Tampa Personal Injury Law Blog

It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that 18-wheelers can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. When you add that to their size, it's easy to see why they cannot stop quickly and why any impact with one will most likely be a violent one.

People involved in crashes with these mammoth vehicles suffer a myriad of injuries, and one of them is internal bleeding. Any blunt force trauma or rapid deceleration such as that sustained in a truck accident could lead to this dangerous injury. Knowing the signs could save your life one day.

A crash involving a drunk driver in Valrico sent six people to the hospital -- including two Hillsborough County police deputies.

The early morning crash happened on May 10, 2020, near the intersection of Church Street and Highway 60 East. According to reports, the police deputies were parked on the media nearby, monitoring the passing traffic for suspected drunk drivers -- when a 2016 Chevy Impala heading eastbound jumped the median and slammed headlong into one patrol car and sideways into the other.

You do your best to be careful when you're out there on the road, and you understand that defensive driving is important. But how do you protect yourself against something like a drunk driver?

Know the signs. If you can spot a drunk driver, you can take steps to evade them and even report them to the authorities. Here's what you will commonly see with drunk drivers:

• Tailgating, especially aggressively so
• Abrupt or illegal turns
• Inconsistent speed, including rapid accelerations and decelerations
• Driving the wrong way into traffic
• Driving more than 10 miles per hour below the posted speed limit for now discernible reason
• Striking or almost striking curbs or objects on the curb
• Sudden braking for no visible cause
• Forgotten headlights at night
• Driving down the center of the lane, on the yellow line
• Drifting in and out of moving traffic
• Lagging responses to traffic signals
• Inconsistent signaling (like putting on a left-hand turn signal and driving straight)
• Driving off the road, onto yards or other areas

Watching a motorcyclist get wiped out on the road is a horrific experience. What's worse: Many people never even stop to help. Maybe they're afraid of getting hurt themselves, or maybe they simply don't know what to do -- but even one Good Samaritan can make a big difference to an injured biker.

If you want to be ready to respond appropriately to a motorcycle wreck in a way that could save someone's life and preserve their future, here is what you need to know:

1. Call 911. The sooner you can get an emergency medical crew to arrive, the better. Motorcycle accident injuries are usually serious, and every second counts when it comes to a positive outcome.
2. Make safety your top concern. Stop your vehicle in a place that is both out of the way of oncoming traffic and out of the way of the emergency vehicles that need to arrive at the scene. Turn on your hazard lights and make sure that you can safely approach the accident victim before you try.
3. Don't move the victim or remove their helmet. Spinal and head injuries are common with motorcycle wrecks. Moving someone who has suffered either can actually do more harm than good. Let the trained paramedics handle this job. Instead, focus on communicating to the victim that you are present and that you've already alerted the authorities that they need help.
4. Ask for important information. If the victim is able to respond, try to find out their name and any important information about their medical conditions or drug allergies for the paramedics.