Ice cream truck driver injured in collision with 18 wheeler

The driver of an Atlanta ice cream truck was seriously injured this morning when a tractor trailer pulled out in front of him.

According to a report by Chip Towers in the AJC, a tractor trailer on Camp Creek Parkway turned left on a green light, but without a green turn arrow. An ice cream truck traveling in the opposite direction had the right of way and was unable to avoid collision. The tractor trailer also collided with a county public works vehicle.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require compliance with local traffic laws, including Rules of the Road regarding proper turning.

We often see truck-car collisions in metro Atlanta in the morning hours that involve truckers who have driven all night and make misjudgments due to fatigue when they get into Atlanta traffic. Of course, it is pure speculation to guess that could be a factor.

However, in such a case it is always important to promptly request preservation of driver logs, trip documents, and an array of other records all interstate trucking companies are required to maintain. Some records, especially satellite communications GPS data, may disabppear within a few days. Drivers logs are only required to be kept six months.

Ken Shigley is a trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia who has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine), among the “Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (Martindale), and is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He served as chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Litigation Institute, is on the National Advisory Board for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America, and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs for the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Mr. Shigley has extensive experience representing parties in trucking and bus accidents, products liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. Currently he is Treasurer of the 40,000 member State Bar of Georgia.This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.