The Wrong Side of the Road
A young man traveling eastbound on a Dallas
freeway (concrete lane divider) had a flat on his
left rear tire. He was traveling in the fast lane.
Rather than pull across two lanes of traffic he
decided to pull off on the left (closest to the
center barrier) "safety" lane. He exited his car to
start changing his tire.
About 1/8 mile back to the west, a "rock
hauler" was also traveling east bound. The left rear
dual wheels exited the rock hauling trailer.
Photograph A
Shortly thereafter, the dual wheels, which also
were traveling east bound, struck the young man who
was fatally injured.
A visual inspection of the outside surface of the
wheel rim revealed, as shown in Photograph B below,
that wheel bearing grease had been splayed out
around the wheel circumference.
Photograph B
Further examination of the trailer axle revealed
severe long term evidence of lack of maintenance
and/or poor maintenance. An overall view of the
remains of the trailer axle and wheel bearing are
shown in Photograph C.
Photograph C
Visual evidence clearly indicated that the
subject "rock hauler" had high temperature grease
leaking and being spun out on the outside surfaces
of the trailer wheel. The "grease print" was
enhanced with dust from the quarry where the rock
load was picked up. Even casual visual inspections
should have alerted the driver that a lubrication
problem existed.
The matter was resolved without destructive
testing, deposition or trial testimony.
