A FedEx tractor trailer driven by a long haul trucker heading northbound inexplicably crossed into southbound highway lanes striking a bus head-on that was full of high school students in Northern California. The deadly commercial trucking crash killed ten people, including the semi-truck driver and the bus driver.
While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues to investigate, the evidence indicates that the truck took a slight 10 degree angle and crossed the median of the highway. Even though the bus driver clearly saw the truck and hit the brakes to avoid the collision (the bus created 175 feet of skid marks), the semi driver made no effort to brake at all before crashing into the front-end of the school bus. [1]
We at Anderson Hemmat have seen this pattern of activity on numerous occasions in prior Denver personal injury accident investigations. The slight angle of crossing over the median with no braking before the truck collision normally signifies a sleeping driver.
Under normal trucking crash situations with tractor-trailers, there is a black box that the NTSB can remove from the wreckage of the truck. The data from the black box can verify that the truck driver did not apply the brakes or make any sort of evasive maneuvers when the FedEx vehicle crossed the median (the kind of reactions an awake driver would have made). In short, the black box data can prove that the commercial trucker was asleep at the wheel prior to the deadly crash. In this article, the NTSB has already reported that the intense heat of the fire destroyed the black box and that the will continue to investigate the cause of the commercial truck accident.
Conclusion:
Sleepy long-haul truck drivers remain a systemic and pervasive safety risk to the rest of us. While the commercials our personal injury law firm runs about trucking companies incite hostility in the trucking industry, these companies cannot dispute the realities of the needless and life-destroying tragedies that result when truckers fall asleep behind the wheel. If you are injured by a negligent truck driver, the experienced personal injury attorneys at Anderson Hemmat have the experience and knowledge to help you pursue a personal injury claim against the trucking company. Please call and speak with one of our trucking accident attorneys today.
[1] Some witnesses said that the FedEx truck was already in flames when it crossed the median. Investigation is still ongoing in this matter and it is unknown at this time who is liable for this unfortunate traffic collision and whether the truck driver was asleep.
