As Carolina personal injury and wrongful death attorneys, we often report on serious and fatal accidents caused by tractor-trailer drivers. Simply because commercial trucks are so much larger and heavier than cars, pickups, SUVs and motorcycles, the smallest mistake or briefest moment of distraction by a big rig operator can lead to tragedy.
Truckers are not always at fault for crashes that claim lives of leave people badly injured, however. A head-on collision near Denver, North Carolina (NC), on May 30, 2012, provided a sad reminder of this.
State Highway Patrol officers told reporters that a woman driving on two-lane NC 150 attempted to pass other vehicles and hit an oncoming tractor-trailer carrying 30,000 pounds of concrete blocks. The trucker swerved to avoid the collision but was unable to get out of the way of the car.
The impact injured the trucker driver, trapped the woman in her car and killed the woman’s 1-year-old daughter. The fatal accident occurred in a passing zone, where only a single dashed white line separates lanes. It’s unclear whether charges will be filed against the at-fault driver.
When a commercial truck driver gets hurt in a traffic accident, he or she has the same right to claim compensation for medical treatment costs, lost wages and pain and suffering a person in a car would. While sending our condolences to the family of the child who lost her life, we also wish the trucker and car’s driver speedy recoveries.
EJL