Truck Accidents

Published on: June 4, 2015

The new Electronic Stability Control (ESC) final rule issued by the National Transportation Highway Traffic Safety Administration may prevent as many as 1759 bus and truck accidents as well as 649 personal injuries and 49 deaths every year

A long awaited NHTSA rule has the potential to decrease by 56% untripped rollover crashes (rollover crashes that are not caused by striking an obstacle or leaving the road) of large trucks and big buses. This new rule requires that all Class 7-8 trucks and large buses be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) system. According to the NHTSA “ESC works instantly and automatically to maintain directional control in situations where the driver’s own steering and braking cannot be accomplished quickly enough to prevent the crash.”

This new rule has been a long time coming. The first recommendation to equip large truck and buses with ESC was issued by the NHTSA in 2011.

Read the press release from the NHTSA

Published on: May 29, 2015

Walmart settles Tracy Morgan’s lawsuit almost a year after the comedian suffered severe personal injury in a truck accident during which one of the retailer’s tractor trailers crashed into his limo

By GGCRBHS&M

Tracy Morgan and other people who were injured after a Walmart truck crashed into their limo van have reached a confidential settlement with the retailer. The children of comedian James ‘Jimmy Mack’ McNair who was killed in the accident, settled a separate lawsuit for $10 million last January. Our partner, New York personal injury lawyer Howard Hershenhorn, who is regularly quoted by the New York City Press, told the Daily News that the deal was likely “multiples of that — many, many multiples of that.” He noted that Morgan, Fuqua and Millea have serious injuries they’ll likely deal with the rest of their lives, and that Morgan — who hasn’t worked since the accident — has a strong claim that his injuries have impacted his substantial earning power. Read more here
Picture: wikipedia

Published on: May 15, 2015

William Rockefeller, the sleep deprived engineer who caused the fatal Metro North Train Accident in New York in December 2013 will not face criminal charges

By GGCRBHS&M

In December 2013 4 people died and 70 others suffered personal injury in a Metro North train accident in New York. The National Transportation Board Investigation found that William Rockefeller the engineer who was operating the train had undiagnosed sleep apnea and nodded off just before taking a 30 mph curve at 82 mph, causing the train to derail. Yesterday the office of Bronx DA Robert Johnson said that Rockefeller will not face criminal charges. Read more here

Published on: May 11, 2015

The FMCSA says that truck drivers with controlled insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) don’t pose more of a crash risk than other drivers and proposes a new rule that would allow them to operate in interstate commerce without the inconvenience and added cost of obtaining and maintaining an exemption

By GGCRBHS&M

If a diabetic truck driver is suddenly impaired by an an episode of hypoglycemia he can potentially loose control of his vehicle and crash. Hypoglycemia is a condition in which blood glucose drops to a dangerously low concentration and creates symptoms such as blurred vision, shaking, trembling, unclear thinking, fainting, seizure or coma. Too much insulin relative to the amount of glucose in the bloodstream can cause blood sugar levels to drop too low, resulting in hypoglycemia. Drivers with stable, well-controlled insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) usually don’t suffer from these types of episodes and are not considered more dangerous than other drivers as long as their condition is well controlled. However current regulations prohibit truck drivers from operating interstate commercial vehicles unless they obtain an exemption from The FMCSA. The process of obtaining this exemption is costly and time consuming for the drivers and for the FMCSA administration. A notice of proposed rule making would enable truck drivers with ITDM to obtain a Medical Examiner’s Certificate from a Medical Examiner at least annually in order to operate in Interstate Commerce if the Treating Clinician who is prescribing the insulin for the driver can provide documentation that the truck driver’s diabetic condition is stable and well controlled.

Read more in Trucking Info or read the complete notice of proposed rulemaking

Published on: May 9, 2015

Our partners Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir obtained a $4.6 million verdict for the family of Marylin Dershowitz who was killed by a postal truck while riding her bike

By GGCRBHS&M

New York Personal Injury Lawyer Ben Rubinowitz told the NY Daily News yesterday that the family of Marilyn Dershowitz, was “very pleased” with the verdict of Judge Sarah Netburn who ordered the government to pay out a total of $4,646,548.15 to Dershowitz’s husband, Nathaniel. Rubinowitz said “they feel vindicated knowing Marilyn did nothing wrong and that indeed she was entirely free of fault” but while the money judgment is “a nice thing to have, they are very much aware it could never replace Marilyn. She was one of a kind. She was a tremendous woman. The loss is very real to them, every day of their lives.”

Marylin Dershowitz was riding her bicycle in downtown Manhattan with her husband when she was fatally struck by a postal truck. Last month U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn found the federal government 100% liable for the fatal accident in a 72 page Opinion (see our previous blog).

Also see article in the New York Law Journal

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Published on: May 7, 2015

Do FMCSA investigative practices for high-risk motor carriers protect road users from dangerous truck accidents?

By GGCRBHS&M

To keep the roads safe and prevent truck crashes that can result in serious personal injuries or deaths, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program identifies high-risk motor carriers for further investigations such as targeted roadside inspections and compliance reviews. However some recent high profile truck accidents have raised concern about the efficiency of this program and The Department of Transportation just announced that it will audit the investigative practices of The FMCSA for high risk motor carriers. This audit was initially requested by Senator Dick Durbin after a high risk motor carrier that the FMCSA had neglected to investigate was involved in a fatal truck accident.

Read more in Truckinginfo

Published on: April 20, 2015

A tractor trailer truck crashed into the Memorial for Traffic fatalities in New York before it was even finished

By GGCRBHS&M

Thankfully nobody was injured in a truck accident that happened Saturday at the site of a new Memorial for Traffic Fatalities in Brooklyn, NYC. Activists for the group Right of Way were in the process of creating a huge mural depicting the silhouettes of the 264 people who died in traffic accidents in New York in 2014 when an 18-wheeler plowed into it.

Organizer Keegan Stephan was standing closest. The crash pulled parts of the plywood fence from its frame, and he said he and other volunteers who were wheat-pasting posters down the block had to jump back to avoid being struck. The driver could have done worse. “Fortunately he just hit a wall,” Stephan said. “If someone had been standing there that person would be dead.”

Read more in the NY Daily News and in the Gothamist and see video below for more info about the accident (at 1:40 min) and about the Memorial for people killed in traffic accidents in New York City in 20014

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Published on: April 20, 2015

Three people left in critical condition after a speeding car crashed into the rear of a tractor trailer in Brooklyn, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

Three people were severely injured after a sedan crashed into the rear of a tractor trailer in Brooklyn, New York Saturday around 4:15 am. Officials said the car was going down Flatbush Ave at 110 miles-per-hour when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a Walgreens truck near Kings Highway in Flatlands. The crash was so violent that the BMW was completely destroyed. 3 people were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and another person suffered minor injury. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on: April 10, 2015

Southern District Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled Wednesday that the federal government is “100 percent liable” for a Postal Service trailer crash that killed Marilyn Dershowitz while she was riding her bicycle in New York. Our partners Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Sagir represented the Dershowitz estate

By GGCRBHS&M

Our partners, New York personal injury lawyers Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Sagir represented the family of Marilyn Dershowitz, a retired Manhattan Supreme Court special referee who died in a bicycle accident during which she was hit by a postal tractor trailer truck. Following a two-week bench trial in February U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn found the federal government 100% liable for the fatal accident in a 72 page Opinion.

The accident happened on Saturday July 2, 2011. Marylin and her husband Nathan Dershowitz of Dershowitz, Eiger & Adelson, and the brother of Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, were riding their bikes on West 29th street between Ninth and Tenth Ave in Manhattan, New York. Both were wearing a helmet. As they rode under an overpass connecting two US postal mail facilities, the road was narrowed by a protruding Postal Trailer that was perpendicularly parked at a dock. As Mrs Dershowitz was about to ride her bike in the narrower side way, just behind her another postal trailer, driven by Ian Clement, was competing with a silver minivan to get in first in the narrower roadway as due to the parallel parked trailers to the south and the protruding perpendicular Postal Trailer to the north, cars were not able to travel side-by-side. The postal trailer got in before the minivan but he didn’t see the cyclist and hit her as he was veering to the right to be able to fit into the roadway.

Southern District Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled Wednesday that the federal government was 100 percent liable for the accident. Netburn said “a preponderance of the credible evidence” showed that Clement’s driving and the placement of a postal trailer protruding into the street were the “sole, proximate cause of the decedent’s injuries. Mrs. Dershowitz was not contributorily negligent.”

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Published on: March 4, 2015

20 year old pedestrian dies in a truck accident in New York

By GGCRBHS&M

A tractor trailer fatally hit a young man who was crossing a street in the Bronx, NYC, Tuesday night. The truck accident happened around 10.20 pm. 20 year old Kenny Valette was crossing Webster Ave near E. 174 Street when he was struck by a large truck that was making a right turn from the Cross Bronx Expressway exit ramp. The drivers remained at the scene while Valette was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. Read more in the NY Daily News.

According to NYCcrashmapper.com, 1 pedestrian, 11 passengers and 3 vehicle drivers suffered personal injury in 29 collisions that took place at the intersection of East 174 street and Webster Ave between August 2011 and February 2014. As shown in the Heat map this intersection is very dangerous.