Houston Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

As promised I will devote this blog to further consideration of a website started by the family of a young man killed in a semi-truck accident nearly a decade ago.

The website - Road Safe America - is filled with timely and valuable information related to all aspects of safe driving. The goal is to keep the public informed and educated about topics of importance to drivers of all ages.

The co-founder of this site is the parent of the young man who lost his life so tragically. In a show of authentic magnanimity and altruism - the family advocates for increased safety standards for semi-trucks among other things.

For instance, the family makes an impassioned and thoughtful plea for the creation of a national clearing house that tracks the identification of truck drivers who have tested positive for drugs and/or alcohol.

This information would be made available to potential employers as a proactive means of lowering the incidences of semi-truck accidents. Additionally, accident victims and their legal representatives would also be able to access this data in the case of a lawsuit against the driver and/or his company.

Other issues under consideration on the website include a call for decreased speed limits for all types of trucks and increased intervention on behalf of the federal government in a variety of regulatory matters related to the trucking industry in general.

In my daily interactions with families who have lost loved ones or suffered debilitating injuries due to semi-truck accidents I recognize that 'there but for the grace of God go any of us'. I salute anyone who joins in the fight to make semi-truck driving safer for anyone - particularly in the face of personal tragedy.

Continue reading "The Fight to Prevent Semi Truck Accidents" »

There are quite a number of factors that lead to the increased risk of serious injury or wrongful death following an accident with an 18-wheeler as opposed to an accident with another passenger car. The first factor is incompatibility in disparity of maneuvering. Big rigs and tractor-trailers just do not dynamically maneuver the same as a passenger car. Both cornering issues and breaking compatibility and performance are key factors in many truck accident cases.

Not only do big rigs take much longer to stop but more room to turn and generally take more time to reach highway speeds than a typical passenger car. What are typical emergency maneuvers for passenger cars can lead to very serious consequences when the vehicle being driven is a tractor-trailer. Rollover propensity for 18-wheelers is very high and with heavy loads can be a real risk factor for truck driver. Rollover accidents account for 50 to 60% of fatalities by truck drivers mainly due to the higher center of gravity.

Some of the steering problems come from the articulated vehicle, which is a combination of the tractor plus the trailer. When articulated vehicles attempt emergency maneuvers stability of the semi truck is affected much quicker than a passenger car.

Stopping distance can be a huge risk factor in analyzing semi truck accidents. The stopping distance for a typical passenger car is less than 200 feet at 60 miles an hour. But the stopping distance for heavy commercial vehicles easily can exceed 300 feet and further depending on the specific makeup of the commercial vehicle. Factors such as the type of truck and whether it is loaded or unloaded can affect the actual stopping distance.

Increased risk of a fatal accident is a real and legitimate statistic when a commercial truck is involved. Generally, there is one fatality for every 500-passenger car to passenger car collisions. Unfortunately, the risk of fatality goes up seven times when a tractor-trailer is involved in the accident. About one out of every 70 car to truck accidents result in a fatality.

The biggest single factor in the increased fatality ratio of a truck accident is the sheer size and weight of the 18-wheeler. When 70,000 pounds meets 6000 pounds the passenger car is always going to be the loser. This is called the mass ratio and is the reason that the odds are so great that an occupant of a passenger car is so much more likely to be seriously injured or killed when struck by a semi truck.

Studies have shown that car-to-car collisions result in only 0.2% of fatalities while a car to a medium-heavy truck is 1.5%.

Continue reading "Passenger Cars vs. Big Rigs" »

With the passage of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has come an unanticipated series of complications and problems related to the trucking industry - particularly concerning Mexican truck drivers on U.S. roadways.

According to one federal report - in a recent year more than 5 million trucks crossed the Mexican border into the United States. All indications are that this number is expected to grow exponentially in the next decade. The original NAFTA agreement called for trucks from Mexico to have the right to travel only into bordering states - and this authority was to be reciprocated to U.S. drivers in the coming years - an event that was postponed on several occasions.

Meanwhile - concerned citizens banded together to lobby Washington D.C. - demanding they reconsider the permission to access American roads by Mexican drivers for numerous safety reasons.

First, they point to the fact that average age of a Mexican semi or other commercial vehicle is often a decade older than their American counterparts. In addition, they are much more poorly maintained - and the trucking regulations in Mexico are much more lax than here in the states (and even our expectations are low).

Litigation tied up the courts for years - until a limited pilot program was put into place only several years ago. At this point the jury is still out on the effectiveness and value of allowing Mexican drivers to work within our borders.

This issue is of paramount importance to the citizens of Texas as we are the front line for Mexican drivers in the U.S.

Preventing even one Texas truck accident can save lives.

Continue reading "Mexican Trucks and NAFTA" »