St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Nation Work Zone Safety Awareness Week comes just a few days after a Missouri Department of Transportation Department worker was struck by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70, according to CBS St. Louis. Missouri Department of Transportation Assistant District Engineer Tom Blair says the tractor-trailer first struck a truck-mounted attenuator, a large steel bed on the back of the MoDOT vehicles strategically placed around workers to reduce potential injury in these St. Louis work zone accidents.

Our St. Louis car accident lawyers urge drivers be extra cautious when traveling through these work zones as the slightest inattention can produce potentially deadly results. Work zone accidents are not uncommon as we recently reported in our St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer Blog, an MoDOT transportation vehicle was hit by a large gas tanker in a work zone about a week ago.

"It appears at this time that part of this crash worked as well as could be expected," said MoDOT Assistant District Engineer Tom Blair. "If somebody's going to run into us, that's what they're supposed to hit."

As part of the Work Zone Awareness week festivities, MoDOT will be having a "Where in the District is Barrel Bob?" contest, according to KFVS 12. Residents are encouraged to participate and try to find this 10-foot tall man made of orange construction barrels as he will be place in a different locations among the 14 county district. The first person to identify Bob's correct location will receive a prize from the Southeast Missouri Coalition for Road Safety.

While we celebrate this week with fun and game, work zone safety is no laughin matter. According to Ozarks First, 15 people died in Missouri work zones, which shows an increase of 2 fatalities from 2009. They also report that there were more than 1,000 injuries in 2010, compared to nearly 700 in 2009.

As the MoDOT does their part to protect the construction and maintenance area workers, we need to do our part to keep everyone safe in these areas. MoDOT offers this Public Service Announcement to help spread the world about the importance of safe driving, especially in our work zones. MoDOT joine agencies across the United States to spread the word about work zone hazards and how to effective avoid a potentially fatal situation.

Continue reading "Missouri Suffers Two Work Zone Accident Days before National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week" »

The gas tanker that collided with a Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) truck on Interstate 70 illustrates the dangers of large trucks carrying hazardous materials. The St. Louis trucking accident forced the highway to close while hazmat crews cleared the scene, according to KPLR 11.

Our St. Louis car accident lawyers realize these large, commercial trucks can pose potentially deadly threats to passenger-vehicle occupants. But when a truck is carrying fuel or other hazardous cargo, the risks increase substantially for other motorists on the road.

"It appears he was just driving along not paying attention and he failed to keep a lookout and just rammed right into the back of that truck," said Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum.

The MoDOT truck was reportedly patching potholes on I-70 when it was struck by the gas tanker, carrying 8,500 gallons of gas. The department truck was placed there to offer protection to the workers from oncoming traffic, reports St. Louis Today. Department officials say that is exactly what happened in this case, the truck offered the much needed protection to those workers. Potentially deadly consequences could have resulted if these proper precautions were not taken.

This week (April 4 to 8) is National Work Zone Awareness Week, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Please head the warnings and watch for construction crews as spring roadwork begins.

"I have no reason to believe that the operator of this truck didn't have a reason that they couldn't have been paying attention and aware that a work zone was there. There was no reason that operator had to run into our work zone," said MoDOT transportation engineer Tom Blair.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that nearly 3,500 fatalities occurred in 2009 because of crashed involving large trucks. Nearly 300,000 large trucks (gross weight more than 10,000 pounds) were involved in traffic accidents that year. In Missouri, nearly 1,200 vehicles were involved in fatal accidents with a large truck.

While the number of large truck accident fatalities has decreased nearly 20 percent from 2000 to 2008, it is still an alarming statistic -- in 75 percent of such crashes, the fatalities occur to the passenger-vehicle occupants.

Continue reading "St. Louis Trucking Accident Highlights Work Zone Safety Week" »