According to a new report from the American Association of Justice that analyzed data from the Federal Carrier Motor Safety Administration (FCMSA), one in five trucks on the road have failed safety inspections concerning regulations designed to prevent catastrophic truck accidents. This report comes as no surprise to experienced Chicago semi-truck accident lawyers.
As of April 2009, there were more than28,000 trucking companies, representing more than 200,000 trucks, operating on U.S. roads with safety violations. More than 9 million trucks traverse the nation’s roads each year, and the data shows that even though trucks make up just 4% of all passenger vehicles, they are responsible for 12% of vehicle fatalities. According to statistics from the FMCSA, 4,808 people were killed in truck accidents, and 86,245 people were seriously injured in 2007.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a trucking accident, contact a top semi-truck crash attorney today. Truck accidents involve many players, including the drivers, trucking companies, manufacturers and insurance companies, all of who may bare some responsibility for negligence. A skilled injury attorney with experience handling catastrophic truck accident cases can help you identify the all the appropriate parties so you can receive proper compensation.
The most recent data from 2007 shows that in Illinois, there were 154 fatalities involving large trucks. Large trucks are defined by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as trucks that “weigh more than 10,000 pounds and can be either single-unit vehicles or combination vehicles consisting of a single-unit truck or tractor pulling one or more trailers.” In other words, large trucks include semi-trucks and tractor-trailers, but not necessarily pickup trucks.
To ensure public safety for both the driver of a large truck as well as for other vehicles, there are specific rules and regulations that govern all aspects of the truck, from brakes, time behind the wheel, the weight of the truck as well as the load, or the cargo being transported, such as household goods, frozen foods, construction equipment and debris.
Truck accidents caused by overloaded trucks, poor brake inspection and maintenance and unqualified or untrained drivers behind the wheel are all preventable examples cited by the American Justice Association report. The report also states that as of April this year, more than 28,000 trucking companies have such safety violations.
Truck accidents involving serious injury or death, which were caused by violation of safety standards or some other form of negligence is unacceptable. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a result of a truck accident, contact the Chicago truck accident attorneys at Passen & Powell at (312) 527-4500 today for a free consultation.
