By Richard Shapiro, Virginia Trucking Accident Attorney

A tractor trailer T-boned a car on a country road in Gordon, North Carolina (NC). According to Butler Township police in that state, the tractor trailer driver came down a big hill on Sept. 12 and smashed into a car driven by a woman on Biddle St., leading to her serious injuries.

The truck flew off the road into the nearby woods, and lost its load of lumber.

According to neighbors, this area of rural North Carolina has seen at least 25 big rig crashes in the last 10 years. They believe it is due to the fact that the drivers of the trucks do not know the area and are not paying close enough attention to the road.

They added that when those tractor trailers leave Interstate 81, they are supposed to slow down and see the signs for the road, but apparently many of them do not. There may not be enough signage on the road, the neighbors added.

Our trucking accident law firm in Virginia has represented the distraught families of innocent people who lost their lives to distracted and/or fatigued truck drivers. We read about one particularly outrageous case where a distracted truck driver – who was watching pornography on his cell phone behind the wheel – slammed into three police cars and killed an officer.

Many of the truck crash cases we work on deal with drivers that are just too tired to be driving. We find that many long haul truckers drive far beyond the hours they are legally allowed to drive.

Recent research shows that the truck driver lifestyle does put them at a higher risk of mishaps on the roads. About 35% of truck drivers admit to falling asleep at the wheel at some point, either while trucking or driving a car.

Our truck accident law firm will always strive to bring financial justice for the families involved when a truck driver neglects his duty and causes a needless accident, such as this rear end accident that we settled for $3.5 million.