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.
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
