Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer - Tractor-Trailer Accidents

Tanker Explodes into Ball of Fire - Driver of Stalled Vehicle Arrested

Sandy Grinnell — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:30:29 GMT

Authorities have arrested the driver of the station wagon that was abandoned in the middle of I-95 yesterday that caused a massive explosion. A tanker filled with thousands of gallons of gasoline struck the vehicle and the tanker burst into flames but not before the semi driver was able to leap from the cab with only a minor burns on his left arm.

The accident occurred near the Palm Beach International Airport (P.B.I.A.). While there was thousands of gallons of fuel, the huge fire only lasted a couple of hours. It was the firefighting equipment from the airport that enabled authorities to contain the blaze so quickly.

According to the West Palm Beach News, the driver of the station wagon and his passenger were unable to push the stalled vehicle from the highway. The driver told authorities that when they saw the tanker coming, they just ran.

The driver was charged with driving without a valid license and leaving an accident scene without assisting or staying to provide information.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

NTSB Proposes New Safety Recommendations

Sandy Grinnell — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:41:00 GMT

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has proposed new safety recommendations for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

The NTSB reviewed two separate accidents in which a truck towing a trailer full of acetylene tanks overturned, one in Louisiana and the other in Colorado. In both accidents the acetylene tanks were ejected from their trailer. Then they caught fire due to either the valves were wither broken off when thrown from the trailer, or melted from the resulting fire.

The NTSB has made the following safety recommendation to the PHMSA:

Modify 49 Code of Federal Regulations173.301 to clearly require (1) that cylinders be securely mounted on mobile acetylene trailers and other trailers with manifolded cylinders to reduce the likelihood of cyliners being ejected during and accident and (2) that the cylider valves, piping and finttils be protected from mulitdirectional impact forces that are likely to occur during highway accidents, including rollovers. (H-09-1)

It is somewhat perplexing that these types of safety recommendations are even necessary when you would think that common sense would have prevailed long ago. How can one not know that speeding down the highway with acetelyne tanks on a trailer would be a potentially dangerous situation and that extra safety precautions should be taken?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

Deadly School Bus Accident in Ocala

Diego Madrigal — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:05:00 GMT

There has been a deadly school bus vs. semi crash in Marion County. According to the reports, the bus had stopped to unload students when a semi truck failed to stop and crashed into the bus. The bus was pushed 200 feet forward and then burst into flames. The cabin of the semi also caught fire.

Thankfully, some witnesses to the horrible accident were able to react quickly and get most of the kids off of the bus themselves. Unfortunately, one of the students, who attended either North Marion Middle or High School, did not make it. However, without those Good Samaritans, the accident could have been much worse.

It is not clear at this point if the driver of the semi had been driving for a long period of time, or what other factors contributed to the crash. There are special regulations that apply to semi drivers in order to prevent accidents such as this one. That is because the consequences that can arise from mistakes when driving a large vehicle can be tragic.

We hope that all the parties involved in the auto accident can recover quickly and that the remaining questions about the accident are answered soon.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Diego Madrigal