June 4 deadly forklift versus SUV accident in Merced County

On June 4 a man died after he drove his Chevy Tahoe into a forklift on Van Clief Road near Stevinson in Merced County. According to reports the Tahoe was southbound on Van Clief Road near First Avenue when it came upon the forklift. The forklift was facing west in the southbound lane that the Tahoe was in while it was loading things into a flatbed truck that was parked on the west shoulder of the road. By the time the driver of the Tahoe saw the forklift it was too late for him to avoid hitting it. The Tahoe hit the forklift and then turned over. The driver of the Tahoe was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. He was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene of the accident. A teenage passenger in the Tahoe was treated at a local hospital for a broken femur. The driver of the forklift escaped the accident uninjured.

September 7 fatal forklift accident in Tulare County

On September 7 Tom Lee Chan was killed in a forklift accident at the Blue Ridge radio repeater station in the mountains near Visalia in Tulare County.According to reports the forklift overturned and trapped Chan underneath. Chan died as a result of the accident. www.nelsonrozier.com

Vehicle hits forklift driver

March 25, 2008--Last year there was a fatal accident in Kings County involving a motor vehicle and a forklift driver.  At about 1am 2 workers for the Island District Honey Company were loading beehives in the dark on a county road.  Both lanes of travel were blocked.  The second worker was the lookout and had taken a break to relieve himself in the field when the car approached.  Although the flatbed truck they were loading had it's emergency blinkers on, the driver could not see them until it was too late.  The forklift driver was killed immediately.  The driver of the vehicle, who was on a taco run, sustained fractures to both legs in addition to other serious injuries.  She was airlifted for emergency medical care.

Through discovery we were able to establish that 5 or 6 vehicle code violations had occurred including the failure to use cones or even an effective lookout before completely blocking traffic.  The owner of the company testified that they had done nothing wrong and that the same practices were still continuing.  This contributed greatly to the value of the case.

The moral of the story is to, of course, slow down when approaching any type of activity in the dark and to use great caution when requiring others to stop as you block traffic.  It is not enough to simply have your lights on to warn oncoming traffic that both lanes are blocked.  If you have been involved in a similar accident, please call the law firm of Nelson & Rozier for a free consultation.  www.nelsonrozier.com