An Anaheim truck crash and two other accidents involving tractor-trailers within 10 days have resulted in death or serious injuries to other motorists. One of the truck crashes involved a dump truck, while another truck accident occurred when a truck lost its load of rocks, causing a motorcycle to spill.
All three accidents, including the Anaheim truck crash, are under investigation.
Anaheim Truck Crash Hospitalizes Motorist
September 28, 2016
The driver of a Toyota Camry was hospitalized after a being hit by a big rig on Anaheim’s 91 Freeway on September 28 at around 4:00 in the morning. The Camry reportedly broke down on the freeway, blocking two lanes. The driver exited his vehicle and was then hit by the big rig. Investigators are looking into the crash, CBS Los Angeles reports. The Camry’s driver was hospitalized with serious injuries. The name of the victim has not yet been released.
All westbound lanes of Highway 91 between freeways 55 and 57 in Anaheim were shut down between around 4:00 and 6:30 a.m. as a result of that accident and a second accident nearby also involving a big rig. Although the driver of the Camry involved in the Anaheim truck crash was transported to a nearby trauma center, California Highway Patrol officers were reportedly investigating the accident as a fatal incident.
Fatal Dump Truck Crash on the 15 Freeway
September 23, 2016
A young driver was killed on September 22 when a dump truck reportedly changed lanes on Interstate 15 at Interstate 210—near the border of Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana—suddenly and collided with another vehicle. The collision caused the other vehicle to spin and roll several times.
Twenty-one-year-old Faith Michaela Hawkins was thrown from her 2006 Toyota Scion XB when it rolled over. She was taken to San Antonio Regional Hospital but declared dead by medical personnel at 12:14 p.m. California Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the accident, according to Victor Valley News.
The driver of the 2009 Kenworth dump truck was identified as Jose Luis Castillo. The accident caused traffic to back up more than a mile during heavy traffic flow.
California Highway Patrol Investigates Fatal Crash After Tractor Trailer Spill
September 22, 2016
California Highway Patrol is investigating what caused almost six tons of rock to spill from the back of a truck onto Highway 14 in Santa Clarita near Sand Canyon Road, causing a crash that took the life of a motorcyclist. Fifty-nine-year-old Keith Earl Worley, a resident of Littlerock, was driving southbound when his 2010 Harley-Davidson motorcycle came across the loose rocks, throwing him from the bike. Moments after Worley’s motorcycle crashed on the rocks a 2002 Honda Civic, driven by a young woman, collided with Worley and the motorcycle, killing Worley. The driver of the Civic was not injured in the accident.
KHTS reports the truck driver did not notice his load of rocks had spilled and was not found until later. A witness to the incident called 911 and reported the truck’s plate. The truck’s owner was then contacted and the driver instructed to wait for the police to meet him. All lanes of the road were closed at 10:00 p.m., with two lanes reopened at around 3:20 a.m.
Although the accident is under investigation, California Highway Patrol reportedly does not suspect drugs or alcohol to be factors.
Big Rig Crash Statistics
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the majority of people who die in accidents involving large trucks are the occupants of smaller passenger vehicles. Of people killed in truck crashes across the US, 71 percent were the occupants of other vehicles, while 72 percent of those injured in crashes involving large trucks were occupants of other vehicles.
The NHTSA defines large trucks as those with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,001 pounds. The administration notes that the majority of fatal collisions between a large truck and another vehicle are head-on or partial head-on collisions. The second most common fatal accident occurs when the front of the second vehicle collides with the rear of the truck.
Meanwhile, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducted a three-year study—called The Large Truck Crash Causation Study—into the causes of truck crashes. The results of the study suggest that accidents involving large trucks are 10 times more likely to be caused by human error rather than other factors, such as weather or road conditions. The study was undertaken by the FMCSA and the NHTSA and included data from fatal and injury crashes over a three-year period in 17 states. Eighty-eight percent of the crashes included in the study were caused by the driver of the large truck or the driver of the other vehicle.
California Truck Accident Attorney
Although many truck crashes involve a direct collision with a truck, there are other factors that can cause an accident without coming into contact with the truck involved. As in the case of the Sand Canyon Road accident, if a truck loses its load or otherwise causes a collision, the consequences can be fatal for other motorists.