A Personal Injury Case Analysis - Construction Zone Accidents.

Personal Injury, Wrongful Death Case Analysis

Every year people die in construction zone wrecks. Even more, people suffer serious injuries, such as brain injuries, broken bones, paralysis, and permanent soft tissue injuries. According to Harry Adler from the Institute for Safer Trucking: “One out of every three fatal construction zone crashes involve a large truck.”. See Mr. Adler interviewed on the podcast, After the Crash with David Craig on YouTube.

Below is a brief summary of just a few of the types of cases I have seen involving semis, dump trucks, wreckers, buses, and other commercial motor vehicles in construction zone wrecks. I have been handling personal injury and wrongful death cases for over thirty-five years and I can’t remember a year where our law firm hasn’t been hired to represent the victims or their families as a result of wrecks caused by a semi’s negligence in a construction zone.

Rear-end Collisions

By far the most common type of construction zone accident that I have handled is where our clients are rear-ended by a commercial motor vehicle in a construction zone. These are usually catastrophic collisions and often result in people being killed.

One case we recently settled involved a large trucking company that had semis traveling throughout the United States. Our client was returning from Florida and was on his way back to Indiana. He was a passenger in a van that had stopped for traffic. Traffic had backed up because the three lanes of I65 had been reduced to two lanes for the road construction. This caused a bottleneck and traffic was merging from the left lane into the two remaining lanes.

The van our client was in was the last vehicle in line when it was rear-ended by a semi and knocked off the roadway. The semi then struck another van, smashing it into the rear of another semi-tractor trailer. All but one person died in the van my client was in. The driver of the van that was in front of our client, which was smashed into the vehicle in front of it, also died. The destruction of that van was so terrible that at first, the police didn’t even know there was a vehicle in between the two semis.

That wreck was caused by a semi-driver who fell asleep at the wheel while traveling in excess of the posted construction zone speed limit with his cruise control activated.

Sideswipe Collision

Another common cause of wrecks in construction zones involving semis, big trucks, and other commercial motor vehicles is when the semi comes into the lane next to it, striking the vehicle in that lane. Typically, it is the trailer being pulled that comes into the other lane. These cases can be tough because the semi-driver often denies crossing into the other lane and, instead, blames the other driver.

In a recent case, our clients were driving on the interstate in Tennessee outside of Knoxville when a semi tractor-trailer switched lanes, sideswiping our client’s car, causing it to lose control, spin, and go under the trailer where one of the sets of tires ran over the top of the vehicle, crushing it, and pinning one of our clients in the smashed and destroyed car.

The semi-driver claimed she was maintaining her lane and had no reason to switch lanes when our client’s vehicle switched lanes into her vehicle. Both of our clients suffered severe permanent physical and psychological injuries. Fortunately, we were hired soon after the wreck and our law firm pulled the 911 calls and the witnesses listed on the police report. After our investigator interviewed these witnesses, we were able to prove that our client did nothing wrong and the accident was caused by the semi-driver.

Near-Misses Causing Wrecks

Another cause of semi-wrecks in construction zones is where the semi-trailer crosses into the lane next to it but doesn’t actually make contact with the vehicle in that lane. However, the vehicle in the lane next to the semi had to take corrective action to avoid a wreck, causing the vehicle to lose control and wreck.

We represented a husband and wife who were on I65 northbound heading to Chicago. A semi-tractor trailer came over into the lane to its left. In order to avoid a collision, our client swerved to the left. He was forced off the road, causing him to lose control, spinning, hitting a highway sign, and then spinning into the oncoming southbound traffic of I65. One of our clients suffered a permanent and serious injury. Again, this was a case where the semi-driver denied doing anything wrong. Fortunately, we were able to prove that the wreck was caused by the semi-driver and not our clients.

Stopped Traffic in the Travel Lane of the Construction Zone

We seem to be seeing this type of accident more often. We have had and are currently handling cases where a vehicle stops or breaks down in a construction zone, in one of the travel lanes. We had a case where a semi stopped in the fast lane of a construction zone to check its load. Our client was killed when he ran into the rear of the stopped semi.

We have another case where a semi-driver’s truck broke down and the driver was forced to stop in one of the lanes of travel. There were no emergency pull-off lanes. While stopped, another semi rear-ended our client’s truck, resulting in our client’s death. We blamed the semi-driver who rear-ended our client, the folks in charge of the construction zone, as well as others.

These are just a few of the construction zone wreck cases that we have or are handling involving semis. These cases are different than normal commercial motor vehicle cases. The attorney needs to have the knowledge, experience, and resources to properly handle a commercial motor vehicle construction zone case.

It is imperative that the victims and their families hire a qualified truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Construction zones can change quickly, and it is important to drive, video, and scan the construction zone before it is changed. Witnesses need to be interviewed by your attorney’s investigators before they forget or are influenced by the trucking company and its insurance adjusters. Lastly, it is crucial to preserve the evidence, such as electronic control modules, air bag modules, dash cam footage, cell phone, GPS, and other electronic data. Craig, Kelley, & Faultless LLC and other personal injury attorneys only get paid if they get a settlement or collect a judgment on your behalf. In addition, they typically advance the cost of experts, the investigation, and of the litigation. You only have to reimburse these expenses at the end of the case. So there is no reason not to hire an injury lawyer with the experience, resources, and knowledge to handle construction zone wrecks.