Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

As a Dallas Car Accident Attorney I am providing this update regarding the most dangerous time for car accidents in Dallas.

Minimizing risk is not about when you are on the road, but how careful you are while on the road. The most dangerous month, is August, and Saturday the most dangerous day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Auto accidents kill more than 40,000 people in the U.S. each year; they are the No. 1 cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 34.

Time of Day Does Matter According to the the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, IIHS, an average 6.6 people are killed between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and another 6.6 between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Those rates are the overall highest of any time during the day. In 2007, 14,055 people were killed in the 5 p.m. hour. But the hours between midnight and 4 a.m. have the highest number of fatalities when calculated as a percentage of the amount of people on the road, according to AAA. During that time, statistically speaking, 5.87 per 100 million people on the road will be killed.

Time of day plays an important role in evaluating fatal crashes, because other dangerous factors are increased at night. Drunk driving, speeding and driving without a safety belt all increase during the night hours and each factor contributes directly to increased fatality rates.

Speeding is a factor in 30% of all fatal crashes, according to the NHTSA. 18% of fatal crashes during the day are alcohol-related, while 54% of crashes at night are alcohol-related. Two out of three the people killed at night are not wearing a seat belt.

Nationwide, 49% of fatal crashes happen at night, with a fatality rate per mile of travel about three times as high as daytime hours. During the day, the percentage of unrestrained fatalities tends to be under half.

The fewest deaths by crash in 2007, the latest year with complete data, happened early in the morning, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Those hours see significantly less traffic–only 9% of the average amount during peak hours.

Mid-week days like Tuesday and Wednesday also pose the lowest number of fatalities, both averaging fewer drivers and 96 and 100 deaths per day, respectively. So the answer is if you want to drive without getting killed, limit your driving to Tuesday and Wednesday morning, between 4 and 5 am. Hardly a practical solution to this epidemic.

Weekends–when the greatest number of people are on the road–predictably see the highest numbers of crash victims, with a combined average of 143 deaths for Saturday and Sunday, according to the IIHS.

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As a Dallas Car Accident DUI Attorney, I am reporting this tragic pedestrian monster car wrongful death accident.

The parents of a Granbury college student who was struck and killed by a monster truck outside a Dallas strip club, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the truck and the club.

The lawsuit comes after Kasey McKenzie, 23, was killed while leaving with friends after a party at the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen’s Club shortly after 2 a.m. when Eric Crutchfield, pulled his custom 2003 Ford F-250 truck out of a parking space and ran over her with both front and rear tires.McKenzie died at the scene.

The lawsuit claims that the club was negligent when bartenders served Crutchfield past the legal limit of intoxication and allowed him to get in his vehicle and drive, even though it was apparent he was drunk, according to the parent’s lawyer.

The lawsuit also claims that Crutchfield was driving with a suspended license and was so intoxicated at the time of McKenzie’s death that he didn’t know he had hit anyone.

Crutchfield’s truck had a lift kit that limited his field of vision and was not in keeping with federal and state regulations.

The Dallas resident was charged with intoxication manslaughter after his blood alcohol level was shown to be 0.18, more than twice the legal limit at 0.08, according to Dallas police spokesman Kevin Janse.

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As a Fort Worth Car Accident and Truck Accident attorney, I am reporting this tragic accident that lead to a wrongful death of the truck driver, from a tanker gasoline explosion. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Raya family.

Fort Worth police have arrested and charged Louis Nieves, 23, with intoxication manslaughter after a fiery traffic accident early in the morning that killed the driver of a fuel tanker truck and shut down the freeway most of the day.

Nieves was the driver of a small red pickup truck. Police reported he was driving the wrong way on Interstate 30 when he slammed into the oncoming 18-wheeler near the Beach Street exit at 2:37 a.m.

The freeway was shut down and traffic was backed up through downtown Fort Worth after the deadly wrong-way crash. The tanker exploded after impact, killing its driver. The truck was so badly burned that the flames destroyed the tanker and damaged the surface of the freeway.

The red pickup showed significant front end damage, but did not catch on fire. Emergency crews rushed Nieves to a nearby hospital. He was treated at the hospital, released and booked into the Fort Worth jail. Officers said several people called 911 to report the wrong-way driver.

The other two lanes remain badly damaged and must undergo extensive repairs. TxDOT said the road must be resurfaced and, underneath, steel beams and the concrete support system that burned must also be replaced.

The tanker was so badly burned, there is no obvious way to determine who owns it or even to whom it was registered.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has opened an investigation into where a 23-year-old pickup driver was drinking before he was involved in a fiery crash.

Louis Nieves, 23, who was arrested after the wreck, told a reporter for WFAA/Channel 8 TV that he had drunk 10 beers before getting behind the wheel and leaving a bar on East Eighth Street near the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Family and friends identified the tanker driver as 45-year-old Alejandro Raya of Fort Worth.

The beverage commission is investigating but won’t identify the business until the investigation is further along.

Nieves, who faces a charge of intoxication manslaughter, remained in the Mansfield Jail with bail set at $90,000, according to Fort Worth police.

Alejandro Raya left a wife and three children, ages 21, 14 and 12. Alejandro Raya moved to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s. Raya was working for Petro-Chemical Transport, based in Addison, according to a company spokeswoman. Gasoline fuel that spilled from the tanker ignited, melting steel beams and concrete in the I-30 bridge over Sycamore Creek.

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Virginia Jury Verdict: $10.5 Million in Wrongful Death

A Virginia jury has awarded $10.5 million to the family of a woman who died in 2007 after a concrete mixer truck fell onto her car.

The wrongful death victim was aged 25, and she died after eight days in hospital. The victim’s husband survived the horrific accident. Their car was crushed as they drove on State Route 53 and were hit by a truck driven by William Sprouse, working for Allied Concrete Co. Sprouse later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served 30 days in jail.