Posted on August 14, 2012 in Commercial Vehicle Accidents

On July 31, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, the VDOT employee was headed west on State Route 460 in a backhoe. Now, an employee of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is dead following a commercial vehicle accident in Oakwood. A semi-truck accident resulted after a tractor-trailer struck the machine.

Backhoes are a common element at construction sites around the state, and are used to dig various types of ditches or trenches. Of course, like most pieces of heavy machinery, they are unable to move quickly out of the way of other vehicles. As a result, backhoes and their operators are especially vulnerable to tractor-trailer accidents and other tragedies.

According to a sergeant for the Virginia State Police, the amber warning lights on the rear of the backhoe were functioning when the incident occurred. The truck's driver, just 25 years old, told police he was trying to change lanes when the crash brought both men's working days to a screeching halt.

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 Posted on August 07, 2012 in Truck Accidents

Despite making for some comical headlines, a tractor-trailer accident that involved spilled cucumbers on the Beltway turned out to be no laughing matter. On the typically busy weekday morning of July 31, a car changing lanes caused a chain reaction accident on the crowded Virginia portion of the interstate.

The car hit a box truck, which in turn collided with a tractor-trailer hauling vegetables. The resulting truck crash involved the tractor trailer slamming into the wall and then into a nearby SUV. While no fatalities resulted from the incident, the chaotic scene reminded drivers that, often, there is simply no way to avoid a truck accident.

After the tractor-trailer made impact with the SUV, the vehicle overturned and spewed cucumbers into rush hour traffic.

While not a toxic chemical or inherently dangerous presence, the produce nonetheless had the potential to throw passing drivers' commutes for a loop. Any time a truck overturns and spills its contents, fellow motorists run the risk of crashing into each other due to the need for rapid steering away from the scattered articles.

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 Posted on August 01, 2012 in Drunk Driving Accidents

One place where most people would never expect to be the victim of a drunk driver is one's own home. However, for several residents of Hampton, Virginia, the walls of their house were not enough to protect them from a DUI suspect and his careening vehicle.

The disturbing drunk driving accident occurred on July 19, early on a weekday morning. A middle-aged man was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that struck a parked car. The impact sent the truck veering into a nearby residence.

Thankfully, no one was in the parked car when the driver of the truck collided with it. However, three adults were in the house that also received a blow from the pickup truck.

One of the individuals inside the home at the time of the incident later required transport to a local hospital.

The injuries proved non-life-threatening, but the affected residents were still quite shaken-up.

According to the home's owner, the incident didn't appear to be a car accident at first; he thought a plane had crashed into the home. Furniture toppled over and occupants expressed gratitude that nothing worse followed.

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 Posted on July 24, 2012 in Car Accidents

A car accident in Lynchburg, Virginia provided a jarring start to the week, as a total of seven people had to visit a hospital after the July 15 collision. The auto accident happened when a car headed north on Boonsboro road crossed lanes. The northbound vehicle eventually traveled all the way over the center lane, striking a van head-on.

Initially, a total of four people were in critical condition after the car crash, but seven in all had injuries requiring hospital treatment. The 75-year-old driver of the car that crossed lanes was among those in critical condition following the incident. One passenger in the van, a 5-year-old child, required airlift to the University of Virginia Hospital. Two other van passengers also sustained critical injuries.

According to the first responders at the scene, both vehicles were rendered nearly unrecognizable by the accident's damage. The captain of a Lynchburg fire battalion noted the seriousness of the injuries involved in the crash. He told local media that when responders arrived, some of those hurt were outside of their vehicles, while others were trapped inside their cars.

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 Posted on July 19, 2012 in Truck Accidents

Just one day before the Fourth of July holiday, a Florida resident was involved in a fatal truck accident in Loudon County, Virginia. The woman was a utility worker who had traveled to the state to help with power restoration efforts following this summer's severe weather. The truck's driver was in a convoy of several Gulf Power trucks was in the state to help Virginia power crews restore power to residents more quickly.

According to a witness, the Florida utility worker's truck appeared to lose braking function on a downhill grade, with its driver unable to gain control. The witness observed that as the truck careened downhill, it seemed to pick up speed.

After possibly experiencing brake problems, the 57-year-old utility worker swerved into another Freightliner vehicle, a truck tractor-semitrailer. A third vehicle, a Toyota Tacoma, became involved in the accident after being hit by the semitrailer.

The Toyota's driver and passenger both required treatment at a local hospital. Both have been released. The driver of the semitrailer also received medical attention, as did a passenger in the utility worker's truck.

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 Posted on July 11, 2012 in Drunk Driving Accidents

As sections of the state continue to recover from recent severe weather conditions, state authorities are putting the heat on a different type of event: drunk driving.

The state of Virginia is proactive in targeting drunk drivers and pursuing justice for victims of drunk driving accidents. This year, Operation Combined Accident Reduction Effort involved 75 percent of uniformed state troopers working over the long holiday weekend hoping to prevent head-on collisions, permanent disabilities and other horrific consequences of intoxicated driving.

Holidays, of course, are well-known for increased police presence in most states. Summer holidays attract even more law enforcement activity, as opportunities for drinking and driving abound at parties, festivals and other social events.

Last year, Virginia police arrested more than 115 people for drunk driving over the Fourth of July holiday. At this time a year ago, police in the state also responded to 14 fatal car accidents that involved some form of drunk driving.

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 Posted on July 03, 2012 in Commercial Vehicle Accidents

Virginia State Police are still unclear if a dump truck somehow came out of gear, or if it was never placed into gear in the first place during a recent and deadly incident. Either way, a woman from Boones Mill, Virginia lost her life in a fatal commercial vehicle accident that occurred in Boones Mill.

The victim was a 74-year-old woman who had been standing behind a dump truck when it rolled backwards, striking her and causing instant catastrophic fatal injuries. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene.

Truck accidents have splashed across Virginia's news outlets several times recently. On June 25, a garbage truck careened into the back of a residence in Pantops. Brake failure is blamed for that jarring incident, and both its driver and a fellow worker received minor injuries during the event.

Just one day earlier, on June 24, a man fell nearly one hundred feet down a ravine in Prince George's County when he leapt out of the way of a tractor-trailer truck.

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 Posted on June 28, 2012 in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents

Fatal motor vehicle accidents do not discriminate based on the age of victims, and a recent crash in Hanover, Virginia, is no exception. One adult is now dead as the result of a collision that occurred recently. Three young children, along with another adult, received injuries from the incident, and police arrested the driver of one of the vehicles on charges of driving under the influence.

Such accidents are not, unfortunately, uncommon on summer weekends. Virginia police routinely see the effects of deadly road accidents on their nighttime patrols: death, mental pain and suffering and the development of traumatic memories.

The accident occurred on a Saturday night, with one car and one SUV full of passengers colliding head-on and producing a fatality and serious injuries. Officials believe the driver of the car is responsible for the tragedy. The arrested driver was injured himself, while the female victim who later passed away was a passenger in his car. The injured children had been riding in the larger SUV.

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 Posted on June 21, 2012 in Car Accidents

Whether the person behind the wheel is an A-list celebrity or an everyday commuter on any street in Virginia, car accidents can spur a chain of events affecting multiple lives. For former child star Lindsay Lohan, a recent auto accident has created a ripple of legal and financial complications.

At this point, all that is certain is that Lohan was in a rented Porsche that rear-ended a dump truck in California earlier this month. The actress has given multiple accounts of the resulting accident and may now be in more legal trouble due to her prior criminal history. This spring marked the end of a supervised probation period for the starlet; she had previously accumulated charges of drunk driving and shoplifting.

Motorists in Virginia can take heed from Lohan's troubles, as the state requires a quick official follow-up to non-minor car accidents. When Virginia law enforcement investigates car accidents, state law requires that police submit a report to the DMV if the incident causes death, personal injury or property damage over $1,000.

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 Posted on June 15, 2012 in Firm News

It is well-known by now that distracted driving can be deadly. In days gone by, distractions were relatively few: changing the radio, lighting a cigarette or a noisy passenger might lead a driver to lose focus for a moment. Nobody a few decades ago could have contemplated that a driver might be talking on the phone or, even more dangerous, sending or receiving a text message.

The advent of widely available cell phones, however, has led to countless car accidents as drivers attempt to answer calls or send messages when they should be driving. Now a teenager has been convicted in one of the first cases of criminal texting while driving. The teen's actions led to the death of a 55-year-old man in a car crash.

The teen driver had sent and received messages in the minutes before the crash. His vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and his car crashed head-on into a truck, killing its driver. The teenager was not seriously hurt in the incident.

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