Florida authorities investigating cause of fatal truck accident

Residents in Florida and across the nation depend on semi-trucks to support our consumer habits. These 18-wheel vehicles are essential to ensure the availability of goods and services across the country.

But although commercial trucks are a cornerstone of our market economy, in a careless instant they can also become massive battering rams of property damage, injury and death on our highways. Tragically, this is what happened recently when two semi-trucks collided on the Florida turnpike.

The accident occurred when a truck driver pulled off the highway to perform a safety inspection of his tires. When he completed his check, he returned to his vehicle and started continued his trip, merging back onto the freeway as he did so.

It took time for the 18-wheeler to get back up to speed, and unfortunately, it had only made it up to what police estimate was 45 miles per hour or less when a second semi-truck slammed into the vehicle from behind.

Whether the driver of the second truck was fatigued, distracted, driving under the influence or otherwise negligent is not yet known. The police have not finished their truck accident investigation, and both the driver and passenger in the second truck died as a result of the collision. The driver of the truck that was getting back onto the freeway was unharmed.

It is too early to speculate whether the accident will result in litigation, and who the parties named in any lawsuit might be. But any accident resulting in a fatality may certainly find its way into the court system as survivors and loved ones look for a means of compensation for their loss.

Source: MyNews13, "Crash kills semi driver, passenger on Florida's turnpike," Ryan Harper and Sandra Osborne, June 17, 2014