Interstate 80 Quad Cities truck accident
The Quad Cities truck accident on Interstate 80 on Monday evening illustrates how easily everyday driving can turn deadly. The truck wreck involved two private vehicles and two tractor-trailers, and proved fatal for two individuals, one from each of the private vehicles. Media outlets have released information about the victims: a local woman from Milan, IL and a man from the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, IL.
That the two fatalities were in the private vehicles rather than the tractor-trailers is no surprise to Quad Cities truck accident lawyers: when truck meets car, truck usually wins. News footage and photos of the involved vehicles is breathtaking, and the truck crash has been called “fiery.” Police report that the incident occurred on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, in the eastbound lane of I-80. It appears that the ongoing I-80 road construction was a factor in the accident, as both private vehicles were struck from behind by the semi-trailers while waiting in slowed or stopped traffic approaching a construction zone. These types of fatalities are all too common in truck accidents.
The Illinois Department of Transportation puts the number of roadway crash fatalities so far in 2009 at 294. In the year 2007 (the most current data available), there were 16,112 crashes involving tractor-trailers in Illinois. Though truck crashes account for only 3.8 percent of total crashes, they account for 9.9 percent of all crash fatalities.
Surviving family members should know in their time of loss that this type of collision is routinely litigated by Quad Cities truck accident attorneys, who understand the burden of responsibility borne by truck drivers, piloting so much weight and speed down our highways. While we cannot know precisely what happened on Monday night, we do know that work crews make every effort to mark construction zones clearly and extensively, and that one vehicle rear-ending another stopped vehicle is rarely a case of both drives sharing responsibility.
With Interstate 80 construction projected long into the future, we can only hope that caution and safety will prevail: Quad Cities truck accidents are far too dangerous for anything else.
Tags: Interstate 80, Lawyer, quad cities, quad cities truck accident, truck accident
