The remnants of tires that come off of a tractor trailer are a common sight on American highways. If you are lucky, the pieces are small enough to drive over or easily maneuver around. Earlier this year, however, a Florida woman lost her life in exactly this familiar situation. Rebeca Hernandez-Martinez was a passenger in a Ford Explorer that hit the remnant of a tractor trailer tire, veered out of control, spun off the highway, flipped over, and hit a tree. One of the other passengers suffered only minor injuries, and the second was left in critical condition. All three were wearing their seatbelts. Just because these remnants are a common sight does not mean that highway travelers should learn to live with them. Truck drivers are required to inspect their tires before every trip. They are trained to know if the tire looks too worn and is in danger of separating from the wheel. The Missouri Department of Transportation has decided to take matters into their own hands and debuted their “Gator Getters” last week. Better known as Gators, these vehicles have an attachment similar to a snow plow that picks up tire debris and even objects as large as deer. They can travel up to 55 mph and should have little effect on traffic speed. Not only will these Gators make the road safer for motorists, but also for highway maintenance crews. It is wonderful to see states taking steps to protect their citizens, but the trucking companies and their drivers should also be held accountable as well.
Watch our attorneys explain how they fight for car accident victims across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With over $1 billion recovered, our team knows how to build a winning case — from investigation through trial.
Video Transcript
Speakers: Ira Sherman, Joseph Cammarata, Stephen Ollar, Allan Siegel
Ira Sherman (00:02): I would say that Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata and Siegel has a completely different outlook on cases that other people think are garden variety automobile accidents, because to the person who is involved in that accident, that’s not garden variety, that’s altering their life.
Joseph Cammarata (00:21): First of all, we don’t advertise. People come to us by word of mouth, either from defense lawyers, from insurance companies, from colleagues at the bar. They know that we have decades of experience in the personal injury field. They know that what we bring to bear is a group of lawyers that work and non-lawyers that work as a team to make sure we understand what the nature and the extent of the injury is. We make sure we understand and can express to a third party just what those injuries are, and we work to obtain the most compensation that we can for an individual.
Stephen Ollar (01:04): What we do a lot of is discovery, not just discovery of the facts of the case, but discovery about insurance. It may be that the individual was operating the vehicle for an employer, and if they were acting with what we call the course and scope of their employment, then there could be potentially additional coverage that would cover a person for those injuries.
Allan Siegel (01:27): We’ve been handling car accident cases since Don Chaikin founded this firm over 50 years ago. Since we spend a lot of time and we have a lot of those cases, we have developed a level of experience and knowledge that I think is very unique in our field. There aren’t many law firms who can say that they’ve been doing this type of work for over 50 years.
Ira Sherman (01:52): I care enough to look to determine who this person is and how it affected them, and that takes up a lot of my conversation with our clients.
At Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C., our car accident attorneys fight tirelessly to secure the compensation you deserve, handling every aspect of your case to protect your rights. Trust us to stand by you and advocate aggressively on your behalf.
