Youth Gets $1.5 Million For Injuries Suffered in Service Truck Mishap

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Successful LCO Richard “Dick” Bare offers suggestions to avoid driving disasters.

ATLANTA, Ga. — Texting while driving is a very bad idea. That’s the case whether you’re driving your personal vehicle or a company service truck.

An employee for Arbor-Nomics Turf, Inc. admitted that he was texting a customer in 2007 when he drove a company Ford F250 into the rear of a car stopped at a right light on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

The impact of the collision sent the head of 7-year-old Chasity Anderson into the seat in front of her. The impact of the collision fractured her skull. The youth was secured in a car seat in the rear seat of the car at the time of the accident.

On Feb. 17, a Fulton County jury awarded $1.5 million to the girl who suffered the injuries. The girl, now 15, has made a “fairly remarkable recovery,” according to the defense, which argued for a lower settlement. But lawyers for the teenager claimed she still has vision problems and mild attention deficit disorder as a result of the 2007 crash.

Richard “Dick” Bare, founder and owner of Arbor-Nomics offers these thoughts about employees using company vehicles:

  1. Pay attention to how your employee partners drive. If they are prone to accidents, switch them over to your aerating and overseeing crew where they are not driving company trucks.
  2. Don’t let employees drive cars or trucks home.
  3. Rent tracking devices that will alert you to off hours activity and speeding, etc., and mount a camera in the windshield.
  4. When you hire someone, thoroughly check out their driving record and do a background check through your local police department or a private company.
  5. People who are in frequent accidents tend to drive differently than good drivers. They are easily distracted, they are less aware of their surroundings, and they misjudge looming problems such as black ice, traffic issues, truck/car maintenance, etc.
  6. Have a good umbrella policy to make up for errors and omissions in your regular insurance.
  7. Have a good drug-testing program.
  8. Thoroughly check and maintain your entire fleet and all equipment to assure it is 100% safe to be on the road at all times. Bald tires will put you out of business.
  9. Go to church every Sunday and pray that you or any of your employees never have to go to court for something like this.

Click here for the article with details about the jury’s verdict.