Virginia family fights for stricter truck safety laws after ‘wheel off’ incident, disabled woman – NBC4 Washington

A Virginia family is fighting for stricter truck safety laws after a woman nearly died when an 18-wheeler’s tires burst and crashed into her car.

But the News4 I-Team found loopholes in motor carrier laws that are holding the truck driver, who failed to stop or report the incident, responsible for the damage.

“I have lost everything,” said Sonja Tucker, a former IT specialist who suffered a debilitating traumatic brain injury in the crash and is now unable to work.

With medical bills mounting, her family is racing against time to find the truck’s owner before the statute of limitations for filing an insurance claim expires in July.

“Someone has to be held accountable for this,” says her longtime partner Omar Rico.

Tucker doesn’t remember much about the afternoon crash on July 1, 2022. According to police reports, Tucker was driving toward Interstate 66 East when the twin sets of tractor-trailer tires struck her windshield and spun her car.

According to her family, Tucker suffered several broken bones and a brain hemorrhage. She was in a coma for several weeks as Virginia State Police attempted to locate the driver responsible for the accident.

According to VSP, no road cameras were active in the work area that day. The only video came from a local retailer’s surveillance camera, but the truck — later described by a witness to the crash as black and chrome — had no visible signage. The witness did not notice the license plate numbers.

Police say it is impossible to know whether the driver – who was traveling on the opposite side of the highway – was aware that the trailer’s wheel and tire hub had broken off. If the driver had known the incident caused an accident, he or she would have had to stop and notify authorities, according to police.

But the I-Team found that there is nothing under current law that requires drivers to contact authorities if they discover that potentially lethal equipment is missing from their trucks after a trip.

“He has no obligation, as our laws are written, to actually do anything,” explained Sgt. Steve Vilbert, who inspects trucks traveling throughout the Commonwealth as part of the Virginia State Police Motor Carrier Safety Unit.

Vilbert noted that the law only requires truck drivers to notify their bosses or log the equipment problem internally.

When asked if he believed stricter reporting requirements would make a difference, Vilbert replied: “Absolutely… It would help us close a lot of cases.”

Although the most recent reports show that nearly 6,000 people died in accidents involving trucks in 2021, the accidents that befell Tucker are extremely rare.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), crashes caused by wheel falls or tire blowouts accounted for just 3.6% of all fatal wrecks in 2021 and 4.4% of crashes involving injuries that same year.

But the impact of such crashes can be devastating for families, noted Zach Cahalan of the nonprofit Truck Safety Coalition.

Cahalan said victims trying to collect damages should also not expect a large payout under current law. That’s because the minimum liability insurance a carrier must carry is $750,000, an amount that has not been increased since 1980.

“The average crash cost is $5 million … so the idea that $750,000 has never been increased, even because of inflation, is nonsense,” he said.

Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García, D-Ill., is sponsoring a measure that would increase a motor carrier’s liability insurance to $5 million. He told the I-Team he would also support additional reporting requirements.

“I think that is very important. That is outside the scope of this bill, but is certainly something we need to look at,” he said.

His measure faces opposition — especially from trucking groups like the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), who say there is little evidence that current insurance levels are inadequate.

In a statement, the ATA told News4: “Raising minimum rates would increase premiums for small trucking companies across the board and will certainly put many out of business, including companies with excellent safety records.”

The statement continued: “Given that 96% of trucking companies in the country operate 10 trucks or fewer, this would negatively impact the supply chain without any measurable safety benefit.”

Collin Long of the OOIDA told News4 that his organization supports stronger safety measures for truck drivers, such as mandatory behind-the-wheel training before someone can become a commercial driver, but Long questioned the feasibility of increased reporting requirements for equipment failures.

“If someone comes to us with a proposal, we’re happy to investigate it and assess its merits, but I think we need to introduce a little bit of caution into that simply because there are already systems in place at the U.S. Department of Transportation that do that . We have been trying to improve for years,” he said.

In a statement to News4, the FMCSA said drivers must conduct inspections before and after each trip and document any issues with their business, with any issues “corrected immediately” before drivers can return to the road.

The Tucker family hopes anyone who may have seen something that day will contact police.

And while they’re focused on Sonja’s physical recovery, the family says it’s just as difficult to deal with the emotional toll of what Sonja has lost.

“Sonja did exactly what you’re supposed to do,” said her mother, Renee Tucker. ‘Didn’t live beyond her means. Was always able to take care of herself… Once she decided what she wanted to do, she made it happen, so the fact that she’s in this position now…”

“It’s really unfair,” Sonja interjected, bursting into tears.

“I don’t want my daughter to cry. I don’t want her to get upset. That’s the last thing I want,” Renee Tucker continued. ‘But there has to be an answer to this. I just don’t want this to go away.”

According to VSP, anyone who witnessed this or other crashes can call the state’s emergency communications center by dialing #7-7.

News4 photographers Lance Ing and Evan Carr, as well as NBC Washington bureau producer Arielle Hixson, contributed to this report.