Mountain Home Personal Injury Lawyer - Tractor-Trailer Accidents

You Can Help Prevent Unsafe Trucking

Frank Bailey — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:14:03 GMT

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Public Citizen and Chair and Founder of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, recently issued the following statement in response to an event by the Agricultural Transprotation Efficiency Coalition.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence showing that overweight trucks are more difficult to control, take longer to stop, are more likely to rollover in crashes and pose a serious safety threat to passenger vehicle occupants. Consequently, it is no surprise that large, heavy trucks are disproportionately responsible for motor vehicle deaths. Although big trucks are only 3 percent of U.S. registered vehicles, they are responsible for 13 percent of annual motor vehicle crash fatalities. When a car has a crash with a big truck, 98 percent of the people who die are in the smaller passenger vehicle.

Not only are American families paying the ultimate price for being forced to share the roads with oversized and overweight trucks, but their safety is also threatened by traveling on over-stressed and seriously compromised roads and bridges. One 80,000 pound tractor-trailer truck does as much damage to roads and bridges as 9,600 cars. Our highways and bridges are already buckling under levels of demand unforeseen by engineers who designed them. Simply put, bigger, heavier trucks are incompatible with the roads and bridges they use. Numerous federal and private sector studies have conclusively and convincingly shown that longer, heavier trucks operate with lower safety margins on both Interstate and lower class roads. Furthermore, heavy trucks do not pay their fair share for highway and bridge deterioration, causing the American public to subsidize the trucking industry’s greed.

The American public is well aware of the innate dangers of oversized trucks and the destruction they cause to our roads, and they do not want them to be even bigger. A recent public opinion poll by Lake Research Partners found that 66 percent oppose changing laws to allow larger trucks carrying heavier loads. More than 80 percent believe that trucks pulling two or three trailers are not as safe as single-trailer trucks. The survey also found that the strong opposition to bigger trucks transcends political party, gender, age, and region.

I urge Congress to listen to the American public and reject this proposal by special interest trucking and shipping industries."

I know in Arkansas we have needless truck crashes every week. I urge each of you who read this to contact your Represantives and tell them to put a stop to unsafe trucking.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

How To Win A Big Truck Accident

Frank Bailey — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:59:48 GMT

As diesel prices have risen it seems like we are seeing more and more big truck accidents on our highways. I know these high prices make it hard on independent truckers to make a living, but we cannot afford to sacrifice safety in these hard times.

In trucking cases every major trucking company has 24 hour response teams to respond to major accidents. This means that within 24 to 48 hours the trucking company will know what happened. A plaintiff’s attorney cannot wait to investigate the wreck and let the defense build the case. That is why it is so important for a person injured in a trucking accident to contact an attorney as quickly as possible.

There are literally over 1,000 regulatory requirements of federal motor carriers, but there are only 10 sections of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act that truly effect day to day operations from a safety standpoint.

A competent attorney who is familiar with these regulations can provide the firepower you need to win your case.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

New Devices Help Determine Truck Accident Causes

Frank Bailey — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:10:53 GMT

Trucking companies have the ability to know when drivers are speeding or going over the limit for time on the road. But, do these companies turn a blind eye to this information at the expense of the public? In a trucking wreck, this information is evidence for plaintiffs’ attorneys who know how to mine the information and use it to prove their client’s case.

On board computers track 175 characteristics such as speed, hard-braking and maintenance. This information allows plaintiffs’ attorneys to sue for negligent supervision, negligent maintenance and punitive damages if the facts are bad enough.

The main source of information is the truck’s “black box.” Some trucks are equipped with EO-BRs (electric on-board recorders) which monitor the number of driving hours, speed, and can indicate every time a driver goes over the allowed number of hours or drives over the speed limit.

Some trucking companies have replaced the old log books with devices that track a driver’s schedule and send the information back to the company. Other companies use video cameras and radar to warn of potential hazards such as a sleepy driver.

Hours-of-service violations are often the cause of wrecks due to driver fatigue. With the right evidence from these new devices these cases merit punitive damages.

Getting the information is not as easy as it may seem. It is critical to act quickly before the information is lost or erased.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed a new regulation which would require carriers with a history of violations to install this new equipment. The American Trucking Association opposes mandatory installation. The Truck Safety Coalition thinks the proposed rule is too weak. You can make a difference by contacting the Truck Safety Coalition and letting your opinion be heard to help prevent future accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey