Washington State Archives - Trucking Watchdog

Investigating a fatal truck crash at Snoqualmie Pass

In dark hours of an early winter morning, truckers are eager to miss rush hour traffic as they are headed out on their routes. Dispatchers advised that a winter weather advisory was expected. The temperature hovered right around freezing on the east side of the Snoqualmie Pass. It was just before 5 a.m. when a [...]

Trucking Watchdog2021-02-04T21:00:48+00:00Washington State|

New “cover your load” law coming to Washington State in 2020?

On February 22, 2004, Maria Federici was blinded and nearly killed by a piece of particle board that flew out of a rented trailer, struck her windshield and hit her in the face. The driver of the vehicle pulling the trailer had been moving all day, and failed to properly secure the particle board in [...]

Trucking Watchdog2019-11-20T23:11:13+00:00In the News, Washington State|

Court holds trucking companies 100% responsible for Skagit Bridge collapse

Last week, the Washington Supreme Court issued a ruling in the ongoing litigation between the State and trucking companies regarding the collapse of the I-5 Skagit River Bridge in 2013. Washington Supreme Court tells trucking companies, not WSDOT, to pay for I-5 Skagit bridge collapse While Judge Steven Gonzalez’ reasoning was not completely sound and [...]

Trucking Watchdog2020-03-24T21:45:02+00:00Lawsuits and Legal Process, Washington State|

Washington state has biggest surge in truck crash fatalities

The trucking safety group Road Safe America analyzed federal crash data from 2009-2017. They found that nearly all U.S. states had increases in semi-truck crash deaths from 2009 to 2017. But Washington State has experienced the biggest percentage increase in truck crash fatalities. The five states with the largest percentage increases in truck crash deaths [...]

Trucking Watchdog2019-02-28T20:53:59+00:00Washington State|

Here’s what happened in the powdered milk truck crash on I-5

For several hours yesterday, a rollover truck crash on I-5 resulted in the closure of all the southbound lanes, and part of the northbound lanes. The crash occurred between Tumwater and Maytown near 113th Avenue, but affected drivers from Portland to Seattle. The Thurston County Sheriff reported that a second crash - a hit-and-run on [...]

Trucking Watchdog2020-04-01T16:19:23+00:00Washington State|

Off-tracking truck: how rear tires can crush pedestrians

Off-tracking truck: Rear wheels take a different, shorter path than the front wheels when the semi truck is turning or cornering. We might think of it as "cutting the corner" of a turn. I have seen this before, with a client who was run over by the back wheels of a semi-truck turning the corner. In this [...]

Trucking Watchdog2020-04-01T19:24:12+00:00Truckers and Trucking Companies, Washington State|

Why was there 62% more semi crashes in Washington last year?

Have you wondered if there have been more semi-truck crashes than usual in Washington State? In 2017, after a spate of high-profile semi crashes in Washington that resulted in serious injuries and/or closed major highways for hours, we looked into this question. The Washington State Patrol's Collision Analysis Tool shows 1087 semi crashes met the damage threshold for reporting in 2017. [...]

Trucking Watchdog2020-07-10T22:38:38+00:00Washington State|

Yes, semi truck crashes are way up in Washington this year … and it’s gotten worse

Update: As of October 16, there has been 798 semi truck crashes* in Washington State. At the same time last year, there had been 661. Just in the last few weeks, there have been several major collisions that caused severe injuries—and kept thousands stuck in traffic for hours. June 9: Three semi trucks collided in Blaine, Washington, just south [...]

Trucking Watchdog2019-02-21T18:52:42+00:00Washington State|

Yes, semi truck crashes are way up in Washington this year … but why?

This past week, a semi-truck flipped over on I-405 in Bellevue around 5 a.m. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured … but traffic was backed up for hours, at one point stretching 7 miles down the highway. The Washington State Patrol (WSP) later cited the trucker for driving too fast for rainy conditions. At 4 [...]

Trucking Watchdog2017-03-22T18:02:54+00:00Washington State|

It took the tragic death of a UW professor to close this trucking safety loophole

The logging truck, quite simply, had been massively overloaded. It wasn’t the first time this trucking company—and this trucker—had been caught overloading their logging trucks. Logging trucks—like this one—must follow strict guidelines to correctly load and secure extremely heavy cargo. But one day, on a scenic road in the Olympic Peninsula, the [...]

Trucking Watchdog2020-03-05T23:57:27+00:00Washington State|