Item: Flaxman Law Group
Rating: 5
Author: Clara Barman

CNBC Trucking Industry Investigation Highlights Some Causes of Trucking Accidents

Published on: August 27, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

As trucking collisions continue to happen in Homestead and across the country, many people ask why the numbers of these crashes is not dropping. Recently, one station, CNBC, aired an investigative report about the state of the trucking industry. According to the report and the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA), the number of fatal trucking accidents across the country increased close to 18% between 2009 and 2012, despite an increased focus on driving safety. According to investigative reporters, there are a few key reasons why big rig and tractor trailer collisions continue to occur:

1) Repeat offenders.

Federal safety rules and policies are meant to prevent traffic accidents in Hollywood and across the country, but enforcing those rules and getting unsafe trucks and drivers off the roads is more difficult than many realize. According to the CNBC investigation, about 20% of trucks inspected in 2012 were not safe to be on the roads due to out-of-service violations such as bad tires. That amounts to more than 2 million potential unsafe trucks on the roads. In addition, about 5% of drivers inspected had violations that could have prevented them from driving. That amounts to about 171,000 unsafe drivers on the roads.

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Some Trucking Companies Use Unsafe Tactics

Published on: August 21, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

While some truck companies and carriers have a good reputation for safety and take steps to protect their drivers and other motorists on the road, others are not so conscientious. Unfortunately, some of the unsafe tactics used by a small number of trucking companies in Florida and Fort Lauderdale result in serious trucking collisions and car crashes each year. According to safety experts, there are a few practices that trucking companies use that can be especially unsafe:

Fly-By-Night Carriers

According to the Truck Safety Coalition and other groups, some truck carriers re-register with a new name with the Department of Transportation to avoid violations, charges, and safety rules. Essentially, the companies will violate safety rules and then change their company name and re-open as a new company to avoid facing the consequences. These truck companies can be extremely unsafe because they know the legal loopholes that help them avoid liability while continuing to avoid basic safety procedures. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has started a crackdown on carriers who change names and corporate structure to avoid the law, but these companies can be hard to spot – especially if they change addresses as well as names.

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Are Trucking Collisions on the Rise?

Published on: August 15, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Just how concerned should we be about trucking collisions in Hollywood and other Florida communities? According to recent statistics and safety experts, there may be reason for worry. Accidents involving semitrailers, big rigs, and other large trucks not only tend to be more serious than accidents involving smaller vehicles, but they tend to occur with troubling frequency. In many cases, these collisions are caused by tire blowouts in Hollywood and other communities as well as by other preventable causes.

Statistics released by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show that fatal truck crashes occur about 11 times, on average, across the country each day. This means that these collisions cause about 4,000 deaths each year. In addition to the fatalities, there are about 100,000 injuries – some of them permanent and devastating – occurring because of these roadway crashes each year. Even more troubling is the fact that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has stated that the number of fatalities caused by commercial trucks has increased since 2009. In fact, the agencies reports that the number of fatal truck accidents increased by 18% between 2009 and 2012. What is even more troubling is that in the same time frame, fatal car crashes declined 1.74 percent and the number of commercial trucks decreased 2.86%, which means that we might expect to see fewer trucking crashes, not more.

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How Truck Driver Shortages Could Affect Your Safety in Hollywood and Florida

Published on: August 13, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

When there are too few qualified truck drivers on the roads, could that increase the risk of trucking collisions in Hollywood or your community? Some safety experts think so.

A recent New York Times article pointed out that truck driver shortages are notable. Even with an overall unemployment rate of 6 percent across all sectors, there is a qualified driver shortage of about 30,000 drivers – and the amount of drivers needed is only expected to increase. A large part of the problem, as the article points out, is because wages for truck drivers are actually lower today than they were in 2003, once we adjust for inflation.

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The Facts of a Trucking Life Could Contribute to Fatigued Driving

Published on: August 5, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Many laws have been passed over the past twenty years to address the issue of fatigue driving and truck accidents. However, what these laws do not address is the fact that truck driving as a job creates some risk factors that contribute to fatigued driving in Homestead and other communities. For example, truck drivers need to contend with:

1) Deadline-focused work. Truck drivers need to deliver their cargo by a specific time, and sometimes deadlines are tight.

In some cases, drivers may have a financial incentive to get to their destination on time or may even be worried about their jobs if they fail to make deadlines (no matter how unreasonable those deadlines are). If truck drivers are keeping an eye on the clock, they may not take the time to rest properly and may push themselves to keep going, even when they are tired.

2) Changing shift work. Some studies have shown that shift work can lead to fatigued driving and car collisions.

Truck drivers may be at risk because they may need to drive at different times of the day, even at night, when roadway crashes are more common. Drivers of bid rigs and tractor trailers may also need to work different shifts throughout the month, which creates an additional risk as drivers get used to a new schedule.

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What Businesses Can Do to Prevent Delivery Truck Collisions in Hollywood and Other Florida Communities

Published on: July 31, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Local businesses in Hollywood and across Florida rely on delivery trucks to bring in inventory, distribute products, and deliver items to customers. While big rigs, tractor trailers, and delivery vans help the economy, they also pose a serious challenge for businesses. No business wants a truck carrying their products to be involved in a serious crash. Fortunately, there are things that businesses can do to prevent this from happening:

1) Hire the right trucking company.

Businesses vote with their dollars, just like customers do. When hiring a truck carrier or delivery service, business owners have every right to choose a truck carrier with an excellent safety record. This not only can protect a company legally, but it can reduce the risk of a trucking accident. Before hiring a truck carrier or entrusting company products with a trucking company, ask questions. What is the company’s safety record? Which drivers will be delivering the products? What screening processes are in place to select and hire the right drivers?

2) Create a written policy for truck safety.

Preventing traffic crashes in Hollywood or your city is not just luck. Having a plan ensures that delivery drivers and others working for your company understand what they need to do in order to drive safely. Your written plan for your truck drivers may include a “no cell phone use while driving” rule or may require drivers to get additional training before starting work.

How safe are your delivery trucks?

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What Can be Done to Prevent Fatigued Driving in Davie and Other Florida Communities?

Published on: July 22, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Trade groups such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) have spoken out against the new Hours of Service rules, saying that the new rules will not help fight fatigued driving and may actually contribute to the problem.

The new rules, among other things, limit commercial truck drivers to working no more than 14 hours per workday and also set limits on weekly work hours. On the surface, this seems like a good way to prevent fatigued driving in Davie and in communities across the country. The problem, according to OOIDA and other groups, is that the new rules are less flexible than previous regulations, which allowed drivers to take breaks when they needed to. Under the new rules, the groups say, drivers may have to max out their workday in bad weather or heavy traffic, preventing them from taking rests as needed because the 14-hour day cannot be extended.

According to transportation officials, however, the problem is not with the new Hours of Service regulations, but rather with commercial drivers and transportation companies. When truck carriers create strict deadlines that no not allow for any breaks within 14 hour days or do not account for situations such as traffic or weather, they create problems because drivers do not have time to rest if they want to make their deadlines. Federal officials, however, have given no statements as to how this problem might be dealt with.

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What Causes Truck Collisions in Miami and Other Cities?

Published on: July 17, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Determining whether you have a personal injury claim in Miami or your Florida community often stems from understanding what caused your traffic collision in the first place. This is because you need to be able to determine whether negligence played a role in the crash. According to statistics, the most common causes of trucking accidents include:

1) Mechanical failure. Mechanical failure can stem from defective brakes or tires. In these cases, it may be possible to pursue a products liability claim in Miami or your community against the manufacture of the defective truck or truck part. However, not all tire blowouts in Miami and other instances of mechanical failure stem from poor design or from manufacturing flaws. In some cases, poor maintenance leads to roadway accidents. For example, truck carriers and drivers may fail to replace worn tires, may fail to load cargo correctly, or may fail to act on warning signs of maintenance issues. In these situations, the truck carrier or driver may be held partly liable if their recklessness leads to a roadway collision.

2) Driver error. A study conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that driver error contributes to about 88% of trucking collisions, with fatigued driving being a leading cause of error.

3) Cargo problems. Incorrectly loaded or secured cargo may fall from the truck, leading to chain reaction collisions in Miami or other communities. Incorrectly balanced or inadequately secured loads can shift during transport, putting big rigs and tractor trailers at risk for rollovers.

4) Bad weather. Adverse weather conditions can make it harder for truck drivers to stop in time to avoid a collision and poor weather can also affect visibility, which can contribute to a collision. Even in these cases, however, it is important to ask questions. For example, did poor road design contribute to the collision? Did the truck’s wipers and other systems function correctly to compensate for the weather? In some cases, an investigation shows that even trucking collisions seemingly caused by weather conditions were in fact preventable.

5) Other motorists. Some statistics show that negligent drivers in passenger cars contribute to trucking collisions. In fact, some safety experts note that drivers of passenger cars are more likely to cause roadway crashes than truck drivers, who do have more extensive training and often more driving experience.

If you have been in a trucking collision, it is important to get answers about what caused your collision and about who the liable parties may be. You may wish to contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your legal options and to get answers. A personal injury attorney can review the facts of your case and may also launch an investigation into the collision to find out what led to the crash.

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Highway and Truck Accidents are Deadly and Costly

Published on: July 3, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Trucking collisions in Hollywood and other cities are expensive, not just for injured parties but also for entire communities. In fact, according to a new study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), highway collisions across the country cost about $871 billion annually in community harm and financial costs.

The NHTSA study looked at truck and car accidents in 2010. That year, there were 24 million damaged trucks and cars, 32,999 deaths, and 3.9 million injuries attributed to roadway collisions. From this, the researchers concluded that the accidents caused $594 billion in societal costs and $277 billion in economic losses. The costs included the costs of decreased quality of life, decreased productivity, loss of life, and other losses.

The same study found that three specific driving behaviors contributed a total of 62% of the societal costs and 56% of the economic costs. These three behaviors were drunk driving, speeding, and distracted driving. Speeding accounted for about 24% or $210 billion of societal harm and 21% or $59 billion in economic costs. Drunk driving was linked to 23% or $199 billion of societal harm and 18% or $49 billion in economic costs. Distracted driving was said to cost 17% or $46 billion of total economic costs as well as $129 billion in societal harm.

This last may actually be good news. Since speeding, distracted driving, and drunk driving in Hollywood and other communities is so preventable, it is possible that focusing on just these three causes of tragic crashes could have a huge impact on the total number of accidents and the losses caused by these accidents.

The study did not examine individual costs of trucking and automobile collisions in Hollywood and other cities, but the fact is that individual costs can be an even larger problem. While total collision costs of $871 billion annually are very large, an entire country can absorb these costs. When individuals are injured and incur tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, however, it can be almost impossible to deal with this financial challenge.

In fact, unexpected medical expenses are a leading cause of bankruptcy in Hollywood and across the country. When people are injured in car or truck accidents, they often face severe financial losses, including:

•Income loss
•Long-term wage loss
•Car repair bills
•Property damage
•Vehicle replacement costs
•Medical bills
•Long-term medical expenses
These expenses can add up very quickly. Even diagnostic screening can add up to thousands of dollars. While insurance is meant to help protect motorists from these costs, it does not always provide the coverage that patients need. In some cases, insurance adjusters undervalue a claim or allege that a patient is not covered for certain benefits or procedures. A patient who has very good medical and car insurance coverage can still be left with bills that end up causing severe financial distress. In some cases, patients face bankruptcy due to these costs.

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How ITS and Technology Could Help prevent Truck Accidents

Published on: July 1, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

In the past, roads were basically surfaces for vehicles. Today, however, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) mean that communications technology can be combined with road and vehicle technology so that infrastructure and vehicles can communicate. According to some safety experts, ITS and related technology can be an important step towards reducing truck accidents in Homestead and other communities.

Already, there are ITS and other technology solutions in place that can help prevent accidents. This technology includes:

1) Mobile weigh stations. Overweight trucks in Homestead and other communities are a leading cause of trucking accidents and are also very detrimental to roads. Despite weigh stations and federal weight limits, however, enforcing overloaded trucks has always been difficult. Some companies have developed mobile weigh stations, which allow weigh stations to be moved, making it harder for commercial trucks to avoid weigh stations.

2) Interactive roads. Most roads are static, but some companies have developed roads that can actually change line markings with the press of a button, can automatically melt ice and snow, and can even warn cars and trucks about upcoming road hazards (such as debris or wildlife in a lane).

3) Weigh station pre-screening. Some companies produce scales that allow trucks to be weighed before they even get to weigh stations. The way these scales work is that they are embedded into the road surface. As a truck rolls over the pavement, the truck’s registration information and weight are recorded – all without the truck having to stop. If the truck is found to be overweight, it can be directed to the nearest weigh station for more evaluation. Not only does this technology promise to find more overloaded trucks, but it can also improve traffic flow by ensuring that only trucks that may exceed weight limits need to stop at weigh stations.

4) Rollover prevention strategies. The same technology that is used in weigh station pre-screening scales can also be used to prevent rollover accidents. Some steep inclines and high-collision ramps across the country already use this technology. Basically, the same under-pavement scales used in weigh scale prescreening can be installed before a steep incline or other high-risk area. The system can automatically note the type and weight of the vehicle approaching the area and flash a message on a road sign about the safest speed limit for the truck. This can help prevent rollovers in Homestead and other communities by ensuring that drivers slow down to a safer speed.

5) Fleet and driver management. Technology is also being used to monitor drivers and fleets more effectively. This can give motor carriers the tools needed to note whether specific drivers or trucks have a higher instance of collisions or whether a driver is speeding or taking other risks on the road.

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