Trucking accidents claim many lives each year and also cause serious spinal cord injuries, fatalities, head injuries, amputation, burn injuries, and other serious injuries. Everyone has a duty to help prevent these accidents. Employers who hire truck drivers can ensure that their drivers are trained, rested, and experienced for the job. Truck companies can ensure their trucks are in good shape. Car drivers can help prevent car and truck collisions by using extra caution around trucks.
However, you do not have to be on the roads or involved in the trucking industry to make changes that result in safer streets for everyone. If you are a customer or a patron of businesses that rely on trucks, you can make a difference. Every time you buy products, you vote with your dollars. By pressuring companies to make changes in the ways they hire and screen employees, you can make trucking accidents a rarer occurrence.
One thing you can do is join an advocacy group. There are a number of groups which target unsafe practices in the trucking industry. Road Safe America and the Truck Safety Coalition are two advocacy groups which aim to make changes in the trucking industry and work to educate the public about trucking safety issues. There are many ways you can support these groups. You can stay informed through their education programs or participate in petitions. You can also contribute time or money to these groups. These groups are able to create changes through the sheer amount of pressure they are able to generate.
You can also write to your governor or local political representatives about your concerns. If you are concerned about specific issues in the trucking industry or trucking practices, you can request changes be made. You can organize petitions on your own to send to your political representatives. Remember that political representatives are voted in to represent your concerns, so if one of these concerns involves trucking accidents, be sure to write in.
You can also help companies make better decisions about their trucking choices. If you do business with a company that uses delivery trucks and you notice truck drivers taking unnecessary risks, report this fact to the company and explain how this behaviour might affect your future business. If you see trucks on the road driving unsafely, note their license plate numbers and contact the companies they belong to. Refuse to do business with companies you know have poor driving records, truck maintenance records, and poor safety records in general. Let companies know why they are losing business.
If you have suffered personal injury or the death of a loved one due to a trucking accident, contact a good Florida personal injury attorney. A qualified attorney can help you get answers about a trucking accident and can ensure that companies are held accountable if they have poor safety records or have willingly taken risks. Legal action can help ensure that these companies take safety far more seriously in the future and this can help prevent more tragedies.