Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

An 86-year-old woman sustained serious injuries on Wednesday when she fell under a garbage truck. Grace Steckel’s legs were severed in the truck accident.

She was reportedly walking down a street when she fell under the large vehicle that then pinned her, causing both her legs to become severed. Steckel was airlifted to a hospital where doctors placed her in a medically induced coma. She did not sustain internal injuries.

One witness says that he saw the elderly woman standing next to the truck in a driveway. The man says he looked away for one second and when he looked back she had disappeared. He saw that her body was under the truck near the dual tires on the passenger side, and he and another man ran forward to stop the truck driver.

Pedestrians are nearly always at a disadvantage when they are involved in a traffic accident with a motor vehicle—especially a large truck. Most garbage truck crashes are accidents involving pedestrians. According to pedestrian safety advocate group Right of Way, garbage truck accidents involving pedestrians result in 24 deaths/100 million miles traveled—that’s 8 deaths annually.

Common causes of garbage truck-pedestrian accidents:

• Poor visibility for the garbage truck driver
• Garbage trucks are always on the move, stopping and going
• Failure by the garbage truck driver to to check all mirrors and blind spots before backing up
• Driver inattention
• Pedestrian errors

Garbage trucks are extremely heavy vehicles and serious injuries can result when a pedestrian or pedalcyclist is struck or run over by such a large, heavy vehicle.

Easton woman loses legs in garbage truck accident, The Morning Call, February 5, 2010

Easton pedestrian struck by trash hauler loses legs, but son says she's 'feisty', Lehighvalleylive.com, February 5, 2010

Related Web Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Truck Accidents, Justia