Personal Injury Case Analysis: Road Rage - Semi Wreck - I465

A few years ago, our personal injury law firm, Craig, Kelley, & Faultless, received a phone call from a person who indicated that he and his wife had been injured in an accident with a semi on I465, on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Since our law firm regularly handles personal injury law claims resulting from car accidents involving semis and other heavy trucks, it wasn’t unusual for us to get such a call. However, it turned out that this case wasn’t the typical case because it involved road rage.

Our clients, a husband and wife, were heading west on I465, north of Indianapolis. Traffic was heavy. The husband was driving and was in the left passing lane. He switched to the middle lane. He pulled into a gap in front of a semi. The semi driver took offense to our client cutting in front of his semi tractor. In retaliation, the semi driver sped up and tailgated our clients. Our client took offense to the semi driver’s action, so he brake-checked the semi.

The brake checking made the semi driver angry. At this point, both drivers were engaging in bad and dangerous behaviors, but no one had gotten hurt. Unfortunately, things would escalate when the semi driver got as close as possible to our client’s bumper and hit his horn. This startled my clients, and the husband reached his arm out the window and flipped off the semi driver. My client then switched back to the passing lane where there was an opening and he accelerated to get away from the semi.

At this point, the semi driver completely lost his cool and started chasing after my clients. My clients were cutting in and out of traffic, with the semi doing the same thing. My client, realizing this was dangerous, called 911 and reported what happened. My clients got into the right slow lane, but the semi came in behind them. They were passing an exit. So, as they passed the exit at a high speed, they swerved onto the exit ramp at the last second. The truck was going too fast to make the turn, so it missed the exit. My clients thought they had gotten away from the semi driver. The semi driver, after missing the exit ramp, turned the semi and ran off the road through the grass, down a hill toward my clients. He cut off my clients and crashed the semi into them, knocking both vehicles off the road. The wreck was witnessed by passengers who stopped to aid my clients. They had to stop the semi driver, who got out of his wrecked truck and was yelling and heading towards my clients, who were in shock. He continued to go after them on foot, and they had to get into someone else’s car to keep away from the trucker.

We sued the truck driver and the company he worked for. Ultimately, the case settled after the truck driver’s insurance carriers paid for the harm the trucker caused.

Road rage is a scary problem. I just heard about three shootings this weekend resulting from road rage incidents. The lesson is to do nothing to escalate the situation – even if you feel like you did nothing wrong. Never drive aggressively with a semi. Semi drivers are driving a vehicle that could weigh up to 40 tons. A road rage semi wreck could result in catastrophic injury or death.