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Three-Year-Old Killed on I-95 Wreck With Tractor-Trailer

By Eddie Farah

A three-year-old Pittsburgh boy died in a crash on Interstate-95 in McIntosh County, Georgia Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses say a tractor-trailer, was heading at a high rate of speed before it hit the rear of the 2007 Toyota Sienna van carrying a family of five from Pittsburgh.

The mother, Susan Thornton, was driving and her husband, Daniel, and three children were in the van with everyone buckled in. When the big-rig struck the back of the van, it was pushed onto the shoulder of I-95 and into the tree line, several trees were downed as both vehicles plowed through the trees.

Looking at the wreck, it is amazing anyone lived. Three sets of Jaws of Life had to cut the six victims from the two vehicles. Susan Thornton is in critical condition, another child was seriously injured and her husband and two other children have non life-threatening injuries.

The tractor-trailer was driven by Willie Hill of Jacksonville who was hospitalized in Savannah with a broken pelvis and leg.

WSB-TV News in Atlanta is reporting that charges are pending against the driver.

Our condolences go out to the family involved in this tragic accident that does not appear to be their fault.

According to federal data from 2008, speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to about 31 percent of fatal crashes.

Large Trucks And Fatal Crashes

Large trucks account for about 8 percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and four percent of all vehicles involved in injury and property damage crashes in 2008. In the majority of cases - 74 percent – of the large trucks involved in fatal crashes in 2008, collided with other vehicles.

Nearly one-quarter of all large-truck drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2008 had at least one prior speeding conviction, as did 18 percent of passenger car drivers.

In Florida in 2008, 269 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes in Florida, exceeded only by California (304) and Texas (421), according to NHTSA data.

263 people lost their lives in 2008 in Florida collisions with a large truck, a number that has been in decline since 2004.

A typically fully loaded large commercial truck can weigh over 80,000 pounds, while an automobile weighs about 3,000 pounds. And the unfortunate fact is that 98 percent of fatalities in crashes with a large truck occur to people in the passenger vehicle.

Freight drivers are under tremendous pressure to get the freight delivered on time and an investigation needs to be conducted immediately into what pressure was being put on the driver by the freight company.

Federal regulations govern the trucking industry and involve hours-of-service of the driver and driver logs, electronic records of miles covered, maintenance of the rig. I would want to know about the training of the driver and whether he was distracted by the multitude of electronics one sometimes maintains in the cab, such as monitors, cell phones, texting or entering data into onboard equipment to stay in touch with his freight company.

Florida drivers can report bad drivers, drunk driver, disabled motorists or suspicious incidents by dialing * FHP from their cell phone as part of the Share the Road campaign. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).