Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
Roughly halfway between Portland and Boise is the steepest highway grade in all of Oregon. The area is so challenging to travel that the Oregon Department of Transport published an advisory sheet specifically dedicated to educating semi truckers about safely handling the dangerous stretch of Interstate 84. Known as Emigrant Hill (but often better known as Cabbage Hill), it has been the site of countless serious and fatal accidents in recent years. Too many of these accidents occur because a driver (or drivers) did not navigate the road with the degree of care the law demands. When that is the case, those injured (or the families of those killed) may be entitled to seek justice through civil action. If you have endured serious harm (or lost a loved one) in a Cabbage Hill crash, you owe it to yourself to consult an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer about your rights and your legal options.
In June, Cabbage Hill was the site of yet another fatal accident. The driver of a pickup truck collided with the rear end of a semi-truck on westbound I-84 as they descended the hill’s steep grade. According to the Eugene Daily News, the semi was traveling very slowly and had its hazard lights on when the pickup crashed into its back end. The rear driver, a woman from Irrigon, died in the collision.
The facts that the news reported seem to point towards errant driving by the deceased woman, but the facts in this news report inevitably are not the only ones. For example, evidence that a big rig’s hazard lights were not functioning properly could alter the analysis of responsibility for the crash.
Oregon has a specific statute laying out the state’s requirement regarding hazard lights. These demands include using at least two lights in the front and two in the rear, that flash simultaneously, and that are spaced as widely apart as “practicable.” Also, only amber or red lights may be used for rear hazards (and amber or white for the front,) and the lights must be “visible from a distance of not less than 500 feet under normal atmospheric conditions at night.”
Cabbage Hill’s Challenging Weather
Many times, weather plays a role in Cabbage Hill accidents. ODOT noted in its pamphlet about the area that Cabbage Hill has “some of the most changeable and severe weather conditions in the Northwest.”
That includes snow, ice, rain, and fog. Snow and ice were factors in a tragic bus crash that killed nine passengers in 2012. Fog and black ice contributed to a massive pileup in January 2015 that claimed 20 vehicles and injured a dozen people. In 2022, snow led to a crash that involved nearly 100 vehicles.
Drivers should bear in mind that the law requires them to limit the speed of their vehicles based on the conditions. That means, even if the driver who hit you was moving at or below the posted speed limit, that person may still have been driving too fast for the conditions (and responsible for the harm their accident caused) if the area was impacted by poor weather. This includes areas of poor visibility due to rain, snow, or fog, or slippery roads due to rain, snow, or ice.
Additionally, the driver may have made other mistakes as well, such as neglecting to turn on their headlights and taillights.
Cabbage Hill Crashes Often Involve Big Rigs
Frequently, these collisions involve large commercial trucks, especially if the drivers operating them are out-of-staters unfamiliar with the stretch’s treacherous conditions. Truckers may fail to brake sufficiently and strike vehicles in front of them, may navigate curves too fast and tip over or lose their loads, or may stray outside their lanes of travel as they pass through the curvy area (which includes a double hairpin turn along a 6% grade.)
If the driver who hit you was operating a commercial truck, that creates an extra layer of complexity in investigating the crash. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) imposes strict limits on the hours truckers drive each day. The FMCSA also has specific rules regarding the weight of loads commercial truckers carry. Investigating an accident involving a semi-truck often means securing an array of records from the trucker or trucking company, including driver log books, truck (and trailer) maintenance records, documentation of past violations, and much more.
Crashes caused by commercial truckers may implicate third parties as well. If the trucking company used an outside vendor to inspect, maintain, or repair its vehicles, that third party could be partly responsible for your injuries if the evidence indicates the crash took place because the truck or trailer was defective or failed to perform as it should have.
Whether or not a semi-truck(s) was involved, crashes occurring in the Cabbage Hill area require legal counsel as familiar with the area as they are the law and the rules of procedure. The knowledgeable Oregon auto accident attorneys at Kaplan Law LLC are uniquely well-positioned to help people and families touched by these collisions. We have represented car and truck crash victims from across the state, including those hurt in Cabbage Hill accidents. To learn more, call (503) 226-3844 today or contact us online to set up your free consultation.
