Last year, over 140,000 large trucks were involved in accidents last year, up over 20 % since 2002. And almost 5000 people were killed in accidents with large trucks. Unfortunately, in many cases these crashes could have been avoided if proper maintenance had been conducted on the trucks before they were put out on the road.
Vital Safety Equipment
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) lists major categories of safety equipment that must be maintained for large trucks:
?Lights and Reflective Devices that allow the truck driver to see and be seen by other cars on the road
?Brakes that function properly to allow the vehicle to stop if the truck driver is not driving too aggressively and leaves adequate braking distance.
?Windows that allow drivers a clear field of vision.
?Fuel Systems that must allow for the safe operation of the truck and will not lead to sudden explosions.
?Coupling Devices that will securely hold the trailers being towed
?Miscellaneous Parts including many essential safety features such as tires, windshield wipers, rear vision mirrors, impact guards to prevent underride accidents, and seat belts to protect the truck driver in the event of an accident.
?Protection against Shifting and Falling Cargo that will keep cargo from falling and causing an accident
?Frames, Wheels, Steering, and Suspension that allow the truck to properly maneuver on the road and survive an impact.
A truck with all these safety features in working order that is being driven by an alert and awake driver is as safe as any vehicle on the road.
Unsafe Trucks Allowed on the Road
The FMCSA has also established an inspection schedule for ensuring that all components on the vehicle are safe. Unfortunately, a vehicle that fails its annual inspection, is not necessarily taken out of service. Out of service criteria are far more lax than the annual inspection, sometimes allowing as much as a 20% failure rate on vital safety components. Because maintenance is expensive, this lax criteria gives trucking companies a real incentive to perform improper maintenance, fixing only what absolutely needs to be fixed to get a truck on the road.
Many features of a truck can break unexpectedly when they are stressed by unexpected driving conditions or an overloaded truck. This means that whenever a truck is allowed back on the road with less than full-quality safety equipment, it becomes a potentially lethal allowance.
What Can You Do?
There are several things you can do to stop unsafe trucks from being allowed on the road. The FMCSA has proven that it favors the trucking industry in making its regulations, so it needs more legislative oversight. You can write your senator or representative and let them know how much trucking safety matters to you. Writing a letter is far more effective than emailing, since it takes more effort and is therefore taken more seriously by the congressman or -woman. The legislature has the power to mandate certain safety measures be taken.
Even more effective is to penalize the trucking industry for its dangerous practices. If you or someone you know has been involved in a trucking accident as a result of equipment failure, contact an experienced truck accident lawyer, who has the ability to subpoena maintenance records and find out just how lax the company has been. Only by making it unprofitable to endanger other motorists can we truly enforce safety regulations.
