Truck Injury Lawyer Blog : Truck Accident Lawyer & Attorney: Morgan Adams : Contingency Fee Truck Accident Lawyer

There is no question that there are far too many preventable fatalities involving the trucking industry. Whether it was a truck driver who was killed in a rollover caused by faulty loading by a shipper, a manufacturer not providing a roll cage, or a design flaw that allowed the cab to catch on fire one preventable death is too many. Even more common are the preventable fatalities caused by a fatigued or inattentive truck driver.

I like to think my firm does its part in lowering fatalities by the focused articles in this blog,  by educating other lawyers, and by the cases we file. The cases we file frequently shine light onto some dark and shady practices in the trucking industry. Often, after suit is filed, the offending safety violations are corrected, generally because the fix was cheap and easily undertaken.

The most frustrating part of my job is dealing with the aftermath of life lost due to a problem so easily avoided.  

Here is 2009 and my prayer that these numbers go down even further.

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My friend Jeff Burns and I were talking the other day, Jeff also handles trucking cases, and we were talking about how long it has been since the minimum levels of insurance were adjusted on trucks and the impact that had on the public. Jeff pointed out that:

 Congress gave the Secretary of Transportation the authority to set the minimum level of insurance for tractor trailers, but the Secretary could go no lower than $750,000 for property carrying motor carriers. That was in the 1980 deregulation bill (The Motor Carrier Act of 1980). The idea was that since congress was deregulating and taking away a lot of the protections that had been present under the ICC the public deserved greater protection and that it created a barrier of entry into the trucking industry. In place of limited entry into the industry as had been the case under the ICC, Congress called for higher insurance, thinking that the insurance underwriters would not insure companies unless they were in fact safe.

 The committee report stated:

" The carrier who wants to maintain high safety levels will be under pressure to cut his costs to meet the prices of his competitors will be under pressure to cut his costs by operating in violation of minimum safety standards.... Insurance companies are equipped to evaluate the performance of the motor carriers. The premiums they assess are in direct relation to the risks they assume. Therefore, an unsafe carrier will have an increased premium, and a totally unsafe carrier may not be able to obtain the insurance necessary to operate, or at best will be at an insurance cost disadvantage."

At that time there were around 27,000 authorized motor carriers. By the turn of the century, after deregulation, there were more than 500,000. Now, no one really knows but it is believed to be over 750,000.

It has been 29 years since the minimum insurance limit was increased. If you go to any present value calculator on the internet and use a 4% inflation rate you will find that the present value of $750,000, 29 years from now, is about $240,000 in today's dollars. To put it another way, you would need $3,120,000 in today's dollars to equal $750,000 in 1980.

Understand that frequently the only recovery that is to be had in a case involving a truck is the insurance policy, whether the dead includes 1 person going home from work or 15 members of a church going to work in a soup kitchen for the homeless.

Clearly it is time that the minimum limits be raised, call your congressman and senator!

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According to CVSA, Roadcheck 2009’s record total of overall inspections and Level I inspections showed significant violations in vehicle and driver out of service (OOS) rates.

During the event, 9,700 CVSA and FMCSA certified inspectors at 2,148 locations across North America performed a record 72,782 truck and bus inspections. Of that total, there were 57,013 NAS Level I inspections, the most comprehensive roadside inspection. Both of these outputs are significant increases over previous records for the 22-year event. The total inspection output is a 7.1 percent increase over the previous record (2008), and the NAS Level I output is an 8.9 percent increase (2008).

Data showed 22.2 percent of all trucks and drivers were found to be out of service in Level I inspections.

Driver results for the vehicle types were as follows:

• All inspections: 95.6 percent of drivers passed, and 4.4 percent were placed out of service (5.3 percent were out of service in 2008).
• All Level I inspections: 96.1 percent of drivers passed, and 3.9 percent were placed out of service (4.9 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Hazmat: 97.0 percent of drivers passed, and 3.0 percent were placed out of service (2.4 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Passenger carrying vehicles: 96.4 percent of drivers passed, and 3.6 percent were placed out of service (4.5 percent were out of service in 2008).

Vehicle results were as follows:

• All inspections: 80.4 percent of vehicles passed, and 19.6 percent were placed out of service (20.8 percent were out of service in 2008).
• All Level 1 inspections: 77.8 percent of drivers passed, and 22.2 percent were placed out of service (23.9 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Hazmat: 83.0 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 17.0 percent were placed out of service (17.6 percent were out of service in 2008).
• Passenger carrying vehicles: 88.5 percent of vehicles passed the inspection, and 11.5 percent were placed out of service (12.2 percent were out of service in 2008).

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One of the injuries that is of greatest concern for those involved in a truck wreck is a brain injury. While severe brain injuries are easy to identify, mild traumatic brain injuries are not. Explaining the way the brain was injured, and proving to a jury the long term impact of having a brain injury when the victim looks normal, requires training and expertise. I previously blogged on the requirements a competent trucking lawyer should have but I neglected including expertise in handling brain injuries.

Please keep in mind that even though doctors will frequently use the term "mild" to describe many brain injuries, there is nothing mild about brain damage. The use of "mild" by a doctor only means that the person isn' t dead or in a coma. If someones brain is damaged, they have lost their future. They may have memory problems that will have caused them to lose their past. They will never be everything they could have been, even if they do everything they can to try to recover. 

Mild brain injuries typically occur from a wave effect. The brain is like jello, made up primarily of water and is encased in one of the hardest bones in the body, the skull. Because the brain is somewhat fluid, in a wreck it can move and strike the skull. The cells are torn under the forces involved in a wreck. Current medical science makes it clear that it is not necessary for the head to have hit anything in order for brain damage to occur.

Personalities change, memory becomes a problem, frustration and anger are not uncommon. The victim however is able to talk. They don't want to admit anything is wrong, and the family is just so happy for the victim to be alive that they blame the changes on other problems. A questionnaire can help experts determine whether there is a mild traumatic brain injury such as the one that can be downloaded here: Symptom Questionnaire.

If you think someone you love has had some of the changes discussed above have them tested by a neuropsychologist. These are the trained professionals best able to determine whether or not a mild traumatic brain injury has occurred.

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