck, killing the wife instantly.  Her husband suffered a broken spine, facial fractures, and respiratory failure and their son suffered two broken legs, head injuries and lacerations.

The lawsuit alleged the driver of the tractor-trailer was operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs, driving over the speed limit and failing to keep a proper lookout.  It was learned the owners of the tractor-trailer, […]