A tractor trailer driver was cited in a serious crash on I-20 in Augusta, Georgia that sent four people to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries. 

The Georgia State Patrol stated that the tractor trailer driver was entering the highway and collided with at least five cars and another tractor trailer.

The police added that the first tractor trailer caught on fire as a result of the crash. The truck driver suffered minor injuries.

Our View

Our Virginia and North Carolina tractor trailer crash attorneys are glad that no one died in this truck accident. But there is no question that truck accidents such as these happen on American highways with too much frequency.

The Virginia CDL manual stresses the importance of truck drivers using care when they are entering traffic. Trucks are much bigger and heavier than most vehicles, and truck drivers must allow more space to enter traffic safely.

The CDL manual also states taht it is critical for truck drivers to make their presence known to others and to manage space around the truck carefully.

Truck Driver Negligence Can Lead to Terrible Injuries

Unfortunately, there are many truck crashes each year where a negligent truck driver does not do his job properly and leaves others with life-changing injuries. For example, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states that there were 3852 people killed in truck crashes in 2015, and 70% were occupants of other vehicles.  We see too many of such cases. For example our Virginia truck accident law firm settled a serious truck crash case for $5.5 million, along with a structured annuity that will pay $21 million to clients over several years.

In that case, our clients had stopped at a traffic light just a few blocks from their house. The father and mother were in the front seat, and the children were in the back. A truck driver was driving in the area making several stops at various eating establishments.

In court, he testified that he remembered turning on the street in Virginia Beach where the crash happened. The ext thing he remembered was getting out of the truck after he had basically run over the small car.

Witnesses stated that they saw the tractor trailer approach the car from the rear, never slowed, and slammed into the vehicle at 40 MPH.

The truck driver cliamed that he had fainted due to a sudden medical emergency. However, there was no evidence found by doctors that he had any type of medical condition that would have caused him to faint. Whatever the cause of his failure to stop, he caused serious brain injuries to the two young girls in the back seat.

Truck drivers should remember that their vehicles are massive, and can cause horrible injuries and death to innocent drivers.