A freak 18 wheeler accident shut down traffic on I-20 near Weatherford early Friday morning. A truck carrying 45 head of cattle struck a guardrail and overturned, just east of Brock. Witnesses report the truck was driving westbound through a construction zone when the semi drifted to the right of the roadway, took out the railing and tipped over and off the interstate. Ten of the cattle were killed in the wreck or sustained injuries serious enough that a veterinarian was required to put them down at the crash scene. The driver suffered minor injuries in the accident. The truck is owned by Chris Fuller Trucking, a company based in Calhoun, Louisiana.
So far, there has been no official determination as to the cause of this crash, but given my 20 years of experience as a Texas truck wreck attorney I would speculated that the cause was one of two things: Either it was a case of driver fatigue (a common cause of fatal tractor trailer accidents, as truckers regularly push the limit to drive as long as they can hoping to cover as many miles as possible without getting the necessary rest) or else it was a case of an unstable load which caused the trailer to make the truck off-balance. Clearly a herd of livestock shifting their collective weight would result in a shift of balance for the truck as a whole.
As a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer, I know that big rig collisions are usually extremely serious. Fortunately, no people were seriously injured in this crash. If the driver had lost control of his vehicle later in the day when there was more traffic about, the results could have been much worse. I hope that he makes a quick recovery.
If you or a loved one have been hurt in an auto accident involving a commercial truck, call the Anderson Law Firm toll free at 800-354-6275 or locally at 817-294-1900.
