Domino, TX — The driver of a log truck was killed in an accident involving an 18-wheeler near Domino, Texas, on Thursday, August 14, 2014. The accident took place on Highway 59, around seven in the morning.
A log truck was being driven by Lonnie Warmick, and he was headed south along Highway 59. Police said that as Warmick was driving south, another semi-truck tried to make U-turn in front of him in one of the crossover lanes.
The truck had a crane on its trailer and it was apparently sticking into the southbound lanes when Warmick’s log truck crashed into it. The accident sent Warmick’s log truck off the roadway and killed him immediately.
The other truck driver wasn’t identified and it’s not clear if he suffered any injuries either. So far, it doesn’t look like the other trucker is being charged.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
I won’t pretend to know everything here, but the facts from the news reports seem fairly clear as to what happened. A semi-truck tried to make a U-turn, perhaps illegally, and a crane on the back of its trailer was somehow jutting into traffic. Now, the way I see it, this is a bad accident and the driver of the semi-truck who tried to make the U-turn is going to have some explaining to do.
First, was the crane arm bolted or tied down on the back of the trailer? Or was it swinging into the other lanes of traffic? If the crane arm was bolted down, then I’d say there’s a second issue to address. You need to know that the FMCSA has very specific rules about how far a load can stick out of a trailer. So again, I don’t know all the details, but I’d say that if another driver hit the crane’s arm, it was probably sticking out way too far. The company that hired this driver needs to do some serious explaining here, because it sounds like this semi-truck may have been an accident waiting to happen and the log truck driver was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
— Grossman Law Offices