Drivers of commercial vehicles are assumed to be professional drivers and therefore are required to take heightened and special care on the roadways to protect themselves as well as those just like us, our friends, family and neighbors who share the roadways with these large vehicles. When a driver of a commercial truck does not follow the safety rules and injuries occur, that driver and the company for which he/she works is responsible for that injury.
Large commercial trucks are involved in thousands of crashes that kill or cause serious injury to people every year. If you have been involved in a wreck with a commercial truck where you were not at fault, there is a good chance you are subject to compensation for your harms and losses.
There are many factors that cause these large commercial vehicles to cause fatal crashes on our roadways and highways. Due to their sheer size and weight, large commercial trucks, on many occasions, cause tremendous damage to both the other vehicle and the occupants inside.
Truck Drivers have Standards and Regulations They Must Follow
The trucking industry is very heavily regulated in order to protect other drivers on the road. Tractor trailer drivers must follow special precautions and rules when on the roadways in order to ensure the safety of everyone on the road.
Even due to these heavily regulated standards, large trucks are involved in thousands of crashes that kill or cause serious injury to people every year. If these standards were not followed, and as a result, another driver is injured, the truck driver or the trucking company is responsible for any injuries that are caused.
5 GENERAL RULES & REGULATION STANDARDS OF COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
Truck drivers are only allowed to drive a certain number of hours per day. No exceptions.
Tired truck drivers are a major cause of harmful and sometimes deadly truck crashes which put the traveling public in the way of great harm. Trucking companies must comply with the standard hours set to regulate driver safety. If a driver is permitted or forced to drive more than the regulated hours due to delivery deadlines and a crash occurs, the driver and trucking company can be held responsible. Many times truck drivers have a deadline to meet in order to deliver their load timely, and this, many times, requires drivers to drive in excess of allowable hours. This is one of the most common areas of violations we find in our investigations.
Truck drivers must use “extreme caution” or stop driving during bad weather.
Changing weather and road conditions can occur during any point of a truck driver’s route. Just because the road conditions change, many drivers are still under pressure to meet the load delivery deadline. The words “profits over safety” are very common traits with many trucking companies. The standards are set that the driver must slow down or stop driving in order to avoid losing control and crashing the vehicle in order to protect us all. If a truck driver continues to operate in extreme weather such as heavy fog, snow storms/icy conditions, rain storms etc. without significantly reducing their driving speed and cause a wreck, the truck driver and the trucking company can and should be held responsible.
Trucking companies must maintain and repair their trucks.
Defective brakes and tires and inadequate lighting are leading causes of major accidents involving trucks. Truck drivers and trucking companies are required, before any load is to be driven, to inspect and repair mechanical defects and maintain safe vehicles under the regulatory standards. If these vehicle inspections are skipped and standards are ignored then the safety of the traveling public and communities in which they travel are in danger of a serious and even deadly wreck.
Cargo in or on a truck must be properly secured.
Cargo in or on a truck must be secured following the regulation standards set in order to ensure that trucks are safe from load tipping or from spilling their cargo on the streets and highways in which we all travel. Trucking companies that allow their trucks to go out on the road without correctly inspecting, securing or balancing the load create a dangerous and often times deadly, condition for all of us. These trucking companies must be held responsible for any harms and losses their truck or cargo causes.
Truck drivers must park their trucks and trailers in safe designated areas.
Truck drivers who park their trucks and trailers in or near the path of moving traffic can cause deadly crashes. The regulations and standards require that a trucker must place warning triangles, flares or a flagger to alert drivers to protect all who come upon the unexpected obstacle in their path.
Standards and regulations for truck drivers are set up to establish safe driving conditions for everyone on the roads and to prevent harm to all of us. There are many truck drivers and their companies who follow these standards but many put “profit before safety” by ignoring or “skirting” the rules, regulations and standards that are in place to protect us all from harms and losses. We applaud trucking companies that are committed to the professional standards and responsibility of driving these large vehicles….but rest assured, we will fight for our clients for their harms and losses against those trucking companies and their drivers who choose to ignore the rules, regulations and standards of the state transportation code and FMCSA.