Our Missouri semi-truck accident lawyers are following breaking news of a horrible crash that took place in Edwardsville, Kansas this week.  The crash took place on I-435 near the exit for Kansas Highway 32 just after 2pm.  57 year-old John Douglas McNeal apparently lost control of his tractor-trailer, resulting in the semi-truck leaving the highway, colliding with a bridge, and finally resting on railroad tracks just as it burst into flames.  McNeal suffering fatal injuries and his passenger, an unidentified man from Ava, Missouri, sustained life-threatening injuries.  The Ava man was rushed to level-1 trauma care at the hospital.  The fatal semi-truck accident resulted in closure of Kansas Highway 32 for almost 6 hours and clean-up crews restored the scene to a safe condition for other motorists. 

When a tractor-trailer leaves the roadway without contacting another vehicle, and absent slick road conditions, one of the first components of the accident investigation should be retrieval of the truck's electronic control module (ECM).  The goal of downloading data from an electronic control module is to piece together the events that took place just prior to the accident.  Data such as engine speed, RPM, yaw, gear, brake pressure, and other forensic evidence can provide a Kansas truck accident lawyer with information necessary to preserve an injury claim that may arise out of the crash.  Of course, driver inattention or fatigue can also be a potential factor that may cause a major semi-truck accident.  The commercial trucking industry has acknowledged that fatigue is major safety problem for truck drivers.  Fatigue can encompass both sleepiness and mind numbing that is caused by driving hundreds of miles in a day with little or no physical activity.

A serious truck crash, such as the one that took place that killed Mr. McNeal and seriously injured a 47 year-old Ava Missouri man, should be investigated by an independent team of forensic experts.  A Kansas truck accident lawyer should retain and dispatch several field experts to the scene to conduct a crash reconstruction analysis.  This will include inspection of the tractor-trailer and documents preserved by the trucking company.  Relevant documents can include maintenance records of the semi-truck, employment files, and safety records.  It is always important to reach out to a semi-truck accident lawyer as soon as possible following any collision.  Doing so will not only provide an independent reconstruction team at your disposal, but it will also guarantee protection of any injury claim that may be presented to the trucking company or its insurance carrier.

To learn more about truck accident claims, contact the experienced attorneys at Schultz & Myers by calling toll-free (866) 840-3636, or visiting www.schultzlegalgroup.com.