BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—O’Neil Xavier Frazier, 43, died tragically on September 1, 2022, after his car was rear-ended by a box truck around 7:30 p.m. on Interstate 59/20.
According to initial reports, Frazier stopped his car, a Nissan Altima, in the emergency lane of Interstate 59/20 between the Airport exit and the I-20 entrance ramp. Then, an Isuzu box truck rear-ended Frazier’s vehicle. Frazier was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Whether the driver of the box truck was injured is not known at this time.
Why the box truck ran into the back of the stopped vehicle was not immediately apparent.
The accident remains under investigation. No further details are available.
Thoughts on the box-truck accident and potential sources of financial assistance for the surviving family
Box trucks, also called enclosed delivery trucks, are, in many ways, like semi-trucks. Box trucks can weigh up to 30,000 pounds and requires the driver to possess a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate. To that end, box trucks can be incredibly dangerous, as they contribute to nearly forty percent of all fatal trucking-related accidents annually. Additionally, drivers of box trucks must comply with traffic rules and take precautions to avoid accidents. Here, however, we can see that the driver of the box truck failed to take the required measures to prevent a fatal crash.
The most puzzling aspect of this accident centers around the fact that Frazier’s car was pulled over in the emergency lane when it was struck. Investigators analyzing the accident must ask why the box truck was traveling in the emergency lane of the highway. If the driver of the box truck was distracted while driving or did not know that a specific lane was reserved for emergencies, Frazier’s family could bring a negligence claim against the box truck driver. After all, driving in the emergency lane and failing to avoid a stopped vehicle in the emergency lane are unacceptable actions for which the box truck driver must be held accountable.
In these circumstances, it is necessary for Frazier’s family to consult an attorney to conduct an independent investigation into the cause of the accident to ensure evidence is properly protected and to fight for justice. Without an experienced attorney overseeing the investigation into causation, authorities may overlook clear signs of negligence or fail to validate the box truck diver’s education, qualifications, and driving history.
Regardless of what the official investigation finds, we always advocate for an independent legal investigation, particularly in cases like this, where there is not an obvious cause of the accident. Resource constraints often mean that official investigations stop at the first identified cause. Unfortunately, we find many accidents have more than one cause, and we do not stop our investigation until all causes have been identified.
