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.