In a typical Missouri truck accident, truck drivers escape relatively unscathed, while drivers of smaller cars, mopeds, motorcycles, and pedestrians take the brunt of the damage.
That’s not always the case.
Consider a sad but confusing case out of Fort Worth, Texas. A man driving a Dodge Dakota pickup plowed into a moving train near Meacham Airport and died at the scene. The accident occurred early in the morning, around 7:15, and investigators have yet to figure out what exactly happened. According to a spokesperson for the railroad, the crossing gates had been down and the warning lights were flashing, when the driver slammed into the 119 car-length train.
Interestingly, it took the train a whole mile to stop (!), since no one on the crew knew about the accident. According to company spokesperson, Joe Faust, ithat particular crossing [where the accident happened] had protected gates and flashersOeit had the maximum protection. I don’t want to speculate on what may have happened with the driver.i According to Faust, it’s uncommon for vehicles to drive into trains, but it’s not without precedent, either.
Most truck accidents in Missouri do not constitute a “fair fight”
Odds are that the train was at least 100 times more massive than the Dakota pickup truck that smashed into it. Lighter vehicles tend to be more vulnerable to damage during collisions, due to their reduced mass. Typically, trucks are the most massive vehicles involved in collisions. An 18-wheeler, for instance, has an enormous mass advantage over a passenger car, which in turn has a big mass advantage over a motorcycle, which in turn has a big mass advantage over a pedestrian. But a train with 119 cars obviously has an enormous mass advantage over practically any vehicle on the road.
Picking up the pieces
The aftermath of a truck accident can be a confusing time, even if you and your fellow passengers escaped serious injury. Avoid the mistake of iwaiting until you feel betteri to initiate an investigation into your potential liability case. The more time that you let elapse before you seek legal help, the more time you give the liable trucking company and/or that company’s insurer to craft a defense against any action that you might consider bringing. Call the team here at Carey, Danis & Lowe for a free consultation, and let us help you make strategic decisions.
