P.I. Pulse: Deadly California FedEx Accident

A tragic event that transpired earlier this month in California has given a grim and realistic new meaning to the often-repeated phrase “crash and burn.”

What should have been a memorable and inspiring trip on which prospective college students toured a university quickly turned into a nightmare, as a FedEx truck drove across a 60-foot median on Interstate 5 in California and went barreling into the front of a bus full of high schoolers, killing five children, three of their adult chaperones, and the drivers of both vehicles.

In addition to the wreckage due to the impact, the situation was made even worse by the fact that the truck and bus caught on fire, a turn for the worse that prevented easy access to the victims while at the same time clouding the waters of understanding the facts of the crash. Initially, some spectators reported having seen the FedEx truck barrel across the highway median while already on fire. Since that time, some officials who have begun to piece together possible scenarios have ruled-out the scenario in which the FedEx truck was ablaze prior to impact with the bus, though no definitive explanations have been offered.

One thing that we do know is that the FedEx truck involved in the crash was what is known as a “twin-trailer,” i.e., the vehicle was comprised of a front power unit that pulled behind it two massive trailers. These types of vehicles, while efficient for businesses that want to transport items quickly and inexpensively, are innately more difficult to control than are smaller transport vehicles. Imagine that instead of driving your car as it is today, you had to attach a giant trailer onto the back of it, and then attach a giant trailer on to the back of that trailer. Controlling all of that weight is difficult, and thus driving it is unsafe.

We don’t know for sure whether or not the fact that the FedEx truck was a twin-trailer had anything to do with the actual cause of the crash, though it may very well have. Regardless, basic physics tells us that the fact that the truck had so much extra weight (thanks to the two giant trailers) meant that the truck had that much more force pushing it forward when it smashed into the tour bus, ending both a school trip and the lives of innocent travelers. Had the truck not been a twin-trailer, the force of impact would have been weaker, and the outcome may very well have been different.

Whether the crash was due to driver error or mechanical failure, or some other type of horrific problem, FedEx will almost assuredly be on the hook for damages, including wrongful deaths, hospital bills, funeral costs, emotional trauma, loss of income, and, of course, property damage. The high school children whose lives were cut short by the crash this month were on their way to visit a college that they might have attended after graduating – unfortunately, because of this tragedy, those children who died will never get to achieve their dreams of going to college.

This is the type of case our firm handles and has even handled a case similar to this in New Jersey. So if you or a loved one has suffered due to an auto accident caused by the wrongdoing of another, please contact us for a free consultation so that we can tell you how we can help you. You can reach us at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg by calling 561-266-9191 or emailing us at daronberg@build.simple.biz.

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