One type of injury that keeps many car accident lawyers busy are those caused by road debris. Headlines like these from the past eight years are all too common:
- Bridge steel rod falls onto roadway, damaging two vehicles
- Man in custody after his Ford pickup truck loses load, killing one and injuring others on Interstate 5
- Fatal five-vehicle collision caused by a metal shelving unit falling from truck bed
- Unsecured particleboard sheet smashes through following car’s windshield on I- 405, leaving driver blind
- Woman traveling on Highway 202 suffers critical head injury after a piece of metal kicked up from the road crashes through her windshield
- Flying sheet of ice from truck severely injures Chicago motorist
- Man and his five-year-old child critically injured when tow truck swerves to avoid loose tarp on the road
- Woman and her young niece nearly killed when plywood sheet flies off truck and into her windshield on Highway 101
According to AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety, road debris causes 25,000 crashes every year and some 80 to 90 of them result in fatalities.
When a driver’s car or truck load, or a part from the vehicle, dislodges while driving and hits the roadway, you have a recipe for a serious road hazard. Even smaller items may be dangerous when they fall off a vehicle at highway speeds. Many accidents have been caused from erratic avoidance maneuvers.
“Although vehicle-related road debris crashes are generally less severe than other crashes, individual incidents can be catastrophic,” says Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Many of these vehicle-related road debris crashes are preventable, as many of these incidences occur as a result of—
- Road debris from truckers and motorists with improperly secured loads
- Motorists not reporting to authorities when they encounter debris on the road
Where does all this road debris come from?
Three types of vehicle-related road debris constitute the majority of this hazardous litter:
- Tire treads
- Waste hauler garbage
- Lumber and construction materials
Common examples of accident-causing road debris include -
- Particulates
- Asphalt
- Concrete
- Pebbles
- Screws/nails
- Auto parts
- Tire tread
- Lumber
- Construction supplies
- Animals
- Vehicles
- Money bags
- Rocks/stones/boulders
- Ice and snow
- Grease and engine oil
- Plants, branches, sticks, twigs
- Food
- Furniture
- Mattresses
- Trash
- Glass
- Nails
Liability in road-debris-related accidents
If you have been injured from road debris in Florida, contact a local West Palm Beach auto accident lawyer, who can determine if you have a solid case against another vehicle owner, a municipality, the state, or an insurance company. Any one of these parties may be held liable for roadway debris that strikes you or your vehicle.