Bradford and Lycoming counties record most crash-related fatalities in 2012

From The Towanda Daily Review: 

"Bradford and Lycoming counties had the most crash-related fatalities in 2012 in Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 3-0.  According to information released by PennDOT, Bradford and Lycoming counties each had 15 such fatalities each last year.  In each county, 14 were on state roads and one was on a municipal road. 

In addition, Bradford County had the most crash-related fatalities involving large trucks in 2012, with three, PennDOT noted. PennDOT Assistant Traffic Engineer Bill Houpt said there is no particular reason for the number of fatal crashes. When asked for comment by The Daily Review, he stated, "Each crash would need to be evaluated, based on the crash report and its own specific circumstances. Crashes (and fatalities) tend to be cyclical."  For example, total crash-related fatalities in Bradford County in past years are as follows: 2009, 10; 2010, 20; and 2011, 10."

My immediate thought is that the high amount of large truck related fatalities is related to the gas industry and the huge increase in truck traffic in Bradford County and the surrounding counties of Tioga, Sullivan and Susquehana.  Obviously, we don't know for sure without looking at each incident specifically.  But it's a quite surprising that one of the most rural counties in the state has the highest vehicular related fatalities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Another Gas Worker Fatality in Bradford County

From the Towanda Daily Review:

A Missouri man died Wednesday while working on a natural gas pipeline project in Burlington Township.In a news release, Bradford County Coroner Tom Carman said that Kenneth Donovan Elliott, 42, of Missouri was pronounced dead at 1:49 p.m. in Burlington Township, off of the Berwick Turnpike, following the 12:42 p.m. accident.   

When asked for comment, Kristi Gittins, spokesperson for Chief, said that the mishap did not take place at a Chief site.  She said it was a PVR (Penn Virginia Resources) site. She noted that the company, based in Radnor, Pa., is "a large national pipeline company working in the area."  Carman said Elliott was employed by Midway Oilfield of Midway, Texas. 

Midway Oilfield was in the process of clearing the right-of-way for a natural gas pipeline, according to Carman.  He said Elliott was operating a chainsaw, and was in the process of cutting down a tree, when the tree kicked back, striking him and knocking him to the ground.  Carman said Elliott died as a result of blunt force head trauma, and the manner of death has been ruled accidental.

This article demonstrates the complexity of all of the various companies that are involved in this kind of work.  The question that I would have is which employer or corporate entity is ultimately responsible for this man's workers' compensation death benefits so that his family can be taken care of.  It is a horrible accident and our hearts go out to this man's friends and family.

Gas Industry Truck Crashes

Many of our clients, either workers' comp clients or personal injury clients, come to us due to work related car or truck crashes. As you can tell by merely reading the Towanda Daily Review or the Sayre Morning Times, the amount of crashes in Bradford County has increased significantly. This is all related to the boom in the Marcellus Shale gas drilling. It seems like every other day there is news of another fatality due to a gas drilling truck accident. Below is an article from a Missouri lawyer about the specifics of truck crashes and their differences with car crashes.

Over the last few weeks there have been quite a few tractor trailer truck accidents and bus accidents. Inclement weather like we've been experiencing has been responsible for many of these truck accidents, but accidents occur even in the best of conditions. If you or a family member is hurt in an accident, it is important you understand the difference between truck and bus accidents and passenger vehicle accidents. The difference is important.

The first difference is plain to see, due to the size of vehicles such as trucks, busses, and other forms of commercial transportation accidents are far more likely to lead to serious injuries or even fatalities than accidents with passenger cars and trucks.

The next difference is not that obvious. There are a lot of people out there who assume that truck accident laws are the same as car accident laws. That is not the case.

There are many more laws and regulations controlling the operation of commercial motor vehicles than those that regulate driving the family station wagon. If you think about it the extra laws make sense. These vehicles are big, they sometimes carry dangerous cargo, they are on the road for considerably more time, and they often have more equipment which provides greater opportunity for failure. The laws providing oversight for the commercial vehicle industry and specifically for tractor trailers require trucks to be routinely maintained and inspected in order to prevent catastrophic failure. They require the vehicle to be driven in a safe manner (there are more types of traffic tickets that can be issued to commercial vehicles and regular tickets are harder to fight when you have a CDL). Also, there are many rules and regulations meant to supervise driver conduct. Drivers can only drive for so many hours and must rest for specific periods of time before they can drive again. In my opinion, the violation of any of these rules and regulations instantly makes the driver and the trucking company liable for the injuries that result.

A final difference is who could be held responsible for the accident. In an accident between two passenger vehicles the fault generally lies with one of the drivers. Commercial vehicle drivers are usually driving for work. This means that if they act inappropriately, were acting within the terms of their employment, or shouldn't have been allowed to drive the company might be responsible for the driver's accident. Not to complicate the issue; there are also scenarios where what the driver is hauling or what vehicle they are driving can bring more responsible defendants into the case. An accident with a vehicle such as a commercial truck could put any number of parties at fault, including: the truck driver, truck leasing company, the truck's maintenance company , the manufacturer of the truck, the loading company, or even the municipality or county government who maintain the road where the accident happened.

If you're involved in a truck accident or bus accident, you should start by following the steps you normally would take after being involved in an accident. However, truck accident will require extra work by the victim or the victim's attorney because there are more records and evidence to track down, and this information must be gathered immediately. These include the name of the trucking company and all the DOT numbers on the truck and the trailer. In some instances you must also recover the "black box" information from the computer that records certain information about the truck's speed, braking, and other accident related information.

Truck accidents will most likely involve a corporate legal team working against you. Truck and bus companies are, after all, usually big corporations. They have legal departments whose sole responsibility is handling cases like your accident. There will be experts and investigators lined up and ready to respond to an accident at any time. Often times the trucking company will have a lawyer and a legal team respond to the accident along with the police and ambulance. Those companies will have a team of lawyers representing them; you need an experienced truck accident lawyer representing you.

James Brown is a Missouri injury lawyer in St. Louis. If you are hurt in a car accident you need to know the common mistakes car accident victims make when talking to insurance adjusters that ruin their accident claims. Request a free copy of his Missouri accident guide, "I Survived! The Crash Victims Guide to Surviving the Aftermath" at his website http://www.themissouriinjurylawyer.com

Another gas worker fatality in the Marcellus Shale

There has been another gas worker fatality in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. In this unfortunate and sad instance, a dump truck driver hauling stone to a well site lost control of the truck and ran off the road. The accident occurred on Overton Road in Overton Township, Pennsylvania. Here is a link to an article on the incident from the Towanda Daily Review.

There was another Marcellus Shale gas drilling truck accident yesterday as well. A crane used at one of the drill sites overturned near Granville Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Fortunately, the driver in this incident was not injured, as per the article about the incident in the Towanda Daily Review.

It appears that these types of truck accidents have been occurring on a regular basis. Why is that? Is it due to the amount of truck traffic on the road-- the more traffic will naturally generate more accidents? Is it that the gas workers are being worked too hard and not given enough down time? I don't know the answer.

More Bradford County Layoffs

From the Towanda Daily Review:

The economic downturn is affecting the work force at most of the larger manufacturing plants in the Bradford County through temporary furloughs, permanent layoffs or reductions in work hours. Here is how the economy is affecting the work force at some of the larger local businesses:

— In response to reduced demand for its products, the Ingersoll-Rand’s plant in Athens, which employs 253, will temporarily shut down during this holiday season, said Susan Jaramillo, a company spokesman. Specifically, the plant will be shut down from Dec. 19 to Dec. 28, and again from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4, she said.

— The Mill’s Pride plant in Athens Township has in place a number of temporary, voluntary layoffs of its employees, which began Nov. 28 and which will end Jan. 26, said Kathleen Vokes, director of communications for the plant’s parent company, Masco Corp. Attempts to find out from the company how many employees were participating in the voluntary layoff program were unsuccessful. Mill’s Pride produces cabinets for kitchens and other locations in people’s homes, Vokes said.

— At the end of November, Penndu Manufacturing Inc. laid off most of the employees at its plant in Tuscarora Township, reducing the number of employees at the plant from 25 to "about 10," said Dwylan Lefever, general manager of the company. Because business at sawmills has dropped off, "they are not purchasing capital equipment," which has reduced the demand for products made at Penndu, such as saws and conveying equipment, he said. A nationwide slump in manufacturing is also affecting Penndu, because there is not as much demand for wood pallets, he said. Consequently, pallet manufacturers are not buying as much equipment from Penndu, Lefever said.

— A total of 70 employees in two businesses in Troy Township that are owned by the Cummings family — Cummings Lumber and Barefoot Flooring — have been laid off this month as lumber sales slow, company officials said.

— At the CraftMaster Manufacturing plant in Wysox Township, which makes wood products used in home construction and remodeling, there have been temporary reductions in work hours of production workers on certain weeks in recent months, said plant CraftMaster Vice President and mill Manager Bob Andzulis. "It’s not a wholesale cutback" of hours, but does occur from time to time, he said. Also, 46 employees were laid off at the plant in March, and, in addition, a number of employees took offers of early retirement at that time, he said. Andzulis declined to say how many employees took the early retirement offers.

— Almost 200 of the 975 employees at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. (GTP) in Towanda have elected to take voluntary furloughs, which could last a week or several weeks, company spokesman Craig Rieder said. The furloughs began in November and are scheduled to end at the end of December, he said.

— DuPont Corp. in Towanda is in the process of laying off 42 contract workers at the plant, which will leave 538 employees at the plant, company officials said.

— The newspaper industry also is affected by the downturn in the economy. At The Daily & Sunday Review, for example, a wage freeze and a hiring freeze have been imposed.

I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.