› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
The first lawsuit against a commercial carrier blaming sleep apnea for contributing to a fatal highway crash was settled earlier this month in Texas. Wanda Lindsay, who became an activist against sleep apnea in the trucking industry after her husband was killed in a May 2010 crash, settled with Celadon for $3 million.
“If you could have seen the scene that killed my husband … or any of the other scenes that have been tied to sleep apnea and truck wrecks, it does look like a war zone,” said Wanda Lindsay of New Braunfels, Texas in a public meeting about the dangers of sleep apnea to commercial truck drivers. “It looks like a truck suicide bomber had gone through the area when John was killed.”
The driver of a fuel tanker told police that he heard a loud pop as he traveled along U.S. 59 in Sugar Land, Texas, Thursday night. He exited the freeway about 11:30 p.m. to investigate and found that the back wheels of his truck, which was laden with 9,000 gallons of diesel, were on fire. The flames quickly engulfed the truck and the vehicle exploded, creating a fire so intense that it burned nearby utility poles and knocked out power to homes and businesses in the area. No injuries were reported.
U.S. government-approved Mexican truck drivers and carriers begin making long-haul deliveries across the border into the United States today under the recommencement of a program mandated by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The cross-border program has resumed despite heated opposition by opponents who claim it will lead to a loss of American jobs, more pollution, and less safe highways.
“I am on a mission. I am going to wage a war against sleep apnea in the trucking industry,” says Wanda Lindsay in an introductory video for a foundation she started to raise awareness about the dangers of sleep apnea and to honor the memory of her husband John.
A Houston Metro bus driver died Thursday morning after suddenly losing control of a city bus he was driving on Texas 288 in South Houston. Authorities said David Sayers, a 40-year-old father of two girls, died at the scene of the crash. Sayer’s death was the municipal bus agency’s first driver fatality in at least 20 years. No other injuries were reported.
A tractor trailer laden with watermelons overturned on Highway 68 near Bullhead City, Arizona, Tuesday, spilling its cargo across a long stretch of the road and injuring the driver.
“Thank God for seatbelts, airbags, and fire extinguishers,” Texas state trooper Roy Tower told ABC affiliate KLTV after responding to a fiery crash involving a passenger car and a commercial truck Tuesday morning. Those three items, plus the help of another commercial truck driver who witnessed the accident and stopped to help, saved the lives of two adults and three children involved in the crash.
Heavy trucks get a bad rap in the news all the time, so it’s nice when some of the heroes of the trucking industry get the attention they deserve for their courageous, lifesaving acts on the road. Thanks to the Goodyear North America Highway Hero Awards, commercial truck drivers are celebrated every year for their good deeds.
A report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette demonstrates the considerable costs to society when commercial trucking companies fail to take industry rules and regulations seriously. On Thursday, the paper reported that a driver who ignored a sign on Interstate 70 just south of Pittsburgh and struck a bridge had a similar crash two years ago.
