Montana drivers know that weather conditions at this time of year can be treacherous. Icy roadways and blowing and drifting snow are the cause of many car accidents. A recent pile-up on Interstate 90 in Lockwood is a case in point. Four vehicles were involved in the collision: a passenger car, a minivan, a pickup truck and a Volkswagen bus.…Read More
Sometimes the victims of a motor vehicle accident consider themselves lucky to be alive. But surviving a horrendous auto accident is not always a matter of luck. Foresight, in the form of buckling a seat belt before setting out, has probably saved at least as many lives as luck. Police say three people who were hospitalized but are expected to…Read More
Oil field equipment can be very unforgiving. This fact was borne out recently when yet another life was claimed in an oil field accident. A 22-year-old Kalispell, Montana man died after sustaining injuries to his chest and abdomen on a rig north of Watford City, North Dakota. The accident happened around 1:30 on a weekday afternoon. How it happened is…Read More
A recent two-vehicle crash between a minivan and a U.S. Postal Service truck brought traffic at a Billings intersection to a halt. Fortunately for those involved, this was one car accident that looked a lot more serious than it actually was. Although the minivan ended up on its roof, none of the occupants sustained life-threatening injuries. The accident happened during…Read More
The extraction of oil from the Bakken Formation, which runs under Montana and North Dakota, has brought an economic boom to those regions. But the boom has come with a price, as injured workers and the families of workers killed on the job can attest. The recent death of a 49-year-old Minnesota man in an oil field accident in North…Read More
Some previous posts on this blog have focused on workers injured in the oil fields that have sprung up in Montana and other states in connection with the Bakken Shale oil boom. But the boom has had another unfortunate side effect: the number of truck accident victims in the Bakken region is also on the rise. One North Dakota woman’s…Read More
Aggressive drivers are more than just obnoxious; their behavior behind the wheel is downright dangerous. Recently, a witness reported that a 21-year-old man from Arlee, Montana was driving aggressively just before he was involved in a car accident that killed a woman on Evaro Hill. Worse yet, there is a possibility the man was also distracted: the witness also said…Read More
An explosion and fire at an oil processing facility in eastern Montana has injured three workers, at least two of whom were taken to a local hospital. The facility is in Wibaux, near the North Dakota border and at the eastern edge of the Bakken Shale crude oil formation. The facility takes slop oil, a waste material from the oil…Read More
A recent intersection collision in west Billings sent a man to the hospital. Fortunately, his injuries are not considered life-threatening. The car accident happened around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of King Avenue West and South 56th Street West. A truck towing a trailer was traveling south on 56th and, according to the Montana Highway Patrol, failed to yield the…Read More
A tragic accident on the Crow Reservation last year has resulted in a murder conviction for one of the drivers involved. The 26-year-old man pleaded guilty to second degree murder in a case arising out of the accident in which four people died. The drunk driving accident serves as a stark reminder of the deadly consequences of drinking and driving.…Read More