Personal Injury Law

Mother, 3 Children Hurt When Semi Truck Runs Stop Sign In Spaulding County, Georgia

By Brett Emison

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB TV have reported that a Hampton, Georgia mother and her three children were seriously injured when they were struck by a tractor trailer that had run a stop sign.

A mother and her three kids were transported to area hospitals after being involved in an accident with a tractor-trailer in Spalding Thursday afternoon.

The incident occurred around 2:35 Thursday afternoon at the intersection of High Falls Road and North McDonough Road.

Cindy Lynn Fain, 38, of Hampton, was driving her Dodge minivan west on High Falls Road when Solomon Debela, 37, of Tucker, ran a stop sign and slammed into the passenger side of the van. Debela was traveling south on North McDonough.

Fain and her three kids, Landon Todd, 2; Jason Todd, 4 and Josieanna Arriaga, 5, were injured seriously in the crash, said Lt. Paul Cosper, Georgia State Patrol spokesman.

The children were airlifted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. Fain was transported to Spalding Regional Medical Center. Their conditions were unknown by Cosper and would not be released by hospital officials.

The accident is still under investigation, said Cosper. Debela has been charged with failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to obey a traffic control device and charged for driving a truck on a no-thru truck road.

Too many people have been killed by semi truck crashes and trucking accidents.

Nationwide, large trucks (known as tractor trailers, semi trucks, eighteen wheelers, diesel, big rigs, or commercial trucks) make up only about 3% of the vehicles on the road. However, they account for far more traffic fatalities. For example, in Missouri, semi truck crashes make up as much as 15% of traffic deaths. In Illinois, tractor trailer crashes cause more than 10% of traffic deaths.

The National Transportation Safety Board ("NTSB") lists the following as some of the most common causes of big rig accidents:

• Poor Driver Training

• Driver Fatigue (Tiredness)

• Speeding

• Overloaded Trucks

• Oversized Trucks

• Brake Failure

• Poor Driving Conditions

• Driver Inexperience

• Failure To Yield The Right-Of-Way

• Driving Under The Influence of Alcohol Or Drugs

• Aggressive, Dangerous Or Reckless Driving

• Mechanical Failure (Or Improper Maintenance)

• Defective Parts (Such As Defective Steering Or Brakes)

Truckers and trucking companies must be mindful of each of these trucking accident causes.

Visit our trucking accident web site to learn more about trucking accident safety or trucking accident investigation.

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Full post as published by Kansas City Personal Injury Lawyer on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).