The U.S. House of Representatives is again debating a bill that will increase the maximum weight six axle commercial trucks can haul on federal highways from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds.
The proposed law has strong support from the powerful trucking and shipping communities, as could be expected. Fortunately it is opposed by many consumer groups, including the AAA, because larger trucks lead to greater safety concerns, not to mention the negative impact on America’s aging bridges and highways.
The main problem with increasing load size is that the bigger the trailer, the bigger the blind spot, the greater the instability, and the longer the braking distance.
The U.S. already experiences a crash involving a tractor-trailer every 18 seconds.The number of fatalities from 18 wheeler accidents in 2011 was 3,675 and approximately 80,000 people were injured. Most (86 percent of fatalities and 75 percent of injuries) were caused to the non 18 wheeler occupants — in other words, people like you and me driving our cars or pickups.
The most common reasons reported for truck accidents include speeding, distracted driving, failure to follow the rules of the road, obscured vision, and failure to yield right-of-way to other drivers, according to the Large Truck Crash Overview of 2011.
Obviously, the bigger the truck-trailer, the greater the potential for serious bodily injury and death. And Texas, being the gateway to Mexico, has greatly increased the number of commercial trucks traveling on our highways, as anyone who has been on Interstate 35 or any one of our other highways in the Dallas Fort Worth area can attest.
At the Law Offices of William K. Berenson, we have discovered that many of the crashes that we have investigated could have easily been prevented if the commercial carrier had hired a well-qualified, well-trained driver or properly maintained its vehicles.
Our experienced team investigates each case to discover the cause of each accident, whether it is the negligent hiring of an unsafe driver, substandard maintenance of fleet vehicles, or a disregard for the safety provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Regulations
We know what victims of 18-wheeler accidents and their families legally deserve for their medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and sometimes, even death.
If you or someone you care about has been in an commercial vehicle accident, please contact us asap. We’ll fight to get you the money you deserve.