Trucking accidents often don’t get much coverage on the local news. Stories covering such accidents are so common, they often are only mentioned in passing. This is partly because of their frequency, but also because details are often scarce at the time of the accident. For example, consider the following two stories, each reported in only small press-release style stories in their respective areas.
Near Goshen Township in Ohio, a semi accident left two people dead on Sunday, Dec 11. At 11 am that morning, at the intersection of Ohio’s State Routes 165 and 45, the driver of a Toyota Rav4 failed to yield and was struck by a semi truck. According to a state highway patrol officer, the driver of the semi “indicated he did see the vehicle in the intersection, pull into the intersection. He tried to take evasive action by hitting his brakes and he then swerved to the left to try and avoid the collision. But after impact, both vehicles were forced off the west side of the road.”
The two passengers in the Rav4 were killed, and the driver of the truck was injured. Names have not yet been released.
In the second story, a semi truck accident near Bozeman, Montana, a woman died. Happening in late November, the accident took place on State Highway 2 in the early afternoon. This accident is a bit unusual in that it involved no other vehicles, yet still involved a passenger death. The driver and a passenger were in the cab of the vehicle, when a strong gust of wind pushed the truck into the guard rail on the side of the road. The truck overturned a moment later, and the 40 year old passenger was killed in the crash.
This case illustrates that a semi truck is even a danger to itself if the driver is unable to control it properly.
Again, both cases have relatively few facts and barely got a mention on the news, but both illustrate potential dangers around semi trucks and similarly sized vehicles.
