Although the cause of the accident is unknown, 48-year old Louis Cisneros perished instantly when the semi truck rolled while heading west bound on Interstate 84, reports the Standard-Examiner. At the time of the crash, the tanker was full of butane, but, “These tanks are really resilient,” and the “icy winds blowing in from Weber Canyon helped maintain the safety of the overturned flammable payload,” explains Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Chris Simmons.

Ron Kramer is owner of Kramer Law Group, he and his personal injury attorneys have offices in Draper, Bountiful and Provo, Utah

Utah Department of Transportation’s Zero Fatalities campaign brought together the 25 families who lost a child in a car accident, reports Fox13 News. For those who have lost an child in a car accident, it can undoubtedly be a heart wrenching experience, and these family connected in hopes of alerting and educating Utahans be more alert to the dangers of inattentive driving.

My thoughts and prayers are with these families in dealing with their devastating loss.

Unlike most accident stories where human injury is the main problem, St. George experienced a new type of situation, when an overturned semi-truck released an estimated 25 million bees, KSL News reports. The biggest problem they had was getting the correct colony boxes next to each other,  Casey Lofthouse, Washington County bee inspector informs. When bees from different colonies are together they will attack and kill each other. About two-thirds of the bees were recovered, thanks to local beekeepers who came together to help the out-of-state owner.

Ron Kramer is an accident and injury lawyer who practices auto accident law throughout the state of Utah.

Although many states have previously required a medical examiner to be at the scene of a fatal vehicle accident, Utah has previously not required one, which is likely to change reports KSL News. “The cause of death is not always apparent,” tell Utah Highway Patrol Maj. Michael Rapich.

Having a medical examiner on the scene of the accident helps Utahns in more than one way. First, they can help put the correct causation to the death, i.e. a toxicology report can help pinpoint whether the death was caused by chemical or natural causes. Second, it can help the family and relatives speed up the legal process. Getting a death certificate and an insurance payout can be a cumbersome process, especially if trying to get the necessary paperwork from a hospital emergency room, which are usually too busy with patients who have not already passed. Having a medical examiner present helps prevent the “legal limbo” that is created with a situation where the proper documentation wasn’t done soon enough, and also helps free up “time and resources at the hospital.”

Utah accident Victims can now order their accident reports online. Utahans, who have a history of being tech-savvy, have kept with this trend reports the Standard-Examiner. Utah Highway Patrol reports over 56,000 accidents annually, and are “very excited to offer this valuable service to our citizens,” said Commissioner Davenport of the Utah Department of Public Safety.

In the past, an accident victim has had to personally visit the law enforcement station in order to get a copy of their accident report. Now, after a few simple verifying steps, it can easily be accessed and printed online. Currently, all state-level accident reports are available at http://crashreport.utah.gov, but U.H.P. is hoping (and encouraging) county-level law enforcement agencies to join.

Kramer Law Group, is a personal injury firm who specializes in helping accident victims receive a fair amount of compensation from insurance companies. We offer free consultations to anyone with questions about their accident, and have also made available a free copy of The Utah Accident Book.

Lonnie Walker Brady, a 6-year-old girl from Duchesne, was stuck in the intersection of 100 West and U.S. Highway 40 by a man in a pickup truck. The driver of the truck is being charged with driving under the influence of methamphetamine, along with other related charges, reports KSL News.

The young girl, Utah Highway Patrol trooper Matt Pratt describes, was thrown about 43 feet. Mr. Pratt, who also witnessed the accident, recalls the driver was not speeding at the time, and also appeared to apply the brakes before cashing into the girl.

Originally Lonnie was taken to a local medical center, but soon after was flown to Primary Children’s in critical condition. Even with such a serious crash, “The doctors have a very optimistic outcome for her,” says UHP Cpl. Rex Olsen.

With this being one of many car accident traumas in the family, we offer our sympathy to the family for going through such a heart-wrenching tragedy of a young loved one.

To avoid causing or being involved in a semi truck accident in Utah, it’s good to follow the tips put out recently by TACT of Utah. TACT stands for Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks. Their website is http://tactutah.com.

Tips for driving smart around big rigs in Utah:

-Before pulling in front of a semi, allow one car length for every 10 miles an hour of highway speed.

-Remember that a semi truck cannot stop like a car: it takes over 500 feet for a loaded semi truck to go from 65 miles per hour to a complete stop.

-A truck driver has blind spots in front of his or her cab, on both sides of the big rig and at the rear of the trailer.

-If you can see both mirrors of the cab on the semi truck that you are following, you are probably at a safe distance behind it.

Ron Kramer is a Salt Lake City truck accident attorney who handles trucking cases throughout Utah.

A semi truck driver taking evasive action is to blame for an I-15 shutdown in Woods Cross, UT, on March 3, 2011. According to KSL News, the big rig driver, 31-year-old Javier Acosta, was driving north on I-15 when the driver of a pickup truck took evasive action to steer around a tire left in the road. This in turn started a chain of events where the truck driver in turn took evasive action, which led to the truck driver losing control and hitting a wall, causing the truck to flip forward. The driver of the semi was able to get himself out of the cab of the truck but had unfortunately sustained broken bones and internal injuries. He was flown to the hospital in critical condition.

I offer my best wishes to the owner of the semi for a full and speedy recovery.

Legally speaking, the big rig operator has claim against the pickup truck driver for suddenly moving sideways into his lane. Although it is difficult in sudden emergency situations to judge, the best course of action would have been to run over the tire. Given the fact that the pickup is higher off the ground than a passenger car, he may have been able to entirely clear it and could have completely avoided causing this pile up.

Kimberly Jo Christensen of Sandy, Utah, passed away on December 16, 2010, following a violent collision between her vehicle and a semi-trailer. According to KSL News, the accident happened around 1:30 in the afternoon near 7800 South on northbound I-15. At this time, traffic was stopping in front of the vehicle that Ms. Christensen was a back seat passenger in.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Also in traffic at this time was a two-axle semi truck hauling dried peas. At the point that the Christensen vehicle was slowing, the semi driver reportedly “swerved” to avoid hitting a slowing vehicle in front of him or her. The swerving apparently caused the truck to tip and make contact with two pickup trucks along with contact to the right rear portion of the Christensen vehicle. The tip over was particularly intense over the right rear portion of the Christensen vehicle. After the crash, Christensen was removed from the wrecked car and transported to a local hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries. The big rig driver was said to have sustained critical injuries.

I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Ms. Christensen and to those that knew and loved her. I also offer my best wishes to the driver of the semi truck and pray for his speedy recovery.

In situations like this, those on the sidelines will weigh in on the respective fault of those concerned. There were quite of few such people commenting on the story in the Salt Lake Tribune (I can’t weigh in on comments to the KSL story since KSL disabled their comment feature.)  Some of those commenting blamed the state for the way the road was designed in that particular stretch of highway. Some were blaming the trucker. And others argued that the trucker under the circumstances could not have avoided this crash.

From my perspective, however, I have to put the blame on the semi truck driver. He is, after all, a “professional” driver and is held to a higher standard under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. These regulations require truckers to keep an adequate distance between their truck and the vehicles in front of them and to drive at a safe and prudent speed so that they are in a position to avoid hazards that might suddenly present themselves. The fact that the semi swerved seems to indicate that this driver was not keeping a safe distance and/or was driving too fast for conditions. The serious consequences of a semi truck driver who drives like he is in a passenger car is obvious from this tragic but preventable Utah semi truck accident.

I would recommend that the family of Kimberly Christensen contact an experienced Utah truck accident attorney to find out what legal remedies they have available in this wrongful death case.

The Kramer Law Group does not currently represent any of the parties referenced in the article at the time it was written. We have cited and linked to the source of our information. If you were involved in the above incident, or one like it, and have questions about your rights and possible remedies, you may call us or another reputable Utah personal injury law firm. Do not act based on the above information without getting a consultation. The best Utah personal injury attorneys will offer a free consultation. We offer a free and confidential consultation to those (and their family members) not substantially at fault in causing their accident. The information and opinions expressed above are provided as a public service and should not be used in place of legal advice from a qualified attorney.

Usually it is a semi truck hitting another car that makes the news. Today, however, it was semi versus semi in a big rig accident in Box Elder County, Utah. According to KSL News, semi driver Bobby Dodd, 44 of Tremonton, Utah, was driving a semi west bound on I-84 near mile marker 34 in Box Elder Canyon when he failed to keep a proper look out and smashed into the rear of another tractor trailer truck. Dodd was injured and life flighted to Ogden Regional Hospital. The other driver, John Forbush, was also injured and was transported by ambulance to Bear River Valley Hospital.

Troopers investigating this semi versus semi crash are saying that truck driver Dodd was either distracted or didn’t appreciate the difference in the speeds between the two trucks.

Ordinarily, this would be a simple rear-ender crash. However, when the vehicles involved multi-ton big rigs, this type of accident become much more menacing. Professional drivers are not supposed to rear end other vehicles. Because of their significant weight, serious injures can and do result when truck drivers fail to watch where they are going and run into other vehicles, including other semi trucks.

I would urge the injured truck driver not to treat this a simple rear ender he might experience if he was hit by a passenger car. Trucking cases are much more involved and the resulting injuries can often last a lifetime. Federal trucking regulations are involved in such cases and the question of whether the at-fault driver had gotten enough sleep and filled out his log book correctly are always at issue. I would recommend the injured party to contact an experienced Utah truck accident attorney regarding the remedies available to him.