The results of the 72-hour International Roadcheck campaign are in, and the results from 9,080 truck inspections are troubling: Over 21 percent of the trucks were unfit for service. Inspectors also placed 3.4 percent of the commercial truck drivers out of service. That translates into 9,080 trucks and 1,436 drivers being cited.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance identified several categories of safety risks. Inspectors issued the most truck out-of-service orders for brake violations, comprising almost 46 percent of the total. On the driver side, hours of service or logbook violations were the most common violations.
Our Alabama law firm provides aggressive representation in trucking litigation. We stay current on all the federal trucking regulations because we believe that those rules serve an important purpose and should not be taken lightly. We have also witnessed how unfavorably juries may view safety violations, especially when presented to them in the form of witness testimony combined with technology. Visual evidence can make a big impact upon jurors, so our lawyers utilize illustrations, timelines, graphs, photos and other visual evidence whenever possible to help explain safety rules.
The forces created by 18-wheelers or other large trucks require extra precautions, such as commercial truck licensing and regular truck maintenance checks. Although evidence of a regulatory violation may not amount to per se negligence, it could be the tipping point during a jury’s deliberations. A brief purview of our Alabama trucking litigation cases results on our website illustrates some of the impressive outcomes we have achieved on behalf of trucking accident victims.
Source: Overdrive, “Hours of service, improper logs lead violations for truckers during Roadcheck, brakes top equipment violation,” Matt Cole, Oct. 20, 2016
