Kern County, CA — November 1, 2024, an Irvine man was killed due to an 18-wheeler accident at around 11:15 a.m. along Highway 46.
According to initial details about the accident, it happened in the area of Kecks Road, east of Shandon.
Officials said that a driver was in a Mercedes traveling westbound along the highway. Up ahead at a private road, authorities say that a tractor-trailer failed to yield pulling out onto the highway. As a result, the vehicles collided. Due to the collision, the Mercedes driver was killed.
After the crash, authorities say they arrested the truck driver. That driver was allegedly drunk at the time of the accident and was reportedly on a suspended license. Authorities recommended multiple charges, including murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, and drunk driving causing injury.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
If the allegations here are true, then the truck driver involved here will surely have a lot to answer for once authorities are done with him. But something I bring up a lot on this blog, and which is paramount after any crash like this, is the possibility there’s another wrongdoer besides just the alleged reckless truck driver. With any commercial vehicle accident, it’s important to know if the driver was working for a business, and it’s important to know whether that business should have seen all of this coming.
I’ve handled hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases, and the amount of times a crash could have been prevented through basic safe business practices would shock people. A lot of companies, though, only care about the bottom line, so they’re willing to ignore all kinds of problems if they feel they can get away with it. In this crash, for example, authorities allege the truck driver was drunk and on a suspended license for DUI. Did the driver work for an employer who knew about the suspended license? Did the employer have knowledge the driver had issues with driving while intoxicated? Did they not check the driver’s background or qualifications? Were they just so desperate for drivers that they took the first person who applied for the job and threw them behind the wheel? Is there a company here that has other drivers under its employ with similar problems out there on the roads right now?
It would be far from the first time a negligent employer allowed a reckless driver to go out and get people hurt or killed. Sadly, it also wouldn’t be the first time if authorities let a negligent employer get away with that kind of behavior. Once there’s a driver facing charges, authorities sometimes consider the matter closed. The hundreds of families I’ve helped over the years wouldn’t be satisfied just blaming an easy target. They’d want to see accountability for the harm done to them. That means ensuring all wrongdoers are held appropriately accountable for their role in the accident. So, was this just some rogue, reckless driver acting on their own? Or, was there a company here who needs to be straightened out before more people get hurt?
call us 
Email Us 
Text us