Because of their potential to cause serious injury, commercial trucks have to be regularly inspected for mechanical problems. Drivers of these trucks are also held to a higher standard of safety than other motorists, and when trucker drivers or their employers fail to uphold those safety standards, too often innocent people pay the price.
That appears to have been the case in a tractor-trailer accident that took a Raleigh woman’s life in November. The driver of the truck is a man from Clinton, North Carolina, and authorities recently charged him in connection with the accident.
He was driving a tractor-trailer owned by a company called Valley Proteins Incorporated. The accident happened in Atlantic Beach when the driver of the truck made a right turn and ran over the victim, who was walking in a marked crosswalk at the time of the collision. She was hit in the daylight hours just before noon.
The woman was transported to a hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.
The investigation of the accident took more than a month, but authorities now believe the truck driver was criminally negligent. He is charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.
When a driver is convicted of a criminal offense in connection with a fatal accident, any claim of wrongful death filed on behalf of the family is bound to be strengthened. It isn’t clear whether the family of the deceased woman in this case will pursue a civil claim, but that is certainly one of their options as they try to cope with the devastating loss of their loved one.
Source: witn.com, “Police File Charges In November Fatal Wreck,” Dec. 4, 2012