Georgia Injury Law Blog
While urban counties such as Fulton are known for accident fatalities, rural and exurb areas in Georgia are also at-risk. This is particularly true on interstates and highways frequented by semi trucks and tractor trailers.
On October 13 in Jackson County, a semi-trailer chicken feed truck rear-ended a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan after following too closely. This pushed the Dodge forward causing a chain-reaction crash with four additional vehicles, and both the van and the tractor trailer were enveloped in flames. All eight occupants of the van have been declared deceased, one of whom may have been pregnant. The driver of the tractor has been arrested and charged with eight counts of 2nd degree vehicular homicide, and the crash is currently under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team.
Chain reaction accidents have the potential to cause wide devastation to multiple vehicles and their occupants. In this case, the accident was caused by the truck driver following too closely. To ensure enough distance between your vehicle and the one in front, there should be three seconds of distance between vehicles when traveling under 40 mph. To measure seconds of distance, identify a lamp post or pole ahead of you and check when the car in front of you passes by the pole. At least three seconds should pass before your car also passes the pole. On highways and interstates where speeds often exceed 55 mph, add an additional second of space, and when following a tractor trailer or other large vehicle, allow additional space, since such vehicles have large blind spots.