The North Carolina Highway Patrol in Gaston County, North Carolina has identified a man who died in a crash with a logging truck on February 22.

The police stated that the driver of the logging truck veered into the center line while driving his rig. As he attempted to correct and get his truck back into its lane, it overturned onto an oncoming pick up truck. The pick up truck driver, Robert Jones, 43, of Gastonia, died at the scene. The logging truck driver will face criminal charges.

Our Virginia and North Carolina truck accident attorneys have represented many families whose loved ones were killed by a distracted truck driver. Truck drivers are very prone to becoming distracted on the road because they spend so many hours behind the wheel each day.

Big rigs are difficult to maneuver, and because they get paid per mile in most cases, many truck drivers are reluctant to pull over and take care of personal business. Further, many big rig drivers see that driving such a large truck is rather mundane and routine, so it may not seem unusual for them to multitask as they are driving at high speed on a narrow road.

Some of the most common causes of fatal distracted truck driver accidents include:

• Talking on a cell phone or CB
• Texting on a cell phone
• Changing radio stations
• Urinating into a bottle
• Eating
• Looking at a map or GPS

Given that the logging truck driver swerved out of his lane, there is a good chance that he was somehow distracted. Regardless of the results of the criminal proceedings in this truck accident case, we certainly hope the grieving family pursues a wrongful death lawsuit so that they can get some semblance of justice for this preventable tragedy.

Our Virginia and North Carolina truck crash law firm has the experience and record that wins cases, such as this $3.5 million truck crash settlement.