Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog
A DOT worker was killed in Augusta Georgia this week when a 200 pound tire flew off of a tractor trailer and struck the man. What concerns me is that the news service calls this a “freak accident” and yet it clearly is not. The only way wheels come off is if the lug nuts are not secured or the axle is horribly out of balance. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations require detailed pre-trip inspections and there are also regular maintenance requirements that should have spotted this. The sections of the Regulations pertaining to the duty to maintain and inspect the vehicle are very strict and this problem would have been spotted in a thorough pre-trip inspection. In short, this did not have to happen. DOT workers have a very dangerous job and it saddens me to see that the investigating officers appear to have shrugged this death off as a pure accident.
In the article “Flying tire kills man in freak accident in Augusta” by reporter Navideh Forghani, he desribes poignantly how the man was spray painting a line up until the second he was struck, leaving behind a timeline leading up to his death.
I am incensed at some of the blog posts after the article that focus solely on the immigration status of the decesed. Ask yourself this question…If the wheel came off and struck a four year old little girl in her family car, how would you feel about it? Is there a difference and why?
If you have any questions about injuries sustained due to the negligence of a trucking company, feel free to contact me as I represented trucking companies as an insurance defense lawyer for five years prior to becoming a trucking injury lawyer representing the injured victims.