Your Safety at Risk from Big Rigs on Texas Highways & What You Can Do
Commercial trucks in Texas can legally carry up to 40 tons (80,000 pounds) in cargo. That’s in addition to the considerable weight of the big rig itself. And truckers drive longer hours at faster speeds than ever before on our Texas highways. It’s simple economic pressure. The more goods they can move more quickly, the more money they make. But that simple economic equation threatens your safety on Texas highways.
Commercial truck wrecks on Texas highways might happen for a number of reasons.
Truck driver fatigue.
Poor road conditions.
Inclement weather.
Speeding.
Driver negligence.
Driver distraction.
Cargo spills or rollovers from unbalanced loads.
Defective tires.
Other equipment and mechanical defects.
DWI.
If you or your close family member have been injured in a truck wreck on the Texas highways and it was not your fault, you might be eligible to recover full financial compensation to cover your losses from the commercial truck wreck. The financial compensation you receive could help pay for your medical bills, future medical expenses because of the accident, pain and suffering, lost wages, physical therapy, and more.
But trucking companies and their insurers won’t just hand you the financial compensation you deserve because of your injuries. You’ll probably have to put up a strong front and fight for your rights to receive adequate compensation. The help of a savvy Pasadena truck accident attorney familiar with trucking and insurance company tricks could aid you enormously.
Contact the experienced Pasadena truck accident attorneys at Denena & Points to learn more about how we could protect your rights and present your side of the story to win your case. Your initial legal consultation is free. We’ve been winning and maximizing truck accident injury settlements at trial and at the negotiation table for our clients for more than 12 years. Let us help you too.
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.
Texas, the Nation’s Leader in …Commercial Vehicle-Related Fatalities
Our Lake Jackson truck accident lawyers are starting to believe that most of what’s bigger in Texas are the state’s alarming accident statistics. From drunk driving related fatalities to commercial vehicle related fatalities, Texas receives top billing on the statistics lists. On more positive lists, like the educational achievement list, Texas ranks near the bottom. I think we all need to work on reversing these trends.
Major David Palmer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that Texas led the U.S. in the number of its commercial vehicle related fatalities over the past four years. He said that Texas’ size helps explain its ranking in the number of fatalities.
Miles traveled by commercial vehicles, including 18-wheelers and passenger buses, may provide another part of the explanation for all of the commercial vehicle related fatalities and injuries. According to federal highway administration data from 2008, commercial vehicles traveled almost 21 BILLION miles in Texas that year.
The Texas DPS tries to enhance traffic safety and enforce compliance with safety regulations through a comprehensive group of programs targeted at specific areas, types of vehicles, and drivers. Operation Texas Thunder targets specific geographic areas to inspect commercial trucks and buses for safety. The areas targeted by Operation Texas Thunder respond both to accident data and area complaints.
A Texas DPS operation in McMullen County saw 64% of inspected vehicles taken out of service because of safety violations. Another Texas DPS operation centered on Corpus Christi resulted in 400 citations issued and 206 vehicles pulled from service for violations.
Operation Texas Thunder helps enhance safety on our Texas roads. But as the daily litany of serious truck accidents in the news reveals to our Lake Jackson truck accident lawyers, much remains to be done. And cargo always needs to be moved from point to point in Texas. In a slow economy with pressure on everyone to reduce costs, as one unsafe truck gets pulled out of service, another unsafe truck might just roll right up to take its place.
On Cabbages, Cargos, & Cash Recoveries in Texas Truck Crashes
Katy, TX truck accident lawyer reports the following cargo spill accident. A tractor-trailer truck carting a cargo of crates of cabbages overturned on I-10 near I-35. In the rollover wreck, the truck’s trailer tore and crumpled like cardboard, spilling the cargo of cabbages onto the highway and onto the underpass. Cleanup crews blocked off an entrance to the westbound lanes of I-10 while they cleared the crash scene of the cascade of cabbages. The driver of the truck was reportedly shaken up by the 18-wheeler accident, but essentially uninjured.
This accident involving a spilled cargo of cabbages caused some inconvenience and provided a somewhat comical counterpoint to the week’s more horrific accidents. But the spilled cargo of cabbages could still serve as a reminder that spilled cargo accidents can be catastrophic events that bring heavy truck contents crashing down onto neighboring vehicles, pedestrians, and roads. Our Katy, TX truck accident lawyers remind everyone that spilled truck cargos can create immediate road hazards that cause fatal chain reaction wrecks and debilitating personal injuries. The usual spilled cargo accident is nothing to laugh at.
If you’re injured in a wreck caused by a truck’s spilled cargo, you might be eligible to claim financial compensation from:
The truck driver,
The trucking company, and
The cargo loading company.
You’ll need a skilled Katy, TX truck accident lawyer to help you determine who’s at fault for your accident and to recover from them on your claim. Resistance by trucking companies to liability claims can be little short of vicious. You could find crucial evidence documenting the causes of the cargo spill has been hidden, destroyed, or spoiled. Your Katy, TX truck accident lawyer could apply his in-depth knowledge and years of experience countering such tactics to help you secure the evidence you need to win your liability claim for the spilled cargo accident.
Call the specialized Katy, TX truck accident lawyers at Denena & Points today for your free initial accident consultation. We could help you see your way clear to a full financial recovery on your cargo spill accident claim.
Using EDR Data Evidence in a Conroe, TX Truck or Train Collision
In cases against railroads or trucking companies where an injured victim needs to prove that defendant negligence was the cause of the injuries, the victim’s attorney must use diligence and savvy inquiry to track down and secure the evidence necessary to prove the claim. One of the best sources of accurate and reliable evidence about what happened in a train or truck accident is the data from the vehicle’s own Event Data Recorder (EDR) or “black box.”
EDRs record all sorts of detailed data such as daily engine usage and speed, driver inputs, restraint usage, safety equipment deployments, braking status, and other information relevant to the crash. Types of data recorded might vary based upon the engine type of the vehicle and the type of recording technology used (magnetic tape, solid state microprocessor-based recorders, or control system embedded recorders).
Regulations require that railroads and trucking companies preserve the EDR data for specific lengths of time after a crash with injuries or fatalities or after certain other types of events. They are also required to provide the data to the FMCSA (for truck accidents) or the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration, for trains). But trucking companies and railroads don’t necessarily want to face up to the liabilities caused by their negligence. So they might lose the recorders and their data, they might destroy the data, or they might let it “spoil,” making it difficult for you to prove your claim.
Your Conroe, TX accident attorney should send a strong “spoliation” letter to the trucking company or railroad involved in your collision to ensure preservation of the EDR evidence. Where a trucking company or railroad won’t provide the EDR data directly, your attorney can sometimes obtain that data from the FMCSA or the FRA.
The EDR and its data are some of your best weapons in your injury accident claim. The data, clearly interpreted and explained by an accident reconstruction EDR expert, can paint a clear picture of defendant liability for your injuries. This clear evidence could facilitate a generous settlement offer or your victory at trial before a jury.
But the EDR data, its extraction, and its interpretation are highly technical and complex. Special software is required to extract the data. Detailed charts, graphs, and tables are used to relate the raw numerical data to real-world information like the circumference of a wheel, the pressure on a brake, or the change in speed and direction before a crash occurred.
You need a Conroe, TX accident attorney with in-depth experience using EDR evidence to accurately interpret and present this data. You need the EDR expert witnesses that your Conroe, TX accident attorney can marshal on your behalf in order to make a winning presentation of your claim and the evidence that supports it.
Go to Part 2.
How to Use EDR Evidence in a Conroe, TX Truck or Train Wreck Case
As we mentioned in Part 1, good EDR data evidence can serve as one of your most effective evidentiary weapons in a claim against a negligent trucking company or railroad. But trucking companies and railroads often take great pains to avoid the costly consequences of their negligence. There are two main obstacles they might put in the way of your recovery of the EDR data evidence you need to prove your claim.
- Spoliation of the EDR data evidence.
- Harassment of company witnesses.
Spoliation is the alteration, destruction, or non-preservation of evidence relevant to pending or anticipated future litigation. Trucking companies and railroads might work to delay a case until the data has spoiled, lost, or destroyed. They might take direct action to “lose” the EDR and its data.
Your Conroe, TX injury lawyer could send a strong and detailed spoliation letter to the company at once as a way to help prevent the EDR data’s loss. Spoliation letters must be extremely detailed and must cover a number of specific legal points to be effective. The letters need to reference the legal and monetary penalties in place for spoliation of needed evidence.
Railroads and trucking companies might also harass company witnesses that could provide good evidence regarding some of the circumstances of the accident. The companies might forbid their employees from having any voluntary contact with you or your attorney. They might forbid the employees from voluntarily providing any information that your attorney requests. Regulations clearly prohibit this company practice in most instances. And your Conroe, TX injury lawyer could use relevant sections of federal and state codes to compel the delivery of needed information.
EDR data evidence remains one of the very best ways to prove some of the key elements of your accident injury claim. And most courts readily accept EDR data evidence as accurate and reliable. Your main difficulty lies in obtaining the EDR data evidence in usable form.
Trucking companies and railroads are well aware of the danger that EDR data evidence could expose their liability in an accident. So they might engage in underhanded practices to avoid supplying that evidence. You need a canny and experienced Conroe, TX injury lawyer who knows their dirty tactics and how to combat them.
Your effective Conroe, TX injury lawyer could ensure that you get the evidence you need for your case. He and his EDR expert witnesses could make clear and accurate interpretations and presentations of the data to secure a fair settlement offer from the defendant or to win over the jury in your case. Contact Tony Denena and Chad Points, Conroe, TX injury lawyers with more than a decade of winning experience in such claims, for your free accident consultation today.
Return to Part 1 of this article.
Texas Attorneys Teach Drivers How to Avoid Texas Truck Accidents
Vehicle accidents are tragic, no matter what you’re driving in during the accident. Texas trucking accidents are no exception. The good news is that by avoiding a few common unsafe acts by drivers, you can help save your family and yourself from a dangerous Houston 18-wheeler crash.
If someone you care about has suffered injuries from a Texas 18-wheeler wreck, you need to order a free copy of The Roadmap to Texas 18-Wheeler Injury Claims: What You Must Do Now, written by the Houston truck accident lawyers at Denena & Points.
Many times, a traffic accident between a passenger vehicle and a tractor-trailer is caused by the driver not paying attention. The rules of the road are different around trucks and need to be closely followed. A truck’s level of visibility and ability to brake and accelerate are much different than a passenger vehicle. The following actions are some of the most common causes of a trucking accident:
- Quickly changing lanes in front of a truck – This is a problem because the truck driver can not compensate his speed or brake quickly enough to avoid hitting the car.
- Driving in the “No-Zones” – We have all heard about the blind spots on a semi-truck, but how many of us actually stay out of them? All vehicles have blind spots, but the blind spots on trucks are much larger and more dangerous.
- Pulling out into traffic too slowly – It is very difficult for trucks to slow down. This can cause an accident if a car merges into traffic too slowly.
- Driving between more than one truck – Although you can see the trucks, they can’t always see you. If you are driving between two large semi-trucks, your vehicle may not be visible – putting you in a very dangerous situation.
- Turning left in front of an oncoming trucking at an intersection – It’s very easy to misjudge an approaching truck’s speed. The most important thing to remember is that trucks cannot maneuver or stop very quickly. Turning closely in front of them can put everyone on the road in danger.
- Leaving your disabled vehicle in the traveling lane – It takes a lot longer for a truck to switch lanes or get out of the way. If your car breaks down, quickly move it completely out of the way of traffic.
Houston tractor-trailer crashes can be very painful and time consuming. By following safe driving practices while around large trucks, you can help keep everyone safe from a debilitating Texas truck accident. If you have been a victim of a truck wreck in Texas, you need to talk to an attorney who knows how to help you receive the compensation you deserve. Contact a Houston truck wreck lawyer at Denena & Points to schedule your free consultation.
Finding Liability in a Texas 10-Vehicle Pileup: Who do You Sue?
If you’re at the end of the chain in a 10-vehicle chain reaction pileup, you may not even know what actually caused the accident. Especially in a weird case where the vehicle that actually caused the other drivers to take the actions that led to the pileup remained blissfully free of their effects.
Of course, you could probably all sue each other. The insurance companies would probably all get together and settle the tangle amongst themselves. You could sue the driver of the vehicle that initiated, but remained free of, the 10-vehicle chain reaction. You could sue the manufacturer of his tire that blew out. You might be able to sue his trucking company for failure to maintain that tire. There might be many parties partially at fault in the tangled accident situation.
The key to winning any financial compensation for your injuries and vehicle damage resides in properly identifying the parties at fault for your accident along with their shares of fault in the matter. You’ll also need convincing evidence to back up your claims of their responsibility for your accident.
Tracing the tangled chain of events and properly pinpointing the liable parties for your specific damages present some interesting challenges. You’ll need an adept Baytown accident lawyer who has years of experience with complex accident situations and who just loves this sort of knotty problem.
Feel free to call us at Denena & Points. We like the interesting cases. We have a winning track record in complex accident cases with unusual twists and turns. We offer you a free consultation where we could discuss your accident and begin to trace the chain of liability. We’d be glad to help you recover the fair compensation you deserve for your complex accident losses.
Example of a Flawed Truck Route Plan Causing a Texas Vehicle Pileup
Baytown Truck Accident Lawyer: On I-35 in Waco, TX, a truck driver stopped his rig around 2:30 p.m. when he realized his oversized load exceeded the clearance of the approaching overpass. Unfortunately, not all of the vehicles behind him were likewise able to safely stop in time.
According to news reports, 2 other trucks and 8 smaller vehicles piled up behind the original stopped truck. But they all managed to avoid colliding with the original stopped truck, which carried a container described as tank-like.
The 10-vehicle crash tied up traffic for two hours and injured at least one person. Investigators were looking into whether the original truck driver violated any traffic laws. Accounts indicate that the original truck might have begun backing when the accident occurred.
Whether or not the truck driver violated any traffic laws, it’s clear that someone violated good truck route planning practices. People tend to blame truck drivers for every truck accident that occurs. Baytown truck accident lawyer mentions that while it’s true that truck drivers have a duty to see to safety concerns before they pull out onto the road, it’s probably not humanly possible for a trucker to:
Perform a complete mechanical and safety check on the truck,
Supervise and check the cargo loading,
Double check every aspect of the route plan, and
Still get the required rest that regulations impose upon him.
Route planning often comes from third party vendors or other employees of a trucking company. There are entire companies dedicated just to the business of planning routes for trucks and trucking fleets. Several competing route planning software applications exist. There’s even a website focused on planning the best trucks routes just for I-10 and I-70. Route planning is a big business.
If you’ve been injured in an accident because of a truck route planning failure, you might be able to look to the route plan vendor for the financial compensation you need to pay for your costs from the accident. You might also be able to claim compensation from the trucker and his employer.
Call Denena & Points for a free consultation about your accident. We’re experienced Baytown truck accident lawyers with more than 12 years of experience pinpointing those at fault for truck-related accidents. We help injured victims obtain the compensation they deserve from those who caused their injuries. We know how to find the truth about the causes of truck wrecks and route planning failures. Call today for your free initial consultation.
The Massive Destruction Wrought by a Galveston 18-Wheeler Accident
Galveston 18-wheeler accident lawyers have seen time and again that the structures of passenger vehicles can’t hold up to the onslaught of a massive 18-wheeler in a wreck. Even a stopped 18-wheeler presents no match for the mass and momentum of a moving 18-wheeler.
The damage that Galveston 18-wheeler accident lawyers often see resulting from Galveston 18-wheeler accidents measures far more than the physical destruction of the vehicles and the trucks’ cargos. An enormous human cost in terms of physical and emotional injuries also results from the wreck.
The law accepts financial values for all of the costly accident consequences caused by the negligence of truckers, trucking companies, and related parties. The financial compensation that you could obtain from a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit after a Galveston 18-wheeler accident could help you become financially whole and get on with your life again.
When a passenger vehicle tangles with a big rig in a Galveston 18-wheeler accident, some of the resulting injuries might include:
A broken pelvis;
Brain trauma;
A spinal injury;
Neck fractures;
Burns;
Disfigurement;
Ruptured internal organs;
Lacerations;
Amputation of limbs; and/or
Paralysis.
Many of these injuries can have a lasting financial impact, as well as a physical one. Mounting medical costs may ruin your finances. You may not be able to work for a long while or perhaps ever again. You may have lost the family’s primary breadwinner to the Galveston 18-wheeler accident. You may require ongoing medical care, rehabilitations, and therapies. Your pain, suffering, and mental anguish may not go away like you would prefer.
Your Galveston 18-wheeler accident lawyer could help you calculate accurate financial values for all of these consequences of your wreck. He could present these values, along with compelling evidence regarding trucker and trucking company negligence in your wreck, to convince a jury to award you the full financial compensation that you need to go on with life after your injuries.
At Denena & Points, we’re Galveston 18-wheeler accident lawyers with a winning track record. We’ve been helping injured victims make full financial recoveries for their 18-wheeler accidents for more than 12 years. We could help you too. Call today for your free legal consultation.