One effective way to gather useful safety information on commercial vehicle operators is through incident and accident crash reports. Although traffic accident or crash reports are generally public information, unless you are personally involved in the crash or you witnessed a crash, locating this data regarding a particular commercial truck operator can be a challenge. If cumulative crash reports can be located, this data can be very helpful in identifying those companies with a pattern of operating commercial trucks in a manner that poses a significant safety risk to the communities in which they operate.
So how do we work together to accumulate this important safety information in an effort to protect our communities? First, if you are involved in a crash, you always have the right to view the report the police officer makes regarding your crash. If you have personal access to a crash report then you can help by simply providing the report or the details of the report to us by email or by clicking on the “report a concrete mixer truck crash” button on our home page. Once we have verification of the crash and have identified the cement/ready mix concrete truck company involved we can add the crash report to our tracking database.
However, if you are not personally involved in a crash with a concrete mixer truck or ready mix concrete truck, but you instead become aware of a crash because you are a witness, a bystander, a first responder or maybe the crash impacted a friend or family member, you can still help!
The laws regarding public access to crash information and the timing for obtaining public access to a crash report can vary by state. However, if you have even basic crash-related information, such as the city, county, state, date of crash, approximate time and location of the crash, most states will allow members of the public to access some version of a crash report.
So for our purposes, if you are able to provide us with most or all of the above information about when and where a crash occurred then our investigators will attempt to locate the public version of the crash report based on the information you are able to provide to us. Please help us by providing any information you may have about any crash involving a concrete mixer truck. Sometimes with even minimal information we are able to build on small tips that eventually result in the identification of a public crash report for our database.
Argos At-Fault Incidents and Accidents
Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina
| Date | State | Agros Vehicle | Citation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/19/2014 | Florida | MACK | Failure to observe red light | Argos driver ran a red light and struck a left-turning vehicle. |
| 6/1/2015 | Florida | MACK | Improper U-Turn | Argos driver attempted to make a U-Turn out of the far-right lane and collided with a car to the vehicle’s left. |
| 6/17/2015 | Florida | MACK | Unknown | Argos truck ejected a tire that struck two cars and caused a collision. |
| 9/30/2015 | Georgia | International 5600 | Improper lane change | Argos driver merged right into a turn lane 30 feet from an intersection but failed to observe a sedan already occupying that lane. The front-right of the truck collided with the back-left of the sedan. |
| 1/28/2016 | North Carolina | MACK | Unknown | Argos driver rear-ended a car that had slowed. |
| 2/8/2016 | North Carolina | Oshkosh | Left of Center (failure to maintain lane) | Argos driver crossed centerline when making a left-hand turn and struck a vehicle stopped at the intersection. |
| 7/14/2016 | Texas | Peterbilt | Unknown | Argos driver following too close, was not able to stop, and rear-ended a vehicle making a quick stop. |
| 8/22/2016 | North Carolina | International | Unsafe lane change | Argos driver merged left and did not observe a car already occupying the lane. The car swerved and collided with the Argos truck. |
| 5/30/2017 | Florida | MACK Granite | Improper lane change | Argos truck merged right and failed to see a vehicle occupying the lane. The front-right of the Argos truck collided with the left side of the vehicle. |
| 6/28/2017 | North Carolina | MACK | Improper Backing | Argos driver attempted to back into a private driveway, failed to observe a car behind the truck, and collided. |
| 7/21/2017 | Florida | MACK | Careless Driving | Argos driver failed to stop and rear-ended a slowing vehicle approaching an intersection. |
| 4/24/2018 | Texas | Peterbilt 357 | Failure to Control Speed | Argos driver failed to control speed and rear-ended a line of three cars. All three were damaged. |
| 5/12/2018 | North Carolina | MACK | Unknown | Argos driver failed to yield to right-crossing traffic at a stop sign. |
| 5/15/2018 | Texas | Peterbilt 365 | Disregard of Red Light | Argos driver ran red light and collided with light rail commuter train. |
| 7/17/2018 | Georgia | International Harvester | Improper lane change | Argos driver merged right and the front-right of the Argos vehicle collided with the back-left of a full-size sedan. The Argos driver had no knowledge the accident had taken place because he could not, at any point, see the vehicle with which he collided. The Argos driver left the scene and was found later by law enforcement. |
| 7/19/2018 | Florida | MACK Granite | Careless Driving | Argos driver stated he swerved to avoid a vehicle that cut him off. He then overcorrected, lost control, and overturned onto the vehicle’s right side. |
| 8/27/2018 | Georgia | Peterbilt 567 | Failure to Yield a Left-Hand Turn | Argos driver turned left on a green light but failed to observe a large oncoming pickup truck. The pickup truck collided with the right side of the Argos vehicle. |
| 10/4/2018 | Texas | Peterbilt | Failure to Maintain lane | While executing a 90 degree right turn at a high rate of speed, the Argos truck overturned onto its left side. |
| 11/5/2018 | Texas | Peterbilt 567 | Failure to Control Speed | Argos vehicle failed to observe a slowing in traffic, rear-ended a vehicle, and propelled it into another vehicle. |
| 12/6/2018 | Florida | MACK Granite | Ran Stop Sign | Argos driver proceeded past a stop sign and into an intersection without yielding to a pickup truck crossing from the right. The front of the Argos vehicle collided with the left side of the pickup truck, causing it to overturn. |
| 12/13/2018 | Texas | International | Unknown | Argos vehicle merged right, failing to observe a vehicle occupying the lane. The front-right of the Argos truck collided with the back-left of the vehicle. |
| 1/29/2019 | Texas | Peterbilt | Failure to Control Speed | Argos driver was following, and failed to observe, a vehicle yielding to traffic on an on-ramp. The front-right of the truck collided with the back-left of the vehicle. The collision caused injury. |
| 2/1/2019 | Florida | MACK Granite | Failure to Yield | Argos driver initiated a left hand turn, crossing an oncoming lane of traffic. The Argos driver stated he never observed the oncoming vehicle that collided with the truck’s right side. |
| 3/1/2019 | Texas | Peterbilt 567 | Unknown | Argos driver failed to yield and turned left into oncoming traffic. Oncoming vehicle collided with the front-right of the Argos truck. |
| 4/11/2019 | Florida | MACK Granite | Unknown | Argos driver glanced behind him to change lanes. In that time, traffic stopped, he braked, and finally swerved to the right shoulder. The truck then overturned to its right side. |
| 5/20/2019 | Texas | Peterbilt 200 | Failure to Maintain lane | Argos driver veered out of lane, lost control, and overturned into a ditch. |
| 6/6/2019 | Florida | MACK CT713 | Careless Driving | Argos driver was traveling at a high rate of speed on an on-ramp. Argos vehicle’s left rear tire struck the curb, the driver lost control, and the vehicle overturned. |
| 6/11/2019 | Texas | Peterbilt | Unknown | Argos driver rear-ended a stopped line of three vehicles causing damage to two vehicles. |
| 7/5/2019 | Florida | MACK CV-15 | Unknown | Argos driver swerved to avoid a vehicle that came to a stop. The Argos driver then collided with a tree causing disabling damage to the truck. |
| 7/31/2019 | Florida | MACK Granite | Failure to Yield | While turning left out of a private Argos driveway onto a two-way street, Argos driver failed to see left-crossing traffic. A vehicle collided with the left side of the truck. |
| 12/27/2019 | Texas | Peterbilt 357 | Unknown | Argos driver executed a 90 degree right turn at an unsafe speed and overturned onto the vehicle’s left side. |
| 1/22/2020 | North Carolina | Terex | Unknown | Argos driver rear-ended a stopped car at an intersection. |
| 2/8/2020 | Texas | Peterbilt | Unknown | Argos driver failed to observe, and rear-ended a vehicle that slowed. |
| 4/2/2020 | Florida | Mack | Failure to Yield | Argos driver failed to maintain a single lane. Front right of the Argos truck collided with the back left of a pickup truck causing disabling damage. |
| 4/8/2020 | Texas | Peterbilt | Unknown | Argos vehicle was slowing to a stop when both wheels and tires on the fourth axle, passenger side, “departed the main vehicle” and struck an SUV. |
| 7/19/2020 | Georgia | International 5600 | Hit and run | Argos driver turning left struck the back-left of a passenger vehicle with the front-right of the Argos vehicle. The Argos vehicle never stopped and proceeded to leave the scene. |
Using crash reports, consumer safety organizations and others concerned about commercial truck and concrete mixer truck safety can look for patterns of dangerous and unsafe driving, patterns of mechanical failure, or patterns in the types of crashes that occur. At cementtrucksafety.com, our team is focused on obtaining crash reports for accidents involving cement and ready mix concrete truck operators. And there are some very good reasons for our focus!
Cement and ready mix concrete trucks present some special and extraordinary hazards to our communities because, unlike most other very large commercial trucks or tractor-trailers, concrete mixer trucks regularly operate in neighborhoods and in highly urban areas where cement and ready mix concrete delivery is needed for construction projects.
Because of the nature of the product being hauled, cement and ready mix concrete trucks are nothing like long haul semi-tractor trucks that mainly operate on interstates and freeways. Instead, cement mixer trucks operate locally because they are hauling ready mix concrete and due to the nature of the concrete mix there is only a short window of time (only a few hours) between the time a truck is loaded with cement or concrete product and the time frame within which the truck contents must be emptied out. As a result, cement mixer trucks engage in high-frequency local driving and most of this driving is done in the heart of urban areas and family-occupied residential neighborhoods.
The combination of these factors means that cement and ready mix concrete trucks are driving into, out of and through our communities, frequently in areas occupied by much smaller family cars and on streets frequented by pedestrian traffic and bicycles. To be clear, the concrete mixer truck companies are fully aware of this situation. The fact that these trucks spend an enormous amount of time driving in urban and suburban settings is no surprise to the cement/ready mix truck industry. Under the circumstances, the safe operation of these large and extremely heavy trucks is paramount and must be job number one for every cement and concrete truck company.
Unfortunately, as even our limited data reveals, safety is not the focal point it should be at some of cement/ready mix concrete companies that operate in our communities. Instead some concrete mixer truck and ready mix operators make decisions that put company profits over community safety. Our data suggests that there is a lack of driver safety training and enforcement at some concrete mixer truck companies. And other concrete mixer truck operators have been documented making modifications to concrete mixer trucks that significantly increase danger by, for instance, recklessly installing after-market products in the cab of the trucks designed to save operational costs at the expense of safety.
We can derive from these facts that when a cement/concrete company creates a culture where its own company profits are more important than safety, the results can be devastating and far reaching. With crash reports we can start to see a pattern of recklessness, dangerous driving and neglect resulting in damage to property, injury to company drivers and completely unnecessary injury or even death caused to innocent people in the communities where concrete mixer trucks operate.
For instance, as you will see below, in looking at the types of crashes for a concrete truck operator, you see a larger-than-usual proportion of rollover crashes. This confirms the data presented on the “Why” page of our website: concrete trucks have an extraordinarily high rollover risk. This risk must be taken into account every time a concrete truck operator chooses to make a turn. Also, if one observes many vision-related crashes such as crashes caused by unsafe lane changes, failure to yield or rear-end crashes, this may be an indication of poor visibility due to in-cab obstructions and hazards created and implemented by the company that actually worsen visibility and lines of sight in these already high-risk vehicles.
To highlight the importance of crash reports as a safety oversight tool, below is an example taken from a database listing several crashes from a currently active investigation of the cement and ready mix truck operator ARGOS US, LLC in Florida and Texas. In this example, showing just a portion of the actual ARGOS US, LLC crash reports, you will see the date the crash occurred, the state in which it occurred, the Argos cement or ready mix truck make and model involved, the citation (which is a formal charge that the police officer brings), and the description of the accident (generally a combination of involved parties’ or witness’ statements). In some cases, the reporting officer may not have listed a citation on the report itself. In those instances, the citation is marked as “unknown.” We hope that by seeing the information these reports provide, you understand how essential they can be to keep others safe.
