Trucking Safety News

Maryland’s Commercial Truck Drivers have a Responsibility to Keep Their Rigs in Control; Avoid Trucking Accidents

March 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

After a rough winter such as Maryland and the East Coast has recently experienced it is easy to say that weather is unpredictable and that drivers can be caught off guard with little recourse to prevent an accident. While trucking accidents can and do happen every week on the highways and surface streets in and near cities such as Annapolis, Frederick, Rockville and D.C. the weather is just one factor.

As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, my office understands how severe a tractor-trailer, delivery truck or commercial carrier accident can be. Many times, persons injured as a result of a truck driver’s negligence must pursue legal means to recover damages, such as medical costs, lost wages and other accident-related expenses. Of course, fatal auto accidents are the worst-case scenario for a truck-related wreck, which unfortunately no amount of compensation can make up for the tragic loss of life.

A recent editorial in the Baltimore Sun brought up the point that truck drivers should be held responsible for situations involving tractor-trailer jack-knifing. While there are many who would argue that weather conditions themselves make a jack-knife accident less avoidable, it is not unreasonable to expect that all drivers are responsible for operating their vehicles within its physical limits based on weather and road surface conditions, such as snow and ice.

Maryland Trucking Accident News: Driver of Runaway Semi Avoids Fatal Crash by Using Emergency Escape Ramp

December 7, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Trucking safety requires a combination of professional driving and well-maintained equipment. While the majority of tractor-trailer rigs are serviced correctly and driven by responsible individuals, many are not. Sometimes a mechanical failure can cause a big rig to go out of control, which is one of the most dangerous traffic situations, especially along mountain roads.

As Maryland truck accident lawyers, my office represents motorists and bystanders who have been injured as a result of a semi-trailer collision. Fatal injuries are not uncommon in truck-related wrecks

A recent news article pointed up the quick thinking that truck drivers need to have to avoid fatal results. According to reports, a Virginia driver turned a potentially deadly situation on that state’s Route 135 into a happy ending. The incident occurred at Backbone Mountain after the man’s rig lost the use of its brakes as well as its transmission.

Maryland Trucking Safety News: Teamsters Back Regulations Pertaining to Hazardous Materials Transport

November 28, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

News out of Baltimore, Maryland, shows great support from the Teamsters Union for new trucking rules regarding the transportation of flammable liquids, specifically the regulations that would ban these liquids from being carried in the relatively vulnerable transfer lines on tanker trucks. This new Congressional legislation would most likely increase the safety of innocent drivers and pedestrians who may be killed or injured in tanker truck-related accidents in the future.

According to news reports, the Teamsters announced that they will support a new law banning the transport of flammable liquids in tank truck loading lines. According to the union, approximately 30 to 50 gallons of flammable liquid, such as gasoline or heating oil, can typically be held in the mostly unprotected loading lines beneath most tanker trucks.

The report quoted a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report that described a recent highway accident in New Jersey involving a tanker truck in which the driver of a smaller vehicle was killed. In that crash, the NTSB concluded, the ensuing fire probably wouldn’t have occurred if the loading lines had been empty. According to reports, there have been 184 accidents over the past 10 years in which loading lines were damaged or ruptured.

Accident Study: Trucking Crashes Happen 23-times More Often when Driver is Texting

October 1, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A recent study had some interesting findings about tractor-trailer operators, traffic accidents and cell phone texting habits. Because our firm, Lebowitz-Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers handles a large number of trucking accident injury cases, we were not surprised to learn that the chance for truck drivers to be involved in a highway collision is directly proportional to whether they are texting on their cell phone while operating a big rig.

According to the report, on released from a new study this week report that texting while driving increases the chance that a truck driver will be involved in a traffic accident or near-accident by 23 times. Researches from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute looked at commercial trucking information from two studies — one in 2003 and the other in 2007. More than two hundred truck drivers who drove over three million miles took part in the study. The institute looked at 4,452 events considered “safety-critical,” including 197 near accidents and 21 truck crashes.

Video cameras were used to record event in the cabs of the trucks during the study. Those cameras shot footage of truck drivers’ facial reactions in the final seconds right before a near miss truck crash or an actual truck accident. The footage showed that the main reason texting while driving is so dangerous for truck drivers is that they have to take their eyes off the road.