Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

Officials are now saying that the government must require the trucking industry to use electronic onboard recorders to ensure truck drivers comply with the federal “hours-of-service” regulation, according to a Gannett News Service report published in the Indianapolis Star.

According to most recent statistics available, large trucks — delivery vans to 18-wheelers — were involved in 5,000 fatal accidents on U.S. highways and 82,000 crashes where someone was injured; all over the course of one year. Experts say drowsy truck drivers who have been behind the wheel for long periods of time caused a large percentage of those crashes in 2005.

Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the news agency in an interview last week that the government must mandate onboard recorders to make sure trucking companies do not allow their drivers to work more than they should be working.

“You want to have a truck that’s the safest it possibly can be mechanically,” he said. “Just as important, (the driver) needs to be alert. When he shows up for work, he or she cannot be fatigued.”
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Three children died in a horrific crash on the I-5 in Mission Viejo Friday afternoon after a big-rig rammed into the minivan they were traveling in, according to a news report in The Orange County Register.

The three children Katie, 2, Kyle, 5, and Emma, 4, were traveling in car seats and booster seats in the back of a Chrysler Town & Country minivan with their mother driving the vehicle and their grandmother riding in the front seat, the article said.

The black-and-white big-rig came up behind the minivan at 55 and 60 mph, according to what the rig driver later told California Highway Patrol investigators. Packed with electronics, the big-rig didn’t stop and slammed into the back of the minivan, driving through the backseat of the Chrysler where the children were sitting. The semi drove through the back of the minivan, crushing it and pushing it into a Chevy Tahoe that was stopped ahead, CHP officer Katrina Lundgren told reporters.

Friday afternoon traffic had slowed to a crawl near Oso Parkway. The silver Chrysler minivan was stopped in the slow lane as the cars headed south stacked up. Andy Tran, a blinds installer from Santa Ana, tried to use his tools to get the children out of their mangled car seats, but couldn’t, the article said.

Katie and Kyle were rushed to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and Emma was taken to Saddleback Memorial Hospital in Laguna Hills. The two girls died within minutes of each other. Kyle was rushed into surgery, but could not be saved and died later that evening.
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Several safety groups urged the federal government to toughen rules for big-rig and truck companies, stating that more than 100 people a week in this country are killed in large truck crashes, according to an Associated Press article posted in the Houston Chronicle.

The article states that Wyoming, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the deadliest states for big truck crashes while Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut are the safest, according to The Truck Safety Coalition. California saw a moderate increase in truck crashes – from 378 in 2001 to 428 in 2005. The group released state rankings, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 residents during 2005, the most recent year with complete figures.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “has failed miserably,” said Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, which is part of the Truck Safety Coalition.

“It is shortchanging safety for the productivity and economic interests of the trucking industry.”

In 1999, when the agency was created, 5,380 people died in crashes with big trucks. Deaths in crashes of large trucks numbered 5,212 in 2005, plus 114,000 injured. Large trucks account for 3 percent of registered vehicles but 12-13 percent of traffic fatalities.

Victims say they are completely put off by the agency’s lack of action. Jane Mathis, of St. Augustine, Fla., complained that the motor carrier agency is proposing to require on-board electronic recorders that monitor hours of service on only about 465 of the more than 702,000 registered interstate motor carriers.
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