Truck Accidents 360 Newswire

Posts Tagged ‘California Truck Accident Lawyers’

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge – The CHP and fire investigators are on Yerba Buena Island examining the remains of a fatal big rig accident which started 200 feet above their heads when the truck driver literally drove off the S-curve on the Bay Bridge at 3:30 AM.

San Francisco big rig truck accident on bay bridge; driver plummets 200 feet to his death

The CHP is still not revealing the name of the driver who died on Yerba Buena Island after his truck came off the Bay Bridge, flew 200 feet then crashed. He was a man from Hayward, CA.

The truck was disintegrated. It was a produce truck from a trucking company out of San Ramon, hauling pears. The driver was traveling westbound on the Bay Bridge in the right lanes.

Eyewitnesses say he drove along at 50 mph, then came to the S-curve where you’re supposed to slow down to 40 mph. He didn’t do that. According to the CHP, he tried to adjust at the last minute, his load shifted and he went off the edge, came all the way down and crashed on Yerba Buena Island.

Sargeant Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) stated that there are Caltrans engineers at the site who are looking at the Bay Bridge to make sure it is structurally safe and also that it is important that the CHP conduct a thorough investigation because there was a loss of life and there was some significant damage as far as the vehicle dropping 200 feet.

The CHP also says that there is nothing wrong with the design of the bridge – even with that S-curve – that zig-zag in the bridge and that there have been about 40 fender benders since it went in on Labor Day. The CHP says that obviously, when you have over a quarter million vehicles per day going over this bridge and you only have 40 fender benders, then there is nothing wrong with the bridge that a little slowing down wouldn’t help. According to the CHP when this driver had his load shift, it was too much and it came over the edge.

There was some concern earlier that there might be someone else in the truck, but it was later determined that there was no one else in the truck. There was 150 gallons of diesel fuel. According to the driver logs that were in his cab, the driver had just filled up. He had a full tank of gas, so there was some concern of what that’s going to do environmentally. The San Francisco Fire Department put down some absorbant material to try to soak up some of that.

Location of San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge Semi Truck accident

So the story is that the driver is dead after driving his semi off the Bay Bridge at the S-curve, crashing on Yerba Buena Island.

This is just the latest accident at the S-curve. Last month a big rig hauling groceries flipped over while taking the S-curve too fast. Nobody was injured in the October 14 crash that time but the truck’s load spilled across the upper decks and closed the bridge trapping drivers for some nine hours. The spilled groceries had to be hauled off by hand until the big rig could be uprighted and cleared. The CHP says the driver didn’t realize the configuration had changed and was going too fast to make the curve. The speed limit is 40 mph but a lot of drivers enter that curve going too fast.

If you need information about truck accident law pertaining to San Francisco, California, talk to a San Francisco truck accident attorney who is qualified to answer your questions. At TruckAccidents360.com, you can find a San Francisco truck accident lawyer who specializes in representing victims involved in semi truck, big rig truck injury accidents.

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PASADENA, CA – On Oct 9, 2009, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed murder charges against Marcos Costa, the 44 year old driver of a semi truck from Everett, Massachusetts who was involved in a tragic accident on April 1, 2009. In the semi truck accident, a 12-year-old girl and her father, Angel Posca, both of Palmdale, CA, were killed when the big rig crashed into their car. The semi truck came barreling down the hill on the Angeles Crest Highway striking their car, then continuing on through the Foothill Boulevard intersection in La Crescenta, Flintridge.

Marcos Costa in a Los Angeles County Courtroom

In the semi truck accident, the big rig’s brakes went out as Costa was coming down the Angeles Crest Highway approaching the intersection at Foothill Blvd. The big rig struck the vehicle carrying Posca and his daughter north of the intersection, then continued on down the hill colliding with several vehicles along the way. The truck came to a stop when it plowed into the Flintridge Bookstore.

Below you can see the skid marks from the semi truck skidding to a stop in the Flintridge Bookstore.

Scene of the truck accident where the skid marks end in the Flintridge Bookstore

Costa was originally charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter. Subsequently, a Los Angeles County grand jury returned an indictment of two counts of murder against him with additional charges of great bodily injury to be added to the vehicular manslaughter charges. Costa also had three counts of reckless driving, causing injury to three other victims.

Costa is being held in custody on $600,000 bail. Even though the murder charges have been dismissed, he still faces five charges of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving. Costa’s attorney, Steve Meister, said “This case was a tragic accident, not a murder.” If convicted, he faces more than eight years in prison.

In response to the tragic April 1st semi truck accident, immediately afterwards a 90-day ban was instituted prohibiting five-axle trucks from traversing the steep Angeles Crest Highway between the 210 Freeway and the Angeles Forest Highway. The temporary ban was made permanent at a later time.

Below is a Google street view of the scene of the accident at the intersection of Angeles Crest Highway and Foothill Blvd. You can click and drag your mouse button and pan around and see the storefront of the Flintridge Bookstore where the semi truck came to a halt.

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Los Angeles truck accident lawyer for victims, Steve Gordon, talks about how How Bad Truck Brakes Cause Accidents. See video.

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BAKERSFIELD, CA – On Thursday, Sep 24 about 9:00 am, a semi truck big rig took a turn too fast on Highway 58 near Bakersfield, California about two miles east of Broome Road and tipped over, spilling a load of empty tequila bottles. The truck accident caused westbound lanes of Hwy 58 between Bakersfield and Tehachapi to be shut down until about 4:30 pm later that afternoon.

Ed Smith, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported that the driver of a big rig semi truck was heading westbound on Highway 58 when he took a curve too fast. That caused the trailer of the big rig to overturn and slam into another big rig. The truck crash spilled empty tequila bottles all over the roadway. No injuries were reported.

Crews spent several hours cleaning up the mess. All westbound lanes were closed for longer than expected. At least one westbound lane of Highway 58 east of Broome Road remained closed until 4:30 pm.

The semi truck accident occurred when the 35 year old driver, Lakhvir Pandher Singh, was attempting to pass another tractor-trailer driven by 43 year old Jorawar Singh, when he lost control of the big rig and overturned. Smith stated that Pandher Singh was attempting to pass another big rig at an unsafe speed while he was going into a left-hand turn. The semi truck overturned and stuck the back half of the other tractor trailer rig. Both drivers were from Fresno, California.

Semi truck accident on Highway 58 near Bakersfield, CA - Photo: Nick Smirnoff

Smith said that when the truck was removed from the highway at about 2:20 pm,  lifting it from the pavement caused more of the cargo to fall out onto the roadway. This is what extended the cleanup time longer than expected.

Google street view – Click and drag your mouse button to get the lay of the land and to pan around the scene of the accident:

View Larger Map

Smith also stated that the westbound lanes of Highway 58 were closed at State Route 202 until shortly after 5 pm, Thursday. During this time motorists had to detour over to Woodford Tehachapi Road to be able to reach Tehachapi or to be able to access Highway 58 at Keene Ranch.

OCEANSIDE, CA – One person was killed in a semi truck accident on the southbound I-5 near Highway 78 at about 6:50 am this morning, Sep 17th. The semi-truck was traveling on the connector from the southbound Interstate 5 to the eastbound Highway 78 when it rolled on top of a sedan, killing one person.  San Diego county coroner’s office officials were dispatched to the scene at 7:13 am according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

Interstate 5 and Highway 78 near the Oceanside-Carlsbad border

The CHP closed the Cassidy Street onramp to southbound I-5, the Los Flores on-ramp at Jefferson, the south I-5 connector to Eastbound Highway 78  and the West Highway 78 to Southbound I-5 connector. The closures are expected to remain until noon.

The CHP also reported that a SigAlert was in effect while both lanes of the Eastbound Highway 78 connector were closed so investigators could gather evidence.

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Fullerton, CA. – I live in Southern California so when I saw the breaking news last night that there was a major truck accident involved with a passenger vehicle on the Fullerton 57 Freeway, I knew it was serious. The accident occured at around 7:00 PM Pacific Time near the Chapman Avenue exit close to Cal State University Fullerton.

Deadly Big Rig Crash on Fullerton 57 Freeway. Watch video

According to the California Highway Patrol, the big rig semi-truck accident caused fatalities including the truck driver. Four others also suffered serious injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals.

It appears that a smaller compact car may have caused the semi truck to crash. All the passengers of the car were unharmed. The driver of the semi was not able to escape in time and died at the scene.

Fire Chief Dominguez stated that the big rig truck was loaded with frozen meats and apparently jackknifed and flipped over after striking the freeway guard safety rail. The fire chief also stated that they weren’t sure if the accident happened before or after the crash with a passenger vehicle.

Truck Accidents 360 is a news blog where you can find truck accident and attorney information. If you are looking for an attorney or lawyer who specializes in big rig or semi truck truck injury litigation, you can find California truck accident attorneys or Fullerton Truck accident lawyers at www.locatealawyer.com.