TRUCK MANUFACTURERS CREATE UNSAFE CABS FOR TRACTOR TRAILER DRIVERS

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Morgan Adams

Truck manufacturers have successfully lobbied to keep roof crash standards, required for passenger cars, from applying to the cabs of tractors. The light weight cabs made by some in the trucking manufacturing industry have long been known to put driver's lives at risk. Trucking companies buy these cabs on the simple math of less weight equaling lower fuel costs, resulting in greater profits for the trucking company. Thus there is a rush to the bottom by cab manufacturers who ignore safety of the driver for greater profits for the trucking company. Simple and common safety improvements such as adding a roll cage, or strengthening the cab roof support structure, would cost only a few dollars and would reduce fuel efficiency by a minuscule amount. Because of this I would have thought that cabs would have soon been made stronger in America. In fact I have previously posted on the need for roof crush standards in the US. I was surprised to see that instead of making cabs safer, Volvo and Daimler were planning on cutting additional steel from the cabs of the tractor trailers they manufactured. In fact the folks at Daimler (who also own Frieghtliner) made no bones about cutting out steel in the cabs they make.

According to Transportation Topics, a trucking industry magazine, Kathrin Fritz (a Daimler spokeswoman at the the corporate headquarters in Germany) stated that Daimler would be offering weight saving features such as more aluminum in the cabs. Aluminum cabs are shunned in Europe for cost and crash worthiness reasons. (See generally: Transportation Topics, Equipment and Maintenance Update, November/December 2009, Page 12)

Crash worthiness is the ability of the cab to help a driver to survive a wreck. Using aluminum, while resulting in a lighter cab, would result in more drivers getting killed in wrecks as the cab would not be as strong as a steel cab and would be unable to protect the driver as well. I urge the NTSB to take a look at this issue and protect truck drivers by mandating a stronger cab. Cab crush is the leading cause of truck driver deaths in the United States according to studies and something needs to be done before the whole cab is replaced with plastic. 

 The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 866-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

 Morgan Adams is a trial attorney licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. He is listed as a "Mid-South SuperLawyer" (Limited to the top 5% of the lawyers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas), is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (limited to lawyers who have recovered 1 million dollars or more for their clients), and is the Chair of the American Association of Justice's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. He has served as chair of the Tennessee Association of Justice's Trucking Litigation seminars since 2004, and is a frequent speaker at national legal education programs, training lawyers to properly handle injury cases involving commercial vehicles. 

 

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GUIDE TO HIRING A GREAT TRUCK OR BUS INJURY ACCIDENT LAWYER FOR YOUR CASE

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Morgan Adams
Hiring a lawyer to handle your truck or bus accident case is probably the most important decision you will make. Every lawyer in the world says they handle truck and bus collisions, how do you find one that is experienced and will actually help, not hurt, your case? This is a guide I hope helps that just published on Avvo.
 

Why You Should Hire a Lawyer as Soon as Possible

In truck and bus cases evidence constantly disappears. The earlier you hire a great lawyer to help you in your case, the more likely there will be a full recovery for you and your family. Evidence in a trucking case starts to vanish in as little as 14 days, with less time for evidence at the accident scene. Insurance companies have worked hard to create methods to pay you and your family less than you deserve, often delaying you in hiring a lawyer. The delay in having someone actively protecting your rights hurts your chances at a full recovery. A lawyer can obtain witness statements, have the accident scene photographed, preserve evidence at the trucking company and handle the other 1,001 things necessary to protect your rights. This allows you to focus on healing. (See my blog at www.TruckInjuryLawyerBlog.com on "Insurance Companies Trick Victims in Trucking Cases" for some of the many ways insurance companies cheat victims out of full recoveries.)

 

Find an Expert Not a Beginner

So how do you find a great lawyer? Lawyers have to take continuing legal education (CLE) classes and must report the classes they take to the authorities that regulate lawyers in their state. You want to make sure your lawyer has attended seminars that specifically focus on truck and bus cases for the last several years. It is even better if the lawyer has been an instructor at the seminar and not just an attendee. The seminars should be full day, if not several day, programs focusing exclusively on truck and bus wrecks. A lawyer that neither teaches nor attends continuing legal education courses in the area you need help is not the lawyer you should hire for your case.

 

Significant Cases Should be Handled by the Best Lawyer, Not Just the Closest Lawyer

If your case involves significant injuries, paralysis, or death you should consider hiring the best lawyer you can find, wherever they are located. That lawyer, if he needs to, will associate the best local lawyer on your case AND IT WONT COST YOU ANY MORE IN ATTORNEY FEES! For example my firm has handled trucking cases across the country in association with local lawyers. The lawyers I associated with had lots of knowledge about the local judges and juries, were some of the best lawyers in that state, but generally lacked the specific truck and bus experience required to maximize recoveries in this complicated area of the law. In short we made a great team and the clients had the benefit of two lawyers for the price of one. Nationally there are at least 10-15 firms that focus specifically on truck and bus wrecks and have the experience I describe in this guide.

 

Car Wreck Lawyers are not Truck and Bus Wreck Lawyers - Find A Specialist

Just because someone successfully handled a car wreck case does not mean they are competent to handle a truck or bus case. There are special rules (The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations amongst many) that cover truck and bus wrecks. The experts required to prove liability in these cases have unique expertise, and are much harder to find than in car wreck cases. You can't risk someone learning on the job with your case. Hire someone who already has truck and bus wreck experience and who can get experts to the scene of the wreck immediately. When you talk to them they should be able to tell you the types of experts they may need in your case. Note that most states won't allow lawyers to call themselves "specialists" in truck and bus wreck cases. That is why you have to look at the lawyers continuing legal education courses (CLE) to see where they actually spend their time. Lawyers can say lots of things, they cant fake their CLE attendance record.

 

Have They Handled Significant Cases Before?

There are a number of organizations that recognize lawyers that have recovered millions of dollars for their clients. Once you have found a lawyer that is recognized for their expertise in handling trucking cases, you also want to make sure they have handled sizable cases. Check to see if they are a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (www.milliondollaradvocates.com) or similar organizations.

Are They a Member of One or More Lawyer's Groups That Focus on Truck, Bus, and Commercial Vehicle Wrecks?

Generally this means that a lawyer you want to hire should not only be a member of his state trial lawyers association, and the national trial lawyers association (called the American Association for Justice [AAJ] (www.justice.org), but should also be a member of the AAJ Interstate Trucking Litigation Group and/or the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America (www.apitlamerica.com). Then there are other groups that, while not specifically related to trucking, indicate a special level of competence of a lawyer in representing the injured. These groups include, amongst others, the Belli Society and The Academy of Trial Advocacy. Both groups are invitation only with a strict membership criteria.

 

Check the Internet to See What the Lawyer Really Does

Does the lawyer have a blog? On what subject? If it is not on trucking then you should reconsider whether the lawyer truly focuses on truck and bus wrecks or focuses on another area. For example my blog is www.TruckInjuryLawyerBlog.com. What about the lawyers web site? Do they have a trucking specific web page or is that just one page among many? What is their AVVO (www.Avvo.com) rating?

 

Ask for Their Spoliation Letter

Spoliation is when the trucking company is placed on notice of a lawsuit and destroys evidence anyway. If the evidence is destroyed after notice, the jury can find that the destroyed evidence would have been favorable to your case. In order to put the trucking company on proper notice of a lawsuit a spoliation letter should be sent. Any lawyer who handles this type of case should be able to print off a spoliation letter in a single (1) minute. If they don't have a form on file, and cant give one to you right away, they don't handle truck and bus cases on a regular basis. If you already have a case going, and a spoliation letter was not sent, you have bigger problems. To get a copy of a sample spoliation letter (and to give you an idea of how complicated these cases can can become) see: www.truckinjurylawyerblog.com/2009/11/articles/legal-issues/the-revised-spoliation-letter

The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 866-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

 Morgan Adams is a trial attorney licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. He is listed as a "Mid-South SuperLawyer" (Limited to the top 5% of the lawyers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas), is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (limited to lawyers who have recovered 1 million dollars or more for their clients), and is the Chair of the American Association of Justice's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. He has served as chair of the Tennessee Association of Justice's Trucking Litigation seminars since 2004, and is a frequent speaker at national legal education programs, training lawyers to properly handle injury cases involving commercial vehicles. 

 

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What Gets Inspected by The FMCSA? Standards Required of Truck Drivers and Trucking Companies

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Morgan Adams

One of the issues in any case is what are the standards the truck driver and trucking company required to meet? There are industry standards, which are frequently higher than that required of the government, but at a minimum all drivers and trucking companies must meet the government standards for safe operation. These standards are what are inspected by the FMCSA's field investigators.

In order that inspections are uniform, and everyone in the industry knows what to expect from the field investigators, the FMCSA puts forth Field Operators Training Manual. Any serious trucking lawyer should have a copy on file in his or her office. For example Chapter 1.4.7 deals with driving of commercial motor vehicles and 1.4.9.1 deals with Hours of Service violations, topics I have blogged on extensively in the past.

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Dupre Logistics Takes Steps to Become Safer by Paying Drivers Hourly

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Morgan Adams

It is well know in the trucking industry that paying drivers by the mile gives them an economic incentive to speed and violate hours of service regulations (resulting in fatigued drivers) in order to pack on the miles and earn more money. In fact many drivers have told me "if the wheels aren't turning I ain't earning." Trucking companies turn a blind eye to the violations created by a rate per mile system creating a huge safety issue for the motoring public who has to share the roadway with these dangerous drivers and companies.

Dupre Logistics appears to be an exception and is to be commended for shifting all of its drivers over to an hourly rate for driving its trucks instead of  paying drivers a set amount per mile. The company has also moved to EOBR's which more accurately track drivers work habits and time spent on the road. The President of Dupre Logistics, Tom Voelkel stated moving to hourly pay has reduced the company's accident related expenses by 70%! The company also has an active safety culture which has resulted in numerous safety awards.

Congratulations to Dupre Logistics for getting it right and making the roadways safer. I almost wish I could tell you that they were unique in their ability to provide safe drivers because then the tragic deaths involving drivers from other companies would be less painful. In looking at Dupre's website it becomes clear that the steps they took could easily be taken by other companies if they choose to do so. Other trucking companies simply choose not to follow Dupre's lead, by continuing to run unsafe driver's, putting us all at risk.

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EOBR's TO BE REQUIRED ON ALL TRUCKS?

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Morgan Adams

Requiring Electric On Board Recorders (EOBR's) on every truck would be a significant step forward for safety in the trucking industry. EOBR's keep better track of a drivers hours than the paper log books (frequently referred to as "comic books") that are currently used within the trucking industry. EOBR's are not perfect, but they are much safer and harder to fake than paper logs.

Keeping drivers within the legal hours helps prevent fatigued driving, a dangerous condition which is acknowledged to be a contributing factor in over 1/3 of all crashes involving commercial motor vehicles. Recently the Chairwoman of the NTSB, Debbie Hersman, called for EOBR's on all trucks since NTSB  "investigate accidents on a regular basis where we find two sets of log books [with one being false]."

Chairwoman Hersman's comments came after her speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on November 16, 2009.

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