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

How Can we Improve Truck Driver Training?

Published on: December 30, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Truck driver training is an important part of the solution when it comes to preventing trucking collisions in Aventura and other Florida communities. Properly trained drivers understand what steps they need to take to drive safely on the roads and since they understand why safety measures are in place they may be more inclined to follow the rules.

Truck driver training begins with the steps needed to get a commercial driving license. Drivers who want to drive commercial trucks must take courses and must pass a rigorous written and driving test first. However, safety experts agree that more can be done to ensure that drivers get adequate training and instructions.

Continue reading →

Getting Larger Purchases Home During the Holidays

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

This time of year is one of the busiest retail periods of the year. Many of us are shopping for holiday gifts, decor, and other items. Stores try to lure us into their doors with special sales. If you are buying large items that need to be transported by truck, however, you can’t just be focusing on sale prices. You also need to make sure that you can get home safely with your purchase. There are a few options in order to do this:

1) Use store delivery services.

One of your best options is to use a delivery service provided by the store. Many stores offer free delivery or are willing to deliver larger items such as furniture to your home for a price. If you are going with this option, make sure that you find out about warranties and guarantees. If the item arrives damaged, will you be able to get compensation for the damage?

Continue reading →

NTSB Report Recommends Changes to Prevent Truck Collisions at Railway Crossings

Published on: November 19, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Train accidents in Miami and Florida involving trucks are a serious cause for concern. Both trains and trucks are larger vehicles. When they collide at train crossings, the results can be devastating. These types of collisions can lead to explosions, fatalities, and environmental disaster.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a new report about an accident that occurred in May in Maryland. In the report, the NTSB notes concerns about Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) oversight and truck safety. In the May accident, a truck driver using a mobile device did not stop to check train tracks, causing an accident that lead to a derailment and explosion.

Continue reading →

Getting Serious About Truck Driver Health

Published on: October 30, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

A study published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health earlier this year found that truck drivers are more likely than the general population to have higher-risk factors for chronic diseases and are more likely to smoke. The study showed that risk factors such as high cholesterol, poor sleep patterns, sedentary lifestyles, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and other factors were more common in truck drivers than in Americans in general.

About 69% of drivers polled in the study were found to be obesity, an obesity rate that is twice that of American adults. About 88% of the truck drivers had at least one serious risk factor, while 54% of the general population has these types of risk factors for chronic disease.

Continue reading →

Study Suggests Newly Designed Truck Cab Could Prevent Trucking Collisions

Published on: October 10, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Truck design can play a big role in trucking accidents in Miami and other cities. Certain elements of truck design – such as under-ride guards – can help prevent injuries in the event of a collision. Other design features – such as braking technology – can give drivers more control of a truck to prevent crashes from happening in the first place.

Designers Create Cab to Offer More Visibility

A new study in London suggests that a new “direct vision” truck design could save lives and prevent trucking collisions by improving visibility for drivers. The new design features a more aerodynamic, longer truck cab. The study claims that the design could save hundreds of lives and prevent many bicycle and pedestrian accidents each year if implemented.

Continue reading →

If Your Teen is Moving to College This Year, Practice Moving Truck Safety

Published on: August 7, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

If you have a recent high school grad in your household moving on to college this year, you may be making plans to help your child move into their dorm room or college apartment. Unfortunately, moving truck accidents in Miami and other cities can easily happen during a move to college. To help prevent this from happening to your family, follow these simple tips:

1) Consider hiring professional movers rather than renting a moving truck.

Renting a truck may seem like a budget friendly option, but do-it-yourself moving does come with certain risks. Investigative reports have found that some moving truck rental companies do not maintain their fleets in a responsible manner. In addition, someone who is experienced with driving a passenger car may find the added blind spots and added size of a large truck overwhelming. You may increase your chances of being in a traffic accident in Miami or at your destination by driving a truck that you are not used to.

2) Keep moving costs low by combining moves.

Many people choose to rent a moving truck rather than hire movers because of cost concerns. If this is true for you, you may be able to afford movers by keeping your costs low. For example, have your child take only the absolute minimum when they move – this should be easy since most dorm rooms only have limited space for possessions anyway. In addition, if two or three students are moving to the same college, they can pool their possessions and use one moving company together to enjoy a discount.

Continue reading →

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?

Continue reading →

Preventing Waste Truck Collisions in Homestead and Other Florida Cities

Published on: July 24, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

There are far fewer school bus accidents in Homestead and other communities than car accidents. One reason for that is that most drivers are much more careful around school buses than around average cars. In fact, there are laws in place to ensure that drivers use extra caution around vehicles transporting school children.

Now, a new law may help prevent waste truck accidents in Homestead and other Florida cities by getting motorists to slow down and show more caution around waste and recycling trucks. The new Florida law covers waste and recycling trucks under the same law that covers emergency vehicles.

Across the country, more than 135,000 men and women work with waste and recycling trucks, keeping streets and communities clean. These workers are especially vulnerable to workplace accidents in Homestead and other communities across the country, and one of the big risks in this industry has to do with pedestrian accidents. Waste and recycling trucks make frequent stops and when they do, trucking collisions can occur. In addition, workers from these trucks need to approach the curb and cross the street in order to pick up items from the curb. This puts these workers at risk, especially if drivers around them are distracted or try to drive around a stopped waste or recycling truck. The new law aims to address this common cause of injury.

New Florida laws intended to prevent waste truck collisions

Continue reading →

How Can We Reduce the Number of Trucking Collisions in Homestead and Other Florida Communities?

Published on: July 8, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Trucking and traffic collisions in Homestead and other communities are a major concern, especially since big rigs and tractor trailers have the potential to cause massive devastation in crashes. A commercial truck carrying flammable materials, for example, can cause an explosion or a fire that can damage businesses and can injure bystanders over a large area. A truck rollover in Homestead or anywhere in Florida can be a multiple vehicle crash, resulting in lives lost and multiple injuries.

So what can we do to prevent trucking and multiple vehicle accidents in Homestead and other cities? According to industry experts, some of the solutions are already here and they include:

1) Electronic logging. Federal regulations require commercial truck drivers to keep track of miles driven and rests taken, but personal injury attorneys in Homestead and other cities know that these logs are far from reliable and can even be falsified (or forgotten). Electronic logs rely on an onboard computer linked to the engine to keep tabs on driving time and rest breaks. So far, about 25 percent of trucks use these devices but safety experts say that making e-logging devices universal could potentially cut down on fatigued driving in Homestead and other communities.

2) Better pay. Some industry advocates say that paying truckers more and especially paying them for time spent waiting while a truck is loaded would result in a safer and more professional workforce. Other safety experts say that currently drivers have a financial incentive to drive more and to meet deadlines at any cost, while a safer pay structure would financially reward drivers for driving without traffic violations or accidents.

3) Changing hours of service rules. While many agree that hours of service rules should change, there is much debate about how they should be changed. A current change in rules has meant that drivers can work no more than 14 hours a day, with up to 11 hours of that on the road. The new rules also require drivers to get 10 consecutive hours of rest between shifts and get at least one half an hour break during the first eight hours of a new shift. Long-distance truck drivers can have work weeks of up to 70 hours every eight days and must re-set their week by being off duty for at least 34 hours, with at least two blocks of time occurring consecutively between one in the morning and five in the morning. Safety experts say that these hours of work still put drivers at risk of fatigued driving, especially given how stressful and deadline-focused long-haul trucking is. The trucking industry, however, says that cutting hours of service rules does not make for safer drivers. Even with longer rest times, there is often no way to ensure that drivers manage their break times well to get maximum amounts of sleep. A driver can potentially obey all the rules and still be sleep deprived.

4) Giving drivers better access to health care. Driver health can have a big impact on collision rates. Drivers with heart conditions, sleep disorders, and other health conditions can be a danger on the roads, and trucking itself can put drivers at risk for a number of health issues, including obesity, heart disease, and some cancers. Giving drivers access to free screenings and offering more preventative medical advice could help address some of these concerns, although what is really needed is a change in attitudes about how the industry as a whole and how individual drivers address health risks.

Continue reading →

Agency Considers Electronic Logs for Truckers as a Way to Slash Trucking Crash Rates

Published on: June 12, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Federal rules require truck drivers to keep logs of rest periods, stops, and other data. Driver logs are intended to encourage drivers to abide by hours of service rules and other regulations. In the event of a trucking collision in Miami or another city, they can also become an important record of what may have contributed to an accident.

Unfortunately, as many personal injury attorneys in Miami and other cities know, there are a number of problems with traditional driver logs. In some cases, drivers may forget to write down important information. In other cases, the information is incomplete, inaccurate, or even falsified.

Since driver logs are only useful when accurate, some experts have wondered whether electronic logs (ELDs) could help resolve the problem. A new study referenced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) suggested that trucks with electronic hours-of-service recorders (EHSRs) may have lower rates of violations and lower accident rates than trucks without the electronic logs.

Specifically, trucks with the devices had a preventable collision rate that was 5.1 percent lower and a total accident rate that was 11.7 percent lower when compared with trucks that did not have the devices. In addition, trucks with EHSRs had a driving-related hours-of-service violation rate that was 53% lower than trucks without the devices. The sample rate for the study was small, so it is possible that further studies may be requested.

Not everyone is enthusiastic about ELDs and EHSRs, however. Some drivers say that the devices place them under very high levels of surveillance. There is also some concern that the devices and their information could be used to further reduce total allowable hours for truck drivers.

Some experts also say that the devices themselves are not necessarily a solution for a few reasons:

•The devices may not necessarily help prevent hours of service violations. Since the devices stay with the truck, truck drivers could potentially simply jump into another truck after a certain amount of time to keep driving. The devices are not foolproof.

•As with traditional logs, the electronic logs are only useful if the information from them is gathered and used. If no one is monitoring the information and acting on the data, it is unlikely that they devices would dramatically slash accident rates.

•The devices may not address some of the real reasons behind fatigued driving. While fatigued driving in Miami and other cities is a leading cause of crashes, long hours of driving may not be the only culprit. Sleep disorders, certain medications, allergies, and other issues can all cause crashes — and EHSRs and ELDs cannot address these issues. In other words, a driver may take the mandated amount of rest according to electronic logs but still be a danger on the road.

Continue reading →