El Dorado: Semi’s Brakes Fail, Causing Fatal Accident

Last night, a semi truck’s brakes failed while the vehicle was hauling limestone on Highway 50 in El Dorado, causing a fatal accident. The driver, a 40-year-old Missouri man, proceeded to swerve into and out of the westbound and eastbound lanes to pass vehicles, which is when he struck a pickup truck, the impact sending the two vehicles into an embankment. The cab of the semi rolled over, while the trailer separated from the tractor. The semi driver was pronounced dead at the scene, and the driver of the pickup, a woman in her 70s from Placerville, was airlifted to a hospital in Roseville to receive treatment for the major injuries she sustained, explains a California truck accident attorney. 

El Dorado County accounted for 1,148 of the fatal and injury motor vehicle collisions that occurred throughout the state in 2009, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety’s most current statistics. Nationwide, large truck accidents accounted for 3,380 of the 33,808 fatalities and 74,000 of the 2,217,000 injuries suffered in traffic accidents that year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of the truck driver who was killed in the semi accident resulting from brake failure. We would also like to wish the woman who was injured in the crash a full recovery. 

The Sacramento Bee originally reported this El Dorado collision.

Resources for accident victims and their families, such as books and articles on the process of pursuing an injury or a wrongful death claim, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California truck accident attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.