Richard Thomas and Jane Firth are in critical condition in the Huntsville Hospital Surgical Intensive Care Unit, after the car Thomas was driving driving, a Volkswagen Jetta, struck an 18-wheel tractor trailer driven by Kevin Reed of Kinmundy, Illinois. Reed was taken to Eliazbeth Coffee Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released.

Eyewitnesses at the scene of the accident say that both the car and the 18-wheeler both landed in the Gnat Pond after the collision which occurred around 5:00 p.m. at the Sixth Street and Gnat Pond Road intersection. Muscle Shoals Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Because of their immense size and weight, automobile accidents involving 18-wheel tractor trailers are often the most catastrophic of all motor vehicle accidents. Not only is the tractor part of the truck 2 to 5 times heavier than the car it collides with, the trailer section can weight 10 times that of a car or more depending on the load. According to Yahoo Answers, a truck weighs 23,000 lbs. and a trailer weighs around 12,000 lbs when empty. Totally loaded, an 18-wheeler can haul a max of 80,000lbs….without a special permit It’s the positioning of the load of the tractor trailer that can often cause the trailer to jackknife when going around a bend in the road causing it to sweep into oncoming traffic.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident involving the negligence of an 18-wheel tractor trailer you need to call a Huntsville 18-wheeler accident attorney that has the experience in these special cases to ask the right questions and gather the right evidence from the trucking company that owns the 18-wheeler. Call Ferguson & Ferguson today for a free consultation.