Georgia truck accidents

Published on: November 26, 2008

Ohio trucker who was volunteer fireman killed in collision with Georgia fire truck

A collision between a tractor trailer and a fire truck in Crisp County, Georgia, killed the Ohio trucker and sent a local volunteer fireman to a hospital last Saturday.

The Ohio trucker, 33-year-old Shane Alan Waters of New Madison, Ohio, was killed. Ironically, he was also a volunteer fireman back in Ohio.

The cause of the wreck was not immediately apparent in a report by Gabe Jordan in the Cordele Dispatch.

The fire truck was traveling from Arabi to Cordele for a training session. Since it apparently was not on an emergency call, the state law that requires yielding to an emergency vehicle using lights and sirens would not apply.

County governments in Georgia waive sovereign immunity to the extent of motor vehicle liability insurance. A local government may also indemnify employees for negligent torts committed in the line of duty.
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Published on: August 29, 2008

Two armored truck accidents in Georgia in one week

By Ken Shigley

Georgia has seen two catastrophic armored truck accidents within the past week, at Calhoun and Tucker.

Gordon County officer killed.

On August 22nd near Calhoun, Gordon County ordinance enforcement officer Kathy Cox was killed when a Loomis Fargo armored truck failed to stop behind a slowing vehicle, veered into the opposite lane, and hit Mrs. Cox head on. She died a horrifying death in a fiery crash.

Kathy Cox’s older sister, Karen, was in my class at Douglas County High School in the late sixties. I remember her as a little kid hanging around on the few occasions I was in their home to meet with a group about some class project. Karen died in a motor vehicle accident roughly two decades ago. I can scarcely imagine their mother’s pain and loss.

The Loomis armored truck from Chattanooga, where I was taking depositions this week, was driven by Daniel Allen Clark of Fort Payne, Ala., where I was born. The wreck occurred in Gordon County, where last year we won the largest jury verdict in the history of the county.

Loomis Armored, USA, Inc., now part of an international conglomerate of cash handling businesses, started out as Wells Fargo in the days of the California gold rush of the nineteenth century. It has 2,992 drivers of 4,575 armored trucks nationwide.
Ironically, Loomis announced on August 26th its acquisition in Georgia of EM Armored Car Service, Inc., a Savannah.

DeKalb County school bus hit, child critically injured.

Just five days later on August 27th in Tucker, a Garda armored truck struck a school bus that was stopped with its lights flashing and sign extended. A 13-year-old girl who was boarding the bus at the time of impact was transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in critical condition.

Garda is a global security and cash logistics company based in Montreal, Canada.

Garda has nine regional operating companies, including Garda Southeast based in Smyrna, GA, with 106 power units and 315 drivers.

Both Loomis and Garda are interstate motor carriers required to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Both can be held accountable by Georgia juries if the families select a lawyer who knows how to use those regulations.
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Published on: June 19, 2008

Georgia truck wreck spills explosive ammonium nitrate

By Ken Shigley

A recent truck accidnet on I-20 about 45 miles west of Augusta, Georgia, involved a truck loaded with 24 tons of ammonium nitrate used both as an oxidyzing agent in explosives and as fertilizer, overturned and began leaking. Three people were reported injured.

Ammonium nitrate mixed with diesel fuel is quite a volatile mix. If this spill occurred in a heavily populated area, and a spark was added, it could have had monumentally catastrophic consequences. Ammonium nitrate is a key component of military explosives such as the “daisy cutter” bomb. It was involved in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, as well as several accidental explosions in ports around the world over several generations.

Motor carriers hauling explosives must comply with strict “HazMat” shipping regulations and carry at least $5,000,000 liability insurance under 49 C.F.R.§ §387.303. “HazMat” truck drivers must clear security check by the Department of Homeland Security. However, agricultural ammonium nitrate is exempted from the Hazmat insurance requirements under 49 C.F.R.§ 387.301, even though it was agricultural ammonium nitrate that was used in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing.

Go figure.
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