Four teenagers are dead after an SUV and tractor trailer struck each other on April 25 in Fulton County, Georgia, near Atlanta. 

All of the deceased teenagers were confirmed to be students at a local high school. A fifth student also was injured.

The tractor trailer wreck occurred at Campbellton Fairburn and Butner roads in south Fulton, Georgia. Four boys and a girl were inside the Lincoln SUV when it apparently ran a red light and was high at high speed by a big rig.

The tractor trailer driver also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The school system for the county sent a counseling team to the high school to help staff and students deal with the tractor trailer crash tragedy.

Our View

Our hearts go out to the families of the teenagers who lost their lives in this terrible tractor trailer accident. As tractor trailer crash attorneys in Virginia and North Carolina, we are accustomed to tractor trailer drivers engaging in negligent behavior and injuring or killing innocent people.

In this case, however, it appears that the teenager driving the Lincoln failed to stop at a red light, and tragedy unfolded.

This disastrous truck accident is a grim reminder of the importance of always paying close attention to the road while driving. It is very easy for a carful of teens to distract the driver from driving.

These types of tragic truck crashes can be avoided by teen drivers only having one other person in the vehicle. The more people are in the car or truck, the greater the chance that he or she could be distracted.

We urge parents to use caution in allowing their teens to drive and to only have so many people in the vehicle at one time. If fewer teenagers were in the SUV, this accident may have been avoided.

The tractor trailer driver in this case appears to have done nothing wrong, but he suffered injuries that could affect his ability to earn a living. And there is little doubt that he will be emotionally traumatized by such a terrible accident.

We as personal injury lawyers have previously represented truck drivers who have been injured by other drivers. In one case, we represented the family of a truck driver whose breadwinner was sideswiped and killed by another truck driver. This truck crash led to a $2.25 million settlement. When someone acts negligently and hurts or kills someone, the innocent truck driver or his loved ones have the right to collect damages.