The Virginia State Police reported that a man was fatally struck on I-95 while he was walking on the interstate shoulder after he ran out of gas.

The state police stated that three men were going south on I-95 in Prince William County, Virginia on Dec. 26. They ran out of gas and pulled over on the shoulder near Route 123. They did not want to pay for a tow truck so they started to walk to a gas station.

Approximately 1/2 mile south, one of the men was hit by a tractor trailer on the shoulder. He died at a local hospital. The other two men were not injured.

Our View

Tractor trailer sideswipe accidents are tragic and usually preventable. If the truck driver were driving in his lane as he should, or if he just moved over to the left lane, most of these deadly accidents would never happen.

Unfortunately, some truck drivers are in a hurry, don’t want to slow down, don’t pay attention and don’t want to move over. Or, they have a medical emergency.

Our truck accident attorneys licensed in Virginia recently represented the family of a commerical truck driver whose rig broke down on I-95 near Emporia, Virginia. He and his truck were sideswiped by another tractor trailer, and our client died from his injuries a few hours later.

This was a complex truck crash case; the truck driver who caused the accident actually died during negotiations. We eventually showed that the deceased trucker who caused the crash had a medical condition that he knew or should have known could have interfered with his truck driving.

The end result was a successful resolution of a tough truck accident case that provided financial security for the victim’s family – a $2.25 milion wrongful death settlement. 

We do not know if the case in Prince William County involved a distracted trucker or one having a medical emergency. A dedicated and experienced personal injury attorney would be able to find out.