Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., which has a substantial presence in Hampton Roads, has been accused of employing a driver who was distracted from the road by a wireless device – a distraction that caused him to hit a motorcyclist who remains hospitalized more than two months later.
Old Dominion has denied the claim, made in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls, S.D., the Associated Press reported.
Old Dominion driver Jeffrey Peterson was driving on Interstate 229 in Sioux Falls on July 31 when he rear-ended motorcyclist Randy Helwig, according to the AP report.
Peterson was “using a messaging device to communicate with the company,” the story said, and was cited for careless driving.
Old Dominion, in court papers, said Peterson “glanced” at the device but was not “utilizing” it.
It is common for truckers to have laptop computers or other devices always deployed in the cab to get updates and orders from their dispatchers, The New York Times reported last month.
Helwig suffered a broken pelvis, broken ribs, broken back, lacerated liver and spleen, head injury, and a badly damaged left arm. He lost one kidney and his small intestine.
Helwig is fed through a tube, has nine drainage tubes coming from different parts of his body and is still undergoing surgeries, according to his CaringBridge Web site.
Texting and other wireless-device use have been in the news lately, and have even received attention from President Barack Obama. I hope people heed advice to avoid using these devices while driving.
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Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
One Comment
Truckie D
The hazards of distracted driving have been very much in the news lately -- and with good reason.
There are safeguards that can and should be put into place. The company I lease to has an interlock on their communications system that prevents it from being used while the vehicle is in motion. On some trucks, a dash display will show the first few words of an incoming message, so that a driver can determine if it's urgent enough to pull over and read. All in all, a sensible way to deal with the problem.
Imho, if he was looking at it, he was "using" it.
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