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Consumer Protection

UNFIT TRUCKS ON OUR ROADS THREATEN PUBLIC SAFETY

       A study conducted by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) found that commuters are sharing roads with an alarming number of trucks that are in violation of several safety regulations. These violations include practices such as failure to maintain tires and brakes, dangerously overloading trucks, allowing unqualified or untrained drivers to drive, and maintaining salary systems that encourage truck drivers to exceed speed limits and exceed maximum driving hours (which lead to tired drivers which lead to accidents).

      The effects of these violations are deadly and often tragic. While truck accidents occur for a variety of reasons, many could be prevented. That they happen is often a direct result of trucking companies violating safety standards to cut corners and maximize profits. The vast majority of people killed in accidents with trucks are the drivers and passengers of the cars that get hit. The individual motorists and their families are often the ones who suffer and bear the burdens of human and financial losses when trucking companies ignore safety and put their unsafe trucks on the roads. 

      While the number of trucks currently operating with safety violations is shocking, the study believes there are more serious problems to be uncovered. Many deadly accidents involving unsafe trucks are never recorded as safety violations.  Nearly one-third of commercial motor vehicle crashes that states are required to report to the federal government were never recorded.  Additionally, state crash reports were not always accurate. The study also found that more than 1,000 commercial trucking companies that were ordered out of service because of federal safety violations evaded compliance by simply operating under a different name, but often using the same owner, address and employees (and likely using the same unsafe trucks).

      Linda and John Giuliano dealt with the deadly consequences of companies that keep unsafe trucks on the road.  Their 23-year-old son Matthew, a newly-commissioned Army officer traveling to his first assignment at Fort Hood in Texas, was killed instantly when his car slammed into the back of a commercial truck.  The truck had screeched to a sudden halt when its brake hose failed, causing the emergency brakes to engage.  The truck drivers knew the air brakes had a small hole in the brake hose. However, rather than call a mobile mechanic, the drivers fixed the hole with a toothpick and electrical tape while the trucking company dispatcher complimented them on their resourcefulness.  They had driven for two hours, before the brakes failed, all the while passing numerous repair shops where a $12 fix would have made the hose safe again.

      Or consider Patrick Nunez, who died when his car was struck by a fully-loaded, 75-ton gravel truck whose driver had lost control. The truck driver, who had a seizure disorder, was medicating with a powerful epilepsy drug that was known to cause drowsiness and delayed reaction time. The driver also admitted that he did not receive any formal training from his employer and he did not inspect the truck’s tires and brakes before he got behind the wheel.

      There are several tragic stories involving these big behemoths on the roads. Although trucks are vital to the U.S. economy, they are inherently dangerous. They are far larger and heavier than cars, take longer to stop, and cause much more damage in collisions. However, the economy’s reliance on trucks and the trucking industry’s need to keep costs down should not diminish the need to maintain the highest possible safety standards.

© Law Offices C. Joe Sayas, Jr.