Elma, WA — January 6, 2025, a woman sustained injuries following an impaired truck driver accident around 4:20 p.m. on U.S. Route 12.

Preliminary details about the accident say that it happened at the intersection of U.S. 12 and State Route 8, several miles west of Olympia.

According to officials, a 23-year-old Olympia woman and a baby were in a passenger vehicle going eastbound along the highway. At eastbound on-ramp, authorities say an oncoming semi-truck failed to yield making a left turn, resulting in a collision.

Due to the accident, the woman in the car had unspecified injuries. No other injuries were reported. Authorities allege that the semi-truck driver had been driving under the influence at the time. No further information is currently available.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

People might read these allegations and assume everything here is open-and-shut. If it's true a truck driver was behind the wheel while under the influence, that's that, right? Well, there could be more to the story. I've handled hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases, and a driver's recklessness can often be a reflection of their employer's business practices.

Let's consider the claims this truck driver was under the influence, for example. In my experience, drivers don't just wake up one day and decide to get drunk or high before work. More often, there is a pattern of behavior. Generally speaking, responsible employers have enough oversight to recognize these patterns of behavior, or they conduct regular testing and thorough background checks to ensure their drivers are able to perform their duties safely.

Other companies, however, ignore red flags because they care more about getting trucks on the road than following the rules. They'll hire drivers with a history of reckless behavior, skip background checks, neglect to properly oversee the actions of their employees, and otherwise be so hands-off that they allow negligent behavior to persist until someone gets hurt. Solely holding the reckless driver accountable without holding their employer accountable for their own negligence allows the company to continue as normal until more people are harmed.

So while it's not clear what all happened here, that's why it's important investigations extend beyond the accident scene itself. This could all be the result of one reckless driver's actions, or it could be the inevitable result of a series of mistakes that happened long before the driver got behind the wheel. Is that something authorities are considering in their investigations?