A truck accident without the truck occurs in Florida

When a truck accident occurs on a Florida highway, consideration must always be given to whether the truck driver was negligent and whether that negligence, if any, caused or at least contributed to the accident. But what happens when cars collide with a trailer, and the truck driver does not even know that the crash happened? This was the unfortunate situation that developed recently on Highway 27 in Palm Beach County, which led to a series of collisions that ultimately claimed four lives and injured two others.

What is known is that the trailer became detached from the truck in the early morning hours during foggy conditions, and that the truck driver kept going on his way for some distance before he apparently realized what had happened. Between the time that the trailer came to a rest in the road and the time that the driver turned around to find out what had happened, two cars had hit the trailer and another big rig hit one of the cars.

What was not known in the aftermath of the multiple accidents is how the trailer became separated from the truck or how long it took the driver to learn what had happened. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating, but how in the absence of some form of negligence a tractor-trailer combination can lose its trailer while traveling down the road is a question that not only law enforcement but also those injured and the survivors of those who died will be understandably curious to learn.

Depending on the outcome of the FHP investigation, criminal charges may be pending against the company that owned the truck and trailer. If the investigation determines that negligence was involved in the trailer becoming detached, it is also foreseeable that civil litigation in the form of personal injury and wrongful death actions will also be forthcoming.

Source: Sun-Sentinel, "Four dead, two injured after trailer detaches on U.S. 27 in Palm Beach County," Adam Sacasa, March 18, 2015