Big Rigs Making Hampton Roads Highways Particularly Dangerous in 2011

4/19/2011
Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton
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Big Rigs Making Hampton Roads Highways Particularly Dangerous in 2011

Wednesday April 13, 2001, saw major early-morning tractor-trailer crashes in Portsmouth, near Williamsburg and in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA). All occurred within two hours of each other, and the wreck on I-264 in Portsmouth resulted in the release of hazardous blood plasma and reckless driving charges against the truck driver.

The incident close to the Northampton Boulevard exit near the Virginia Beach-Norfolk line involved several cars and sent an unreported number of people to the hospital with serious injuries. The crash in James City County, VA, also occurred on I-64 and hurt at least one person.

Three such tractor-trailer accidents in so short a time struck as being almost unbelievable. But I soon realized that last Tuesday could just be the culmination of a dangerous, too-often deadly, trend of big rig accidents on the area's roads and highways.

In late March, a driver who fell asleep at the wheel of his truck and plowed into an Eastern Shore restaurant. In February, a propane truck whose driver had became distracted drove into and destroyed the rear end of a bus in Farmington, Virginia. In November 2010, my fellow attorney Randy Appleton and I reached a $3.5 million wrongful death settlement for the 5-year-old daughter of a Portsmouth man killed in a rear-end flatbed truck accident on I-64 in Norfolk. The truck driver in that case violated several Virginia commercial driving laws and allowed his diabetes to go untreated, which may have caused him to lose attention while operating his vehicle.

The catalog of recent trucking accidents in Hampton Roads practically provides a how-to lesson -- a destruction manual maybe -- in injuring and killing drivers while operating a big rig.

The more important lesson to learn, though, is that tractor-trailer, big rig, semi and tanker truck drivers need to drive safely, eliminate distractions, get enough sleep and rest to stave off fatigue and maintain their vehicles in good repair.

EJL

Category: Crashes Caused by Trucks

Labels: Accidents Attorney cars Cooper Crash deadly distracted driving driver flatbed I-264 I-64 injuries Norfolk Portsmouth tractor-trailer truck VA Virginia Beach wrongful death

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and have experience handling truck wreck cases. Check out our truck accident case results and our free consumer guide on what to do if you get involved in an accident with a commercial truck.

We have offices in Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA, but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia, including Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Newport News, VA, if you've been seriously hurt by someone else's carelessness.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been named to the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009 and included among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Jim and Rick have been named Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law since 2010. Fewer than 5 percent of practicing lawyers receive this honor.

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Big Rigs Making Hampton Roads Highways Particularly Dangerous in 2011

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