According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, almost 11 times every day there is a fatal truck accident, which kill nearly 4,000 people each year.

In addition, more than 100,000 people are injured every year in truck crashes. That is the same as if a commuter jet crashed every single week of the year, killing everyone on board. And the numbers have worsened: Truck-crash fatalities have increased since 2009, as more goods are shipped on American highways and the trucking companies and drivers are under pressure to get the loads delivered on time.

In any other industry, thousands of deaths a year would generate a national outcry. But because trucking deaths are scattered in small numbers across the country, they don’t often get coverage in the national news. And as trucking is the backbone of a struggling U.S. economy, both government and industry are wary of putting too many restrictions in place that could harm the country’s ability to do business.

Regulators, industry, lawyers and victims reveal a mix of causes for the deaths. The reasons why are as varied as overly tired drivers, companies that don’t screen for problem drivers and government that is slow to force new safety technologies on to American roads. Some industry associations even passenger vehicles weaving dangerously in and out of the way of heavier, slower-reacting trucks.

If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an auto accident involving negligence, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

Counselors are going to be made available for students following the death of a 7th grader in Suffield on Thursday afternoon.

According to police, a boy, identified as Francis Anthony Alamo, 7^th grader at Suffield Middle School, died after being struck by a box truck while he was on his bicycle with a group of children near the school.

He was rushed to an area hospital but he died shortly afterwards.

The driver of the vehicle stayed on scene, and so far no charges have been filed. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Mountain Road was closed in the area around the crash for more than four hours while the accident investigation team processed the scene but it is a busy street so detours were set up.

Many people in the area said that drivers break the speed limit on the road, and that children need to be really careful when they are riding their bikes

Suffield Superintendent of Schools Karen Baldwin, lamented the loss of Anthony, who she described as full of energy and enthusiasm, and said that there will be counselors available at the school for the pupils.

If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an auto accident involving negligence, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

Thousands of people are involved in vehicle accidents every year, but there are three main injuries which are the most common.

Top of the list is neck strain which is also known as whiplash.  This normally occurs when the vehicle is rear ended as the driver’s head snap forward and then back again. The injury is often no more than an ache for a few days or weeks but if serious and not treated, it can cause chronic pain and joint dysfunction.

Back injury is next on the list as the back needs only a small impact or trauma to be affected. It can be a soft tissue injury to the muscles or the spine itself can be affected with broken vertebrae, nerve or muscular damage or herniated discs.

Finally there are head injuries which are caused as it is tossed around the vehicle on impact.  There may be only bruising or small lacerations but a more severe injury is a Traumatic Brain Injury or a TBI which can cause memory loss, functional deficits, headaches, dizziness or loss of consciousness.

If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an auto accident involving negligence, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

According to Aaron Swanson at the Connecticut Department of Transportation, driving whilst using a cell phone is one of the key factors which result in vehicle crashes.

Connecticut law states that it is illegal to use a hand held cell phone whilst driving and is also illegal to text even when the vehicle is stationary.

However, accident data from 2012, shows that distracted driving was a contributing factor for drivers in fatal accidents in 3.6 percent of crashes.

So recently the police have been cracking down on drivers and one in 77 drivers in Connecticut in 2013 was given a ticket for a cell phone violation. In total 32,000 tickets were issued which delivered more than $2 million in fines to the state with the fines ranging from $150 to $500.

Swanson, said that while the DOT never interferes with police officer discretion whether to issue or ticket or simply give a warning, research has shown that tickets or fines do change the behavior of drivers.

He said that everyone agrees the use of cell phones while driving is dangerous and they are doing all they can to change behavior, by using strict enforcement measures.

If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an auto accident involving a distracted driver, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

As New York City looks likely to join an every growing list of cities which have introduced lower speed limits on their streets, traffic safety experts are welcoming the move.

The state Senate recently passed legislation to allow New York City to reduce its speed limit to 25 mph which could be enacted in the fall, even as other areas of the country begin to post speed limit increases.

Traffic experts seem surprised by the move which is in contrast with the recent trend among many states to increase the speed limits on interstates to 75 mph.

While some road safety experts state that it is obvious that reducing vehicle speed will reduce road fatalities, other traffic experts are skeptical of the benefits of a reduced speed limit, saying that in their opinion drivers will simply ignore it and continue to drive at their usual speed while taking account of the prevailing road conditions.

Speed Limit

Speeding is one of the top causes for serious and fatal accidents on Interstate 95. If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an Interstate 95 accident, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

In 2009, a 76-year-old truck driver plowed his rig into a line of cars that were stopped on the Will Rogers Turnpike in Oklahoma. The incident cost ten people their lives and federal investigators believe that the driver of the truck, who ended up surviving the horrific crash, more than likely fell asleep at the wheel. As unimaginable as this type of accident may be to most people, it is unfortunately not that uncommon on America’s highways.

Lawmakers have been trying to appease truck drivers and their union representatives for years when attempting to regulate the number of house drivers can spend behind the wheel in a given weeks’ time. But drivers say that authorities cannot and should not be able to regulate sleep. Truck drivers are typically paid by the mile and often have incentive to keep driving even when they feel fatigued. Accident like the one on the Oklahoma Turnpike, however, are making a strong case in favor of tighter restrictions on drivers.

Interstate 95 trucking accidents are some of the most violent and serious accidents in the country. A collision with a tractor trailer can cause irreparable damage to the human body, or even death. If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an Interstate 95 truck accident, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.

According to state police a motorcycle rider was killed last week in a two motorcycle accident on Interstate 95 in Branford.

Police say that two motorcycles were traveling in tandem at a high rate of speed at about 1:00 AM on June 3. After passing the exit 54 ramp the first motorcycle rider, 37-year-old Kirk Valentine of Bridgeport, slowed down and was struck by the second motorcycle rider. He lost control of his bike and was thrown from his motorcycle, suffering serious injuries.

The second rider, 24-year-old Royce Burns of West Haven, was also thrown from his bike as a result of the accident, and suffered non-life threatening injuries. Valentine was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to police both riders were wearing their helmets at the time of the accident.

http://youtu.be/Chl1atUJZUI

If you have suffered serious injuries as a result of an Interstate 95 automobile accident, please call our Connecticut I-95 accident attorneys at Hastings, Cohan, and Walsh, LLP, at (888) 244-5480 or contact us online today.