Tuesday was a fatal day in northern Indiana, with vehicular accidents killing eight people.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100224/News01/100229672/1130&Template;=printpicart
In one of the crashes in South Bend, a Cadillac traveling east in on Indiana 2, turning left on Quince Road, was hit by a semi-truck. There was a family in the car. A male passenger in the front seat died at the scene. The driver, with severe injuries, and three children were sent to Memorial Hospital.
The truck driver was taken to the hospital for testing.
In a second accident Tuesday, three people lost their lives when a Chevy Cobalt driving on U.S. 36 crossed a median and flew into the air, hitting a GMC Envoy in LaPorte County.
The driver of the Cobalt, 72-year-old Billy Gene Hamblin of Kingsford Heights, Ind., and a passenger in the Envoy, 38-year-old Amy Klein of Columbia City, Ind., died instantly. The driver of the Envoy, 63-year-old Lloyd Klein of Columbia City, died at Memorial Hospital. Another passenger from the Envoy, Kathy Klein, was in critical condition.
In the third fatal crash, two students from West Noble High School died in unrelated accidents on U.S. 33 in Noble County, Ind. Amanda Musser, 18, was driving on U.S. 33 when she went off the highway and hit a pole. Musser, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was dead at the scene.
Then 18-year-old Brandon Replogle was driving on U.S. 33 when he was hit by a truck. He was killed in the crash.
Finally, two people died in an accident on Interstate 65 when a SUV struck a semi-truck between Lowell and Roselawn. The SUV’s passengers were killed instantly. The semi’s driver, 54-year-old John Taylor of Greenwood, Ind., wasn’t injured.
Texting Driver Crashes Into Tractor Trailer
A Pennsylvania teenager was texting when she hit a tractor trailer on Route 158 in Wilmington Township, according to police.
http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_055225711.html
The woman, 18-yar-old Clarice Edinger, was driving northbound, and while she was texting on her cellphone her car drifted in the southbound lane. She struck a truck, driven by 58-year-old Eugene Bennick of Clymer, N.Y., that was carrying milk.
Bennick couldn’t avoid hitting Edinger’s car. After the collision, the truck went up an embankment and stopped 150 feet from the highway. Edinger was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.
http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_055225711.html
The woman, 18-yar-old Clarice Edinger, was driving northbound, and while she was texting on her cellphone her car drifted in the southbound lane. She struck a truck, driven by 58-year-old Eugene Bennick of Clymer, N.Y., that was carrying milk.
Bennick couldn’t avoid hitting Edinger’s car. After the collision, the truck went up an embankment and stopped 150 feet from the highway. Edinger was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.
Explosive Fuel Truck Accident Kills Driver, Shuts Down Long Island Expressway For 10 Hours
A fuel tanker truck crashed and exploded into flames on the Long Island Expressway early Saturday morning, killing its driver, melting the road and an overhead sign, and shutting down the busy highway for 10 hours.
The truck was trying to avoid hitting a Dodge Neon shortly after 8 a.m., according to The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/nyregion/24tanker.html?scp=1&sq;=truck%20explosion&st;=cse, and a story published online by firehouse.com: http://www.firehouse.com/topics/top-headlines/tanker-crash/fire-closes-ny-expressway, But the driver, Mujihad Shah of Brooklyn, lost control and the truck flipped over.
The tanker exploded, with its top blown off. The flames reached and melted a highway sign, which landed across all eight lanes of the expressway. The collapse of the sign threatened emergency responders and forced officials to close all eight lanes of the highway.
The asphalt at the site of the accident was “basically cooked,” one officials told The Times.
The truck driver’s body remained in the vehicle for more than four hours before it could be retrieved.
The driver of the car that the truck clipped, Marie Medina of Bayonne, N.J., was taken to Nassau University Medical Center by helicopter, according to Newsday. The Times said she sustained minor injuries.
Workers spent many hours cleaning up the wreckage, made more difficult because the 11000-gallon tanker still had 1,000 gallons of gasoline, according to the Newsday report.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
http://subtlebraininjury.com
http://car-accident-rain.com
The truck was trying to avoid hitting a Dodge Neon shortly after 8 a.m., according to The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/nyregion/24tanker.html?scp=1&sq;=truck%20explosion&st;=cse, and a story published online by firehouse.com: http://www.firehouse.com/topics/top-headlines/tanker-crash/fire-closes-ny-expressway, But the driver, Mujihad Shah of Brooklyn, lost control and the truck flipped over.
The tanker exploded, with its top blown off. The flames reached and melted a highway sign, which landed across all eight lanes of the expressway. The collapse of the sign threatened emergency responders and forced officials to close all eight lanes of the highway.
The asphalt at the site of the accident was “basically cooked,” one officials told The Times.
The truck driver’s body remained in the vehicle for more than four hours before it could be retrieved.
The driver of the car that the truck clipped, Marie Medina of Bayonne, N.J., was taken to Nassau University Medical Center by helicopter, according to Newsday. The Times said she sustained minor injuries.
Workers spent many hours cleaning up the wreckage, made more difficult because the 11000-gallon tanker still had 1,000 gallons of gasoline, according to the Newsday report.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
http://subtlebraininjury.com
http://car-accident-rain.com
Truck Driver Carelessness Severely Injures Man’s Face
The below story tells of serious injuries suffered by an Illinois man whose face was shattered by ice falling off of the top of a semi tractor trailer. It speaks as if this is not illegal in Illinois. See
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1978774,ice-shatters-mans-face-010710.article Regardless of whether it violates Illinois law, it is a clear violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations pertaining to Inspection and Maintenance of Equipment.
In the Illinois wreck, according to the Sun Times:
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations each driver is required to make sure that his load is safe when he begins a trip, to inspect it after 50 miles and also at least every 150 miles. Slabs of ice on the top of a truck parked outside this time of year are foreseeable. Any reasonable driver would assure that such ice does not accumulate. This driver was clearly negligent. Fortunately it was not negligent homicide.
The Sun Times goes on to report that Morano suffered no brain injury. As I have stated repeatedly on other blogs, there is simply no way to tell in the first few hours after a blow to the head whether a brain injury has occurred, because brain injury is a process, not an event. See http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/12/concussion-diagnosis-still-critical-for.html
Before brain injury can be completely ruled out in Morano, he must go back to a medical professional and be tested for amnesia. See my series of videos on this point at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney#p/u/13/x2EKaVHpVd0
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1978774,ice-shatters-mans-face-010710.article Regardless of whether it violates Illinois law, it is a clear violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations pertaining to Inspection and Maintenance of Equipment.
In the Illinois wreck, according to the Sun Times:
A commercial truck — topped with about a foot-and-a-half of snow and ice — was westbound on Butterfield Road between Illinois Route 59 and Eola Road in Aurora about 10 a.m. Monday as Peter Morano was driving in the eastbound lane. When the truck passed under a viaduct, the ice on top of it became unlodged and was sent soaring toward Morano’s windshield.
“It was like an explosion,” Morano recalled while resting at home Wednesday after being released from the hospital.
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations each driver is required to make sure that his load is safe when he begins a trip, to inspect it after 50 miles and also at least every 150 miles. Slabs of ice on the top of a truck parked outside this time of year are foreseeable. Any reasonable driver would assure that such ice does not accumulate. This driver was clearly negligent. Fortunately it was not negligent homicide.
The Sun Times goes on to report that Morano suffered no brain injury. As I have stated repeatedly on other blogs, there is simply no way to tell in the first few hours after a blow to the head whether a brain injury has occurred, because brain injury is a process, not an event. See http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/12/concussion-diagnosis-still-critical-for.html
Before brain injury can be completely ruled out in Morano, he must go back to a medical professional and be tested for amnesia. See my series of videos on this point at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney#p/u/13/x2EKaVHpVd0
Iowa Truck Overturns
MARTINSDALE, Iowa (AP) — A stretch of Interstate 35 in central Iowa was closed for nearly nine hours after a truck hauling more than 150 hogs overturned. The crashed happened early Thursday near the Martinsdale exit. Officials said no injuries were reported. Some hogs died in the crash, and about 20 that ran from the semi had to be corralled.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Cable Barriers Could Reduce Head-On Crashes
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Good testing results mean highway crews will begin installing cable barriers on Interstate 65 next spring to prevent head-on crashes. The state tested cable along sections of I-65, I-69 and the Indiana Toll Road. On I-65, the barriers were hit 69 times by out-of-control vehicles, including at least one semi, without any vehicle passing through, officials said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.