Wal-Mart sued over fatal truck collision

Tracy Morgan has sued Wal-Mart for its part in causing the deadly crash that he was involved in.

If you are a Saturday Night Live or 30 Rock fan, you have probably heard about the recent truck accident involving comedian Tracy Morgan. During the accident, a semi-trailer, which was traveling about 20 mph over the speed limit, plowed into the limousine van containing Morgan and several other fellow comedians. It was determined that truck driver fatigue was responsible for the accident, since the driver admitted that he had not slept in over 24 hours.

As a direct result of the driver’s negligence, Morgan suffered several serious injuries such as several fractured ribs, a broken nose and a broken leg. Unfortunately, one of Morgan’s fellow comedians perished in the tragic, but preventable, truck accident.

Morgan recently filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, the employer of the truck driver, alleging that the company was negligent for allowing the truck driver to drive when it knew or should have known how little sleep that he was operating on.

Accidents becoming more problematic

Morgan’s accident brought a rarely discussed issue to the nation’s attention-fatal truck accidents. Unfortunately, recent statistics suggest that such accidents are becoming more and more common on the nation’s roads.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate that the number of people killed in fatal truck accidents increased by four percent between 2011 and 2012 alone. All in all, 3,921 people were killed during this period. Unfortunately, the trend goes further than the 2011-2012 period. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that the number of fatal truck accidents increased 18 percent overall between 2009 and 2012.

Considering that NHTSA statistics indicate that truckers currently are driving 2.5 percent fewer miles each year than they were in 2008, the trend towards more fatal truck accidents is quite disturbing.

An attorney can help

Unfortunately, Virginia is not immune to this trend. According to the NHTSA, 85 Virginians were killed in fatal truck accidents during 2012. This is the highest number of fatalities since before 2008.

When a truck collides with a smaller motor vehicle, the probability of a fatality or serious injury is much higher than in a car accident, due to the truck’s gargantuan size and weight. Unfortunately, many truck accidents are not “accidents,” since they would not have occurred but for negligence of the driver, truck company or truck manufacturer.

When involved in a truck accident, it is important that the cause of the accident be thoroughly investigated. An experienced personal injury attorney can work with investigators and accident reconstructionists to determine why the collision occurred. If negligence is involved, an attorney can help you recover compensation that you are legally entitled to under Virginia law.

Keywords: truck accidents, driver fatigue