Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

Tractor trailers were involved in two chain collisions over the weekend. Fortunately, none of the accidents resulted in fatal injuries.

In Ohio, a semi approaching a construction zone failed to stop in time and rear-ended a minivan, pushing it into the rear of another tractor-trailer which was stopped approaching the work zone. Rescuers had to cut open the minivan to remove the children who were injured inside.

In Colorado, at the merge of two highways a truck rear-ended an SUV which was ahead of him, pushing it into the vehicle ahead. The tractor trailer also struck another vehicle which brought three more vehicles into pile-up. One man was sustained serious burn injuries, while another man was seriously injured so as to require evacuation by helicopter; two others sustained less serious injuries.

There are a few common threads to these two truck accidents. One is the enormous weight and power of a commercial truck and the potential it has to cause severe damage and injury. The second is the difficulty that these vehicles have in coming to a stop when they are moving on the highway. Finally, these accidents all occurred in areas where fast-moving traffic slows -- a merge of expressways and a construction zone -- where long-haul truckers may not be familiar with the local traffic patterns and with a moment of inattention, can cause terrible accidents.

Labels: burn injuries, truck accidents