We won’t go into great detail here, but it is instructive to remind people that being involved in a traffic accident with a larger and more massive commercial vehicle can have a significant effect on the extent of one’s injuries following a roadway collision. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues understand the law as it pertains to personal injury caused by a collision with an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer rig, commercial box truck, cement mixer or dump truck, even a city bus or airport shuttle.
How often do these types of accident occur? From our perspective, often enough to merit extreme caution when driving with one’s family along Maryland roadways, not to mention dense urban areas. Based on statistics compiled over the years, trucking accidents involving passenger cars can result in extensive, if not serious bodily injury to the automobile’s driver and occupants. Even large, so-called safer sport utility vehicles are not much of a match for a 20-ton tractor-trailer rig carrying a full load.
So what happens when truck meets truck on the highway? Unlike the mismatch between commercial vehicles and smaller autos, two trucks of near equal mass will likely suffer similar damage, depending on the circumstances. In these types of cases, the drivers and passengers in either vehicle could be at risk of bodily injury such as broken bones, cuts and abrasions, deep lacerations and internal injuries. Because these trucks would be equally matched, the results of a roadway collision can be quite spectacular.
As Baltimore auto accident lawyers, I and my legal staff also know that certain types of debilitating injuries can also result from such a wreck. Neck and spinal cord damage are a couple kinds of injuries that can be experienced by driver and passenger alike. As well, it is not uncommon for individuals to receive back concussions or even suffer serious and life-threatening closed-head trauma, also known as traumatic brain injury, when too large trucks collide with each other on the highway.
We’ll add, too, that any small passenger vehicles, such as a sedan, minivan, economy car or motorcycle caught in a traffic wreck involving commercial trucks can be severely impacted. In such instances, the driver and any passengers of those vehicles can suffer a range of bodily injury, from mild to life-threatening; fatal injuries are also known to occur as a result of a multi-truck pileup.
We bring this topic up today mainly because of a news item that we ran across illustrating the results of a two-truck collision. The accident in question happened along a stretch of Rte 26 near Crum Road in Frederick, Maryland, and involved an 18-wheeler big rig and a slightly smaller box truck. According to news reports, the crash occurred around 3pm as an Isuzu box truck was attempting to make a left turn from the westbound lanes onto a side street, but failed to yield to oncoming traffic.
Based on information provided by the Maryland State Police, a semi coming the opposite way apparently could not stop in time to avoid hitting the box truck. Following the crash, both drivers of the individual vehicles had to be taken to local hospitals for treatment. The box truck driver was choppered out from the crash site and taken to Shock Trauma. Both drivers survived the crash suffering injuries that the news reports indicated were not life-threatening.
Two hurt in tractor trailer crash, ABC2News.com, July 12, 2012