On the morning of October 11, a 29-year-old man walked into a BP Service Station, where a transport truck was refueling. He didn’t walk out. Instead, he managed to hijack one of the vehicles, taking it on a horribly destructive joyride through the Australian town of Singleton.
He plowed into several cars. He smashed through an apartment building. He smashed a bus shelter. And finally, when police laid down road spikes to stop the man’s rampage, the truck he was driving burst into flames as he attempted to find another one.
Although the full extent of the damages aren’t yet clear, at the time of writing eight people are injured and two are in the hospital in critical condition.
“Everyone’s absolutely gobsmacked at the devastation this has caused,” explained Singleton’s Mayor, Sue Moore. “Especially as it happened on the New England Highway which runs through the middle of our town.”
Once the chaos has died down and police finish interviewing the suspect, I’ve no doubt in my mind that the next question will be one of responsibility. Who should be held accountable for the devastation caused by this rampage? If the victims who were sent to the hospital perish, who should be taken to task for their death?
Initially, it might make sense to blame the driver. After all, the man clearly set out with the intent to cause wide-spread, large-scale damage. At the same time, I cannot help but wonder…how did he gain access to that transport truck?
According to news reports, he stole the truck while the driver was paying for fuel. If a threat was involved, the driver can hardly be blamed for giving the man his truck. At the same time, if this was a simple case of driver negligence, things get a bit more complicated.
If the driver simply left his keys in the ignition, does that mean he bears some responsibility for the damages? Should the company that employs said driver be held accountable here?
There is as yet no clear answer to either of those questions – which speaks to an unfortunate truth about trucking accidents. Blame and accountability are not always clear-cut in a crash. It isn’t always obvious that a trucking company has cut corners, nor is it always clear that a driver was impaired.
If you’ve been injured in a crash, that probably isn’t what you want to hear – and you definitely don’t want to have to deal with figuring out whether or not someone should be taken to task.
That’s where Bormaster Law comes in. We’ll help you sift through the complexities and work out who should be held accountable for your injuries. And we have a long history of working with trucking firms that think they can get away with cutting corners – so we know when there’s corruption to be found.
Contact us today for a free consultation, and let us help you reclaim your life.