Missouri Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

New technology has always played a role in reducing the number of injuries from car and truck accidents. Whether it's vehicles designed with crumple zones, trucks with underride bars, or improvements within passenger cabins to protect riders, new technology has been responsible for saving countless lives. The latest technological wave looking to help the trucking industry deal with incidents before they happen is a collection of new maintenance tracking programs.

While driver error is the number one cause of tractor trailer accidents, maintenance failures, especially related to braking systems, are also a major contributor to accidents and fatalities. Because of this, federal trucking regulators have passed down many guidelines for vehicle maintenance and inspections.

Tracking what maintenance needs to be done and scheduling those repairs is becoming much easier as new technology comes online. Drivers used to use paper driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) to document the work that needs to be done. Companies are increasingly using electronic DVIRs and storing the information digitally as a way of making the process more efficient. Many systems are now capable of instantly having a computer schedule maintenance work and order parts as soon as the DVIR is logged.

These new technologies are not yet mandatory for companies, though it will certainly make complying with safety regulations easier if a trucking company adopts a high tech system. Hopefully all companies will find ways of using these new technologies to make their fleets safer.

One of the big changes to expect from Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 is the way roadside inspections on commercial vehicles will be handled and how they affect the driver. Officials hope these new changes, which include expanding inspections and holding drivers accountable, will reduce the number of tractor trailer accident injuries we see every year in this country.

The new regulations will include 275 points of inspection for a commercial truck. Over 200 of these items can be checked in a simple roadside inspection. Roadside inspectors will be conduction over 3 million inspections each year.

Drivers will have more at stake in these inspections after CSA 2010 takes full effect. A driver is to be responsible for making sure his vehicle is in safe working order before taking it on the road. If a roadside inspection turns up a violation, it will count against the driver's safety rating as well as his motor carrier company's rating. With more networks of driver information being made available and easily accessed by potential employers, drivers will want to make sure their rating is high and will be more personally invested in maintenance checks.

Hopefully these new ways of tracking drivers and trucking companies to hold them accountable for their performance will result in a safer conditions and fewer serious truck crashes.

Paige Hicks, 21, a Brown University student originally from Chesterfield, was killed in a tragic tractor trailer accident while she was bicycling across the country for charity.

According to various media reports, Hicks had left Providence, Rhode Island, location of Brown University, five weeks ago on a trip to Seattle for the Bike and Build charity. She stopped Tuesday in South Dakota to check messages on her cell phone. Hicks and a fellow cyclist pulled off to the shoulder to avoid traffic, but behind them was a tractor trailer, driven by Scott Wenzel, 45, hauling a farm combine. The combine was a wide load that extended past the side of the trailer and into the shoulder.

Hicks was hit and suffered fatal injuries. The no other cyclists were harmed.

Officials investigating this fatal truck accident say they will continue to look into the incident, but early indications are that no charges will be filed.

Any accidental death is certainly a tragedy, but the fact that this one took the life of a young woman working for a charity makes this accident especially saddening. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim.

George S. Bush, 50, and his mother, Ella Bush, 84, were both seriously injured in a Missouri truck accident when their pickup collided with a trash truck on Missouri Highway 28.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, both the pickup and the trash truck were heading westbound. The 2007 Freightliner Trash Truck, which was driven by Kyle Rutz, 20, was ahead of the pickup. Bush attempted to pass the large trash truck, but at that same moment, the trash truck attempted to make a left turn. The two vehicles collided causing extensive damage to both.

George and Ella Bush were both rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries. Rutz was not listed as injured on the initial report filed by the investigating officer.

There are still many details of this Missouri trash truck crash that need to be uncovered. We don't know what speed the two vehicles were traveling or if either driver signaled before making their respective maneuvers. Also, were the conditions safe for Bush to attempt to pass the trash truck.

Since there are so many complicating factors to most accidents, it is advisable to get the best legal advice possible to help you protect your rights as an accident victim. Many times, insurance companies will be working to limit the amount they have to pay accident victims. Contact a Missouri personal injury attorney to ensure you receive adequate compensation to assist in your recovery.

As the FMCSA prepares the Comprehensive Safety Analysis, the American Trucking Associations have weighed in with their ideas for limiting the number of tractor trailer accidents. Their focus seems to be on combating driver fatigue.

Specifically, ATA representatives have made five suggestions:

1 - Promote sleep disorder awareness, training and screening. In particular, they want to see drivers with sleep apnea get educated on their condition.

2 - Promote fatigue risk management programs.

3 - Evaluating the use of fatigue detection devices.

4 - Provide additional parking along prominent shipping corridors so that drivers can have additional places to rest.

5 - Educate drivers on how to find the additional parking and rest stops.

Since fatigue is such a big factor in many truck accidents in Missouri and around the country, ATA officials hope these measures will go a long way to lowering the number of crashes.

Every year for the past 22 years, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has performed a flurry of a random inspections over a three-day span called Roadcheck. With the cooperation of federal agencies here in the U.S., Canadian and Mexican transportation officials, and thousands of inspectors, a massive number of evaluations were made all across North America. The results have come in for Roadcheck 2010 and while the stats aren't surprising, they show we still have a lot of work to do if we want to prevent truck accident injuries and fatalities.

The overall compliance rates for commercial vehicles was at 80 percent while drivers passed over 95 percent of the time. Focusing specifically on passenger-carrying vehicles, the compliance rate raises to 91 percent for the vehicle and 96 percent for the driver. Commercial shipping and hazardous materials transporters had vehicle compliance rates in the 76 to 83 percent range. Most of these compliance rates are very close to, if not the same as, the 2009 rates with only the passenger-carrying vehicle compliance rate showing an increase of more than a fraction of a percent.

Simply put, an 80 percent compliance rate should be considered unacceptable for the commercial trucking industry. That means that one out of every five trucks has a violation that could contribute to a deadly tractor trailer accident. How many big rigs do you pass on your daily highway commute? A dozen? More? Knowing that, statistically speaking, every fifth truck has a potentially dangerous vehicle violation should make the severity of this problem very clear.

If you were curious, the most common vehicle defects were brake related. About half of all the out-of-service violations were because of brake issues.

The way we track the safety records of trucking companies will be undergoing some changes in the near future and Missouri is at the forefront of the transition. Our state is helping to test the new Comprehensive Safety Analysis, or CSA, which will replace the current programs in use by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to evaluate companies and prevent Missouri tractor trailer crashes.

The evaluation process for trucking companies will be very different once the new rules take effect. Currently, a compliance review of a company examines four areas: Driver, Vehicle, Safety Management and Accidents. CSA 2010 expands the number of areas rated to seven and makes them more specifically defined. Companies will now be rated for Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving, Driver Fitness, Vehicle Maintenance, Improper Load Securement, Crash History and Alcohol/Drug Abuse Record. This new method should do a better job of pinpointing the exact problem areas that need to be addressed.

Another change is that drivers themselves will be directly measured and given scores independent of their company. For every violation, a weighted score will be given to both the driver and the company based on their level of responsibility and severity of the violation. These scores will stay with drivers as they move from company to company and will hopefully keep the most dangerous drivers off the road before someone is killed or injured in a truck accident they cause.

If a company or driver is given a marginal or unfit rating, they face interventions or suspensions from the FMCSA. The types of interventions will be tailored to the severity of the violation.

Hopefully these new rules will lead to more accountability in the industry. As a St. Louis personal injury lawyer, I have seen countless cases where a company or driver's negligence has lead to a tragic accident. The small percentage of companies who cause the vast majority of crashes need to be held responsible for their actions.