Deadly Debris: Freak Accident Or Preventable Problem?

This weekend a piece of debris was left on I-40 in Davie County, North Carolina. A small metal disc might seem harmless, but with vehicles traveling upwards of 70 miles per hour, even a small object on the road can be deadly. The disc was kicked up into the windshield of a passing SUV and killed the driver of the car after striking him in the head.

While many North Carolina papers described this highway fatality as a “freak accident,” highway debris injuries are preventable and often other drivers are at fault. In many cases, highway debris ends up on the roads due to an improperly loaded tractor-trailer or pickup truck – vehicles that do not have their cargo secured or tied down correctly. Unfortunately, the trucks that are responsible for highway debris are often far away from the car accident that follows by the time that they take place. Debris is dangerous for two reasons: it can fly into your vehicle and cause damage or an accident or it can cause a vehicle to suddenly swerve into another lane of traffic or run off of the roadway.

All in all, an estimated 90 deaths and 25,000 vehicle accidents a year are caused by debris on the road or by debris falling off of vehicles.

Although most improperly loaded trucks only cause dings in your windshield or other inconveniences, debris falling off of trucks can also lead to serious injuries and fatalities:

• On the Beltway last year, a mattress on the interstate became caught under a car, catching the vehicle on fire.
• Last November, a man driving on the interstate had a pitchfork hurdled through his front windshield that fell off of a dump truck traveling in front of him.
• In February, a woman and her passenger were injured when a dump truck lost part of its gravel load on the interstate, smashing the woman’s windshield and lodging glass in her eye.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law. We maintain office in Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC), on East Elizabeth Street, and we have handled thousands of cases in which victims got hurt or killed in car, truck, train and motorcycle crashes caused by others' negligence or carelessness.

We serve every area of North Carolina, including Elizabeth City, Edenton, Raleigh, Durham, Rocky Mount, Roanoke Rapids, Greensboro, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Halifax, Northampton, Greenville, Goldsboro, Havelock, Kinston, New Bern, Tarboro, Wilson, Ahoskie, Currituck, Camden and the Outer Banks towns of Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Manteo, Corolla, Currituck and Dare. In South Carolina, we cover the state from Myrtle Beach and Charleston to Orangeburg, Columbia, Florence, Rock Hill, Darlington, Aiken, Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg.

Firm attorneys Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008 and the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. In addition, our firm has been named a North Carolina "Best Law Firm" for personal injury law since 2010 by U.S. News & World Report.

We also offer free special reports on distracted driving and the Best Guide to Car Accident Injuries in North Carolina.

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer free initial confidential injury case consultations. Call us toll-free at (800) 752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail so we can get back to you.

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