Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

Our San Diego injury lawyer knows how dangerous the streets of our city can be, especially for children. Roadways are full of cars, motorcycles, trucks, and delivery vehicles during the day and night. Unfortunately, the people driving these vehicles do not always follow the road laws carefully. That is why car and trucks accidents remain one of the leading causes of death and serious injury for young community members. In the vast majority of cases these accidents can and should have been prevented. Car accident lawsuits result when local drivers fail to act reasonably causing an accident that hurts others.

For example, last November the driver of a city garbage truck attempted to make an illegal turn by pulling into another lane and then moving in reverse through the intersection. According Channel 10 News out of San Diego, as the driver attempted to change course with his oversized vehicle, truck struck a 9-year-old boy named Luke Acuna, who was riding his skateboard home from school. The collision resulted in the boy losing one of his legs.

Now, several months later, as medical bills continue to pile up for Luke’s family, his parents are filing a lawsuit against the city of San Diego in an effort to get compensation for Luke’s injuries, as well as some assistance with the huge financial burden that he and his parents will now have to bear. An attorney for the family estimates that over Luke’s lifetime, his care will cost millions of dollars. This will include things like surgeries, medications, in-home care, rehabilitation, and hopefully, one day, a prosthetic leg for Luke. In addition, his family may have to move to another house or at least make modifications to their home in order to allow him to get around in a wheelchair. While they are hopeful that one day Luke will be fitted for a prosthetic leg, his injuries were such that he may not ever regain enough control to be capable of using one.

Our San Diego truck accident lawyer was saddened this week to read reports of yet another deadly crash on our area highways. This latest San Diego truck crash struck last night on Interstate 805. According to reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the crash occurred just past 10 p.m. on the highway’s southbound lanes just south of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. It involved a small sedan and a Federal Express semi with two trailers being pulled.

The California Highway Patrol reported that the accident is still being investigated, however a few early details are known. It seems that a Federal Express semi truck somehow T-boned the car. The car suffered significant damage, with the impact occurring on the passenger side of the vehicle. The broadside impact caused the car to spin off the roadway; the tractor-trailer eventually made its way to the center divider of the freeway. As is often the case, this San Diego Fed-Ex crash was deadly. A front seat passenger, 56-year old Thoy Insixiengmay as well as a woman in the back-seat of the car, 59-year old Tem Thirakul were both killed in the collision. The driver has yet to be identified; however, she was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital in serious condition. All of the victims are thought to be from the San Diego area.

Our San Diego trucking crash attorney knows that so many of these collisions involving semi-trailer end up causing severe injury and death. It is no surprise that these large machines are capable of severely injuring those in the smaller vehicles around them, particularly when traveling in high-speed areas like freeways. The immense risks associated with these collisions make it imperative that truck owners and operators do everything possible to ensure that there are no lapses of safe driving practices.

The most damaging accidents on our area roadways are often those involving large semi-trailers. San Diego truck accidents continue to take the lives of many area residents. Unfortunately, a large number of these tragedies are caused by negligent truck driving and could have been prevented if the truck driver had exhibited proper care. Just this week the Sierra Vista Herald reported on yet another tragic San Diego truck crash. This latest accident took the life of a 65-year old pickup truck driver and a 2-year old girl. Four other people (including three children) were also injured in the crash.

The accident struck early Tuesday afternoon on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 just east of Wilcox. A truck driver was traveling on the highway when he lost control of his vehicle. The truck eventually flipped over on its side, blocking all eastbound traffic lanes on the interstate. It was only a matter of time before an unsuspecting on-coming vehicle approached the accident site. The first vehicle to come up upon the overturned truck was a 2001 Ford pickup truck. The driver was unable to account for the stopped semi, and the pickup collided with the rear of the trailer.

There were four passengers in the pickup truck as well as a driver. The youngest passenger, a two-year old girl named Mercedes Young, was killed in the collision. Also killed was 65-year old Isaac High. Four other members of the Young family were injured including three children aged 4, 7, and 8. It remains unclear what led the truck driver to lose control of the machine. It is important that a thorough investigation be conducted to understand what happened and figure out if the accident could have been prevented.

There is a great story in the L.A. Times today about an out-of-work and homeless plumber named Stephen Schulman who was run over by a large delivery truck while sleeping near a dumpster. His legs were crushed, and in a great scene, he checks himself out of the nursing home where he is recuperating and spends a day, riding busses, and limping across Los Angeles County to confront the trucking company owner about his injuries:

He climbed the concrete steps into a bungalow office. Sweat poured down his frame, slight but for his potbelly. His wounded foot felt like it might give out, but this was his moment, the one he had been waiting for. He faced the company owner.

“One of your truck drivers ran me over,” he said.