1 Out of Every 5 Inspected Commercial Vehicles in Texas is Unsafe | DENENA | POINTS

1 Out of Every 5 Inspected Commercial Vehicles in Texas is Unsafe

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) inspectors pull a full 20% of commercial vehicles out of service for safety violations. Commercial vehicles include passenger buses and commercial trucks like 18-wheelers. The safety violations pose dangerous risks to all users of the Texas roadways. Commercial vehicles cause about 15% of all Texas traffic fatalities.

Of the 331, 505 commercial vehicles that the DPS recently said it had inspected since January 1st, DPS inspectors found 66,189 of them unsafe. The most frequently found safety violations occurred in the brakes, tires, and lights of the commercial vehicles.

The inspectors also took 12, 301 commercial vehicle drivers off the roads for safety violations. The commercial vehicle drivers’ most frequent safety violations involved commercial drivers’ licenses and failure to accurately log their working hours as required by federal and local regulations.

Commercial trucking and passenger bus operations are miles-driven businesses. Regulations permit commercial truck drivers to drive 11 hours per day. But they must also see to the loading and unloading of their cargos. This can result in 14-hour or longer workdays for commercial truck drivers.

Truck driver fatigue is a known problem in the trucking industry and among Lake Jackson truck accident attorneys. NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) statistics show that between 30% and 40% of all commercial truck accidents implicate driver fatigue as a cause.

Trucking companies generally pay their commercial truck drivers by the mile driven rather than by hours worked. So drivers fall under pressure to drive as fast and as far as possible in a single working day in order to make any money.

Joan Claybrook, a board member of the Public Citizen organization concerned with public safety issues says that commercial truck drivers frequently keep two separate log books, one for inspectors and law enforcement officers to see, and one for their employers to see. After a truck wreck, at least one of these books quickly disappears.

Joan Claybrook considers the 20% of commercial vehicles deemed unsafe and pulled off the roads by DPS inspectors for violations to represent a very large number. She points out that if 20% of commercial aircraft were pulled out of service as unsafe each year that people might reconsider traveling by air.

If you’re injured in an accident because of an unsafe commercial vehicle or commercial driver, we could help. Feel free to contact our Lake Jackson truck accident attorneys for a free legal consultation. We could help you understand your legal options for obtaining a full financial recovery for your injuries and losses from the wreck.