Stopped to turn left, hit at 50 miles per hour
In January 2019, a husband and wife were on their way to a shopping center with their two-year-old son. He was driving. She sat in the back seat next to the boy’s car seat. They were stopped, waiting to make a legal left turn, when an Iron Horse Tools company truck hit them from behind at about 50 miles per hour.
The driver told police that by the time he saw their car, he had already hit it. He never braked. The impact drove a tire and parts of the trunk into the back seat. Witnesses saw the mother slumped over her son. She died from her injuries. Her husband and their son survived with injuries of their own.
Her family hired VB Attorneys. Vuk Vujasinovic led the case, with Job Tennant. Whether the driver was at fault was never really in doubt; he later testified the crash was preventable. The question was why a company that had written FATIGUE KILLS into its own safety program had this driver on the road.
The rules Iron Horse wrote for its own drivers
Iron Horse Tools supplies pressure-control equipment and services to oil and gas drilling rigs, and its employees drive company trucks long distances between job sites. After three crashes in 2011 that its own investigation tied to unsafe driving, the company wrote a Vehicle Safety Program.
That program is a set of promises the company made to every family that shares the road with its trucks. It says a driver suffering from fatigue will not be permitted to work. It says drivers must tell management about any condition that could keep them from driving safely, and it names sleep apnea as an example. It bars driving under the influence of any medication, including prescription medication, that could impair a driver. It says drivers should have at least one day off in every seven. And under the heading for trip planning, it says: FATIGUE KILLS.
The company’s president signed its policy statement: arriving safely is more important than arriving on time.
What the driver’s schedule and medicine showed
In the three months before the crash, the driver worked stretches of 19, 26 and 27 days in a row. His weekly hours ran as high as 90, and Iron Horse management approved his time records. The day before the crash, he finished a 12-hour shift and then drove about 450 miles.
He had been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was not treating it. Iron Horse knew he had a prescription for Valium to help him sleep, and never asked him about it. He told police he had taken Valium and Tylenol 3 the night before the crash.
A board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist reviewed the record and found three causes for the crash: sleep deprivation from excessive work hours, sleepiness from medication, and untreated sleep apnea. Each of the three was covered by a rule in Iron Horse’s own program.
Who was supposed to enforce the rules?
In depositions, the driver’s supervisor said he had never seen the Vehicle Safety Program before the crash. The driver said he was not familiar with its fatigue rules. At each level of supervision, Iron Horse witnesses pointed to someone else as the person responsible for enforcing them.
After the crash, Iron Horse’s own review called it distracted driving and said nothing about fatigue. The driver went back to the same job.
Resolved by video in 2020
The case was prepared for trial in state district court in Harris County, with experts in sleep medicine, accident reconstruction, fleet safety, and economics. When courts and offices closed in 2020, the depositions moved to video, and so did the mediation.
The case resolved confidentially on favorable terms. The amount is confidential. The recovery provides for her husband and her children, and for the injuries her husband and son suffered in the crash. Read more about how the firm handles fatal truck crash cases.
What the evidence showed
- The company’s own safety program. FATIGUE KILLS, a sleep apnea reporting rule, a prescription medication rule, and a one-day-off-in-seven guideline, all written by Iron Horse years before the crash.
- The driver’s time records. Stretches of 19, 26 and 27 days in a row, approved by management.
- The driver’s medical history. Diagnosed sleep apnea, untreated, and a Valium prescription the company knew about.
- The crash. A family stopped to turn left, hit at about 50 miles per hour, with no braking before impact.
- The expert analysis. A sleep medicine specialist tied the crash to work hours, medication, and untreated sleep apnea.
The rule, and the record
A company’s safety manual is a promise to every family on the road. This case asked whether Iron Horse kept it.
More from the record
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