Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

DAVENPORT - The mother and father of a young woman who was killed in a truck accident on U.S. 27 earlier this year were among the more than 30 Polk County residents, law enforcement officials, state highway planners and county leaders who met to form a task force that will focus on making US 27 safer.

"I would gladly give everything I have not to be here," Russell Hurd told the group Tuesday night at Polk Outpost 27, a visitors' center just south of Interstate 4 on US 27, the road some locals refer to as "Bloody 27."

26 year old Heather Hurd lost her life when an inattentive (or sleeping) tractor-trailer driver rear ended several cars and another truck that were stopped at a red light at U.S. 27 and Sand Mine Road.

Two people were killed and several others were injured in the accident.

"I don't want any family to feel what my wife and I feel," Hurd said. "I want them to fix what's wrong with those 15 miles of the highway."

Hurd was referring to the heavily traveled section of US 27 between Haines City and the Polk/Lake county line to the north.

The meeting was hosted by the Polk Transportation Planning Organization and the Florida Department of Transportation and was intended to be the organizational meeting for a task force of residents and officials created to identify immediate or short-term solutions to the highway's problems.

While long-range plans are already on the table, they are not expected to be in place for several years.

Continue reading "Polk County, Florida - Fatal Truck Accident Spurs Family to Seek Action" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bartow Accident Lawyer , Bartow Injury Lawyer , Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Central Florida Injury Lawyers , Central Florida Personal Injury Lawyers , Coma , Death , Florida Automobile Accidents , Florida Injury Attorneys , Florida Personal Injury , Florida Personal Injury Lawyers , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Head Injury , Lakeland Accident Lawyer , Lakeland Injury Lawyer , Paralysis , Paraplegia , Polk County Accident Lawyer , Polk County Injury Lawyer , Polk County Truck Accidents , Quadriplegia , Spinal Cord Injury , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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Polk County, Florida - The list of people who have been killed in truck accidents in Polk County continues to grow. This time, Peter C. Rogers, 47, of Davie was outside his Volvo tractor-trailer on the shoulder of I-4 in Polk County when he was struck and killed by a passing truck at about noon Tuesday according to an FHP spokesperson.

Law enforcement officials said that Rodgers had pulled his truck onto the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of Interstate 4 near Mile Marker 49 and was struck while near the driver's-side door by a Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by 46 year old Donald L. Bush, of Largo.

No further details about this traffic fatality have been released; however, There are over 400,000 accidents involving large commercial trucks each year in the U.S. and
truck accident statistics show that driver fatigue is the number one cause of truck accidents. This is often because irresponsible trucking companies regularly pressure their drivers to operate their tractor-trailers for dangerously long periods with little rest in order to make deadlines and improve profits.

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bartow Accident Lawyer , Bartow Injury Lawyer , Catastrophic Injuries , Death , Florida Injury Attorneys , Florida Personal Injury , Florida Personal Injury Lawyers , Florida Truck Accident Lawyers , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Lakeland Accident Lawyer , Lakeland Injury Lawyer , Polk County Accident Lawyer , Polk County Injury Lawyer , Polk County Truck Accidents , Transportation Accidents

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Miami, Florida - When large commercial trucks crash, the accidents are rarely “minor fender benders” and the results are often catastrophic. With over 8 million trucks on the road, accidents involving these vehicles are a fact of life.

But the chances of a truck accident occurring, especially a fatal truck accident, are higher in Florida than almost any other state and higher in the Miami area than in all but two other locations in Florida. Florida ranks third in the nation in fatal truck accidents. Only Texas and California have more.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a disproportionate number of truck accidents occur in just three areas of Florida:

1). Hillsborough County, which includes the city of Tampa on Florida’s west coast;

2). Polk County, which includes the cities of Lakeland and Bartow in Central Florida, and

3). Miami-Dade County, which includes the cities of Miami, Homestead and Hialeah in
     South Florida.

One reason for this is because a higher volume of large trucks, including semi tractor-trailers, travel through these communities than in most others.

There are some roads that are particularly dangerous within these communities. For example, Interstate 60 connects Florida’s East and West coasts and runs right through Polk County near Lakeland and Bartow in Central Florida. I-60 is basically a country road – much smaller than most interstates. Similarly, Krome Avenue, in the Miami area, hosts many tractor trailers and is also just a two lane, country road. Another smaller road that sees an unusually high number of truck accidents is Overseas Highway, which runs through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and Key West in the Florida Keys.

Truck accidents are also a familiar sight on Florida’s larger highways (The Florida Turnpike, I-95, I-75, I-595) just because of the volume of large trucks traveling on them. But the interstates are not alone.

The Florida Injury Lawyers at our firm have extensive experience in representing the victims of truck accidents in each of these areas and throughout the State. Through our experience, we have learned not only who the best expert witnesses are in the trucking industry and how to use the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to prove negligence on the part of truck drivers and the trucking companies that employ them, but also that there are usually multiple factors involved in determining the cause of an accident involving a large commercial truck.

In the year 2002, large trucks were involved in over 70,000 accidents across our state according to Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). That represents almost 1/3 of all Florida motor vehicle accidents for that time period.

Continue reading "Florida Truck Accidents Among Most Frequent in US" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Death , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Miami Truck Accidents , Paralysis , Paraplegia , Polk County Truck Accidents , Quadriplegia , Spinal Cord Injury , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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Central Florida - Florida personal injury lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of John Graziano, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident last August.

The defendants - wrestling superstar, Hulk Hogan and his family. Graziano's parents are suing Hogan under Florida's "Dangerous Instrumentality Doctrine" which holds the owner of an automobile vicariously responsible for the negligent operation of that vehicle.

Experienced Florida personal injury lawyers know how to use Florida's laws to achieve substantial compensation for their seriously injured clients.

Hogan's son, Nick Bollea, was driving a car registered in his father's name at the time of the crash.

The August 2007 auto accident (see my post on March 13th about this crash) left Bollea's friend, Graziano with permanent brain damage and other serious injuries that will require daily nursing care for the rest of his life.

Bollea faces charges of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. He will be tried on these charges next month.

The Graziano family filed a lawsuit against Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea), his wife Linda and son Nick, charging them with negligence.

Continue reading "Florida - Personal Injury Lawyer Sues Hulk Hogan For Brain Damage And Other Injuries Suffered in Son's Car Accident" »

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Posted In: Airplane Crashes , Aviation Accidents , Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Construction Site Accidents , Dangerous Swimming Pools , Dangerous or Defective Products , Defective Pool Pumps/Drains , Defective Swimming Pools , Florida Accidental Drowning , Florida Automobile Accidents , Florida Crime Victims' Rights , Florida Legal Malpractcie , Florida Medical Malpractice , Florida Personal Injury , Florida Premises Liability , Florida Slip and Fall Accidents , Florida Truck Accidents , Head Injury , Inadequate Security , Miami Automobile Accidents , Miami Personal Injury , Miami Truck Accidents , Polk County Truck Accidents , Pool Drain Suction/Entrapment Accidents , Professional Malpractice , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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POLK COUNTY | Another tractor-trailer accident occurred on State Road 60 at Armour Road in Bartow, Florida early this week sending the truck driver to the hospital with injuries.

Unfortunately, truck accidents like this one (Please refer to my earlier post "Polk County, Florida Truck Accident Causes Injury to Local Motorist") are becoming more and more common in Bartow and other parts of Polk County - many of them causing serious injury or death.

State Road 60 is a major route for many large, commercial trucks hauling cargo between Florida's East and West coasts and it takes these trucks right through Bartow and the surrounding areas. Unlike most interstates, much of SR 60 has only two lanes, leaving little room for error on the part of truck drivers who are often pushed to drive long distances on little rest by trucking company supervisors concerned only with on-time deliveries and company profits.

Continue reading "Bartow, Florida Semi Truck Accident Closes SR 60" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Florida Truck Accidents , Polk County Truck Accidents , Transportation Accidents

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LAKELAND - Jody Franks was injured in a major truck accident today in Polk County, Florida. He was sitting at a red light in his pickup truck in the southbound lane of DeCastro Road at the intersection of SR 540, when a fully loaded garbage truck weighing about 49 tons attempted to make a right turn and overturned onto his vehicle. The pickup immediately caught fire with Franks trapped inside.

Fortunately, several other truckers were in the vicinity of the crash and were able to put out the fire with their fire extinguishers. A large, heavy-duty wrecker was needed to get the garbage truck off the pickup and the Jaws of Life were needed to get Franks out of the crumpled pickup.

Polk County sheriff's deputies said Franks appeared to have no life-threatening injuries. He was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

Continue reading "Polk County, Florida Truck Accident Causes Injury to Local Motorist" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Florida Truck Accidents , Polk County Truck Accidents , Transportation Accidents

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