Around 4:30 am Monday morning a tractor-trailer was headed on interstate 140 when the driver lost control of the truck and wrecked in New Hanover County near Wilmington, North Carolina (NC).
Local Wilmington police and the North Carolina (NC) highway patrol reported that the driver was speeding as he approached the exit off interstate 140 on to I-40 westbound. The tractor-trailer did not make the exit and overturned, blocking both highways. The driver was taken to a New Hanover County hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Fortunately, no other vehicles crashed as a result of the tractor-trailer accident and no one else was injured. However, traffic for local Wilmington residents and commuters trying to access interstate 140 was backed up through the morning rush hour.
This tractor-trailer accident was a lucky break for both the driver and the other commuters on the road, but that is not always the case. As a personal injury attorney, I have seen a staggering amount of tractor-trailer accidents that end in severe injury or even death.
My colleague, has written two articles on tractor-trailer accidents. One article, Scary Facts about Truck Accidents, shows an alarming number of tractor-trailer accidents happened in 2007- 136,000. John C.’s second article, Six Common Causes of Trucking Accidents, shows why these accidents happen as often as they do. Both articles show us that these tractor-trailer accidents may be more common then we think and that the outcome is not always as good as the one in New Hanover County, North Carolina (NC).
The best thing you can do to prevent tractor-trailer accidents on the road is to follow the old rule, “If you can’t see me, I can’t see you.” Do not ride right next to or so close to a tractor-trailer that you can not see the driver in their rearview mirror. Also, be wary of passing a large trailer and only pass when you are certain the driver is going to stay in their lane and you have ample room to get around them. While most tractor-trailer accidents are the fault of the driver, not other vehicles on the road, you can still do your part to keep safe.
Shapiro, Washburn & Sharppersonal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina injur law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.
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