Pulling Over Off the Shoulder For No Good Reason Can Get You and Others Killed
Almost every time I drive any distance on the highway particularly in lesser populated places like near Williamsburg, Virginia off of 64, I see people who decide to pull onto the shoulder or maybe a grassy median area for no apparent reason at all. It doesn’t seem to be that they are broken down with a flat tire or smoking overheating radiator. Rather these folks seem to just decide that they want to get something out of their trunk or perhaps relieve themselves behind a tree. Why they can’t understand that they would be safer and better off and in compliance with the law by taking an exit and doing whatever business they need to in a parking lot or at a business I don’t know.
When the person pulling over on the highway for no particular reason is a tractor trailer driver things can get even more dangerous. In my 25 year career as a personal injury attorney specializing in truck wrecks I’ve seen numerous situations where one truck driver has run into another where the first truck driver is pulled over to the side of the road either not completely off the road or just barely off the road in a way that they shouldn’t be.
Tractor trailer drivers are required to put out cones or flairs if they are going to pull over for any period of time on the highway even well off on the shoulder. However if they pull over for no particular reason in the first few minutes that they pull over before they’re supposed to put out the cones they are an attractive nuisance. Another truck driver perhaps tired from being on the road for hours and hours might think that the first truck driver is paying attention to what he’s doing and is just cruising down the road. They may be following behind other traffic and for whatever reason think that there’s a lane there where the first truck is parked for no reason.
When tractor trailers collide often somebody gets seriously hurt. For example, I’ve seen in these situations people lose their legs or other injuries that are almost as bad as an amputation of a leg. You would think that a profession driver who has a CDL license would know better. However it seems that many motorists don’t have the common courtesy to get off the roadway if they have something that they need to do that doesn’t involve driving. I guess they think that they and their convenience in not taking an exit is more important than everybody else’s safety. When I see people doing this it really makes me mad because I’ve seen the horrible consequences that can occur when people pull off onto a shoulder or grassy median on the highway for no apparent reason.
If you have been hurt in an accident caused by a driver pulling over, call Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers at 757.455.0077 for a free consultation.
