Commercial Trucking Wrecks Come from Skipped Maintenance
In 2019 a motorist and his passenger were traveling in Arkansas. The driver was stopped at a red light, and a paving truck came up on them from behind. The truck, while pulling a trailer, couldn’t stop in time and slammed into the back of the passenger vehicle, killing the driver and paralyzing the passenger. Upon inspection, it was found that the brake pads and rotors on the truck had been replaced multiple times within the past few weeks. Further inspection found that the trailer was improperly harnessed to the truck, and the trailer brakes weren’t engaging. This was apparently an ongoing problem, causing increased wear and tear on the brakes and rotors for the truck – as they were wearing out much faster than expected. This issue isn’t uncommon, and failure to maintain a vehicle can lead to disastrous results. The Car Crash Captain, serving truck wreck victims in Richardson, Plano, Dallas, and the overall area, explains what you should know.
Maintenance Failures – The Data Behind the Problem
How often do brakes actually fail? It sounds like something out of a cheesy horror movie – something like you’d watch in Final Destination. The truth is, brake failure is way more common than it should be, and it largely boils down to the fact that the trucks weren’t properly maintained in the first place.
The FMCSA studies crashes and helps to implement regulatory rules to ensure that these wrecks don’t happen nearly as often. They are organization that requires trucking companies to ensure their vehicles are well-maintained. One reason they put such a strong emphasis on maintenance is due to the fact that nearly 30% of large truck crashes were due to brake failure or brakes that were out of adjustment (this means that the brakes may have been adequate, but the pushrod that moves the brake shoes isn’t adjusted properly for optimal brake usage).
Regulatory Rules for Truck Drivers and Trucking Companies
Because of this high number of wrecks caused by improperly maintained brakes, the FMCSA requires a number of inspection and maintenance records to show that the truck driver is doing what is required to operate a safe vehicle.
Records of inspections and repairs must be maintained and kept before the vehicle is operated.
The driver must perform a daily inspection to ensure the vehicle he or she is in control of can be safely operated on the roadways.
If these aren’t done, or if something is skipped or ignored on that inspection, the company can be fined – too many infractions can actually result in having their licenses revoked. If they continue to operate, or if they routinely violate these rules but are still operating legally, and a wreck happens, it’s strong evidence of negligence that can be used against them when the victim pursues justice. There is an issue that bad trucking companies can get around a lot of these rules, read up on those issues.
How Maintenance Neglect Leads to Catastrophe
The situation at the opening of this blog was a real scenario that happened just a few years ago. But this sort of thing happens every day. There are nearly 500,000 large truck wrecks every year in the USA, if 29% of them are due to brake failure, that means around 150,000 of those wrecks could have been prevented with proper maintenance. That’s almost 400 wrecks every day because of braking issues with big trucks.
One of the problems, though, is that the driver, carrier, and the trucking insurance company won’t readily admit that they messed up. They won’t openly acknowledge they shirked their inspection duties and caused a massive wreck. That’s why it’s so important to have a personal injury lawyer, one that handles truck wrecks in Texas, on your side.
What Victims of Truck Wrecks in the DFW Area Should Do
Herbert Law Group knows how to deal with these kinds of wrecks. Because nobody will offer up the information, we know how to find those maintenance logs, repair histories, inspection records, and more. We can get it done quickly so you’re not left waiting, suffering from injuries, wondering when the claim will be settled.
If you’ve been in a wreck with a truck, you need a truck wreck lawyer. Herbert Law Group has been helping truck accident victims in Richardson, Dallas, Plano, and the surrounding areas for years now, and we’re on your side.
What we need from you is a simple conversation about what happened. We’ll learn about you, how you were injured, and we’ll come up with a plan. Call our offices at 214-414-3808, or fill out the contact form on our site, and we’ll have a free initial consultation and we’ll come up with a plan on how we can help you receive justice.