Since the earliest days of using trucks to transport goods throughout the country, trucking accidents have injured and killed Americans each year. Whether on high speed roadways or city streets, accidents that involve pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and passengers in cars have severe consequences. The one positive result of all of these crashes is the evolution of safety laws and equipment to help prevent and mitigate the severity of truck wrecks. For example, in order to prevent accident causes by overtired drivers, industry regulations limit commercial operators to 60 hours behind the wheel weekly. Truck companies record the maintenance that occurs to each of their vehicles in order to ensure truck equipment is in good repair. Highway are engineered with consideration to the needs of large trucks; turns are banked in such a way that trucks are less likely to roll over, and bridges are built to support the heavy loads commercial trucks carry. And numerous devices have been developed to promote truck safety and mitigate the severity of accidents that do occur.
In spite of all these efforts, truck accidents still happen, killing an estimated 5,000 motorists each year. From some of those accidents, result Missouri truck accident lawsuits. These are cases in which a defective piece of truck equipment is blamed as a chief factor in the accident. Keeping a truck working properly requires a fair amount of mechanical knowledge and regular upkeep. In most cases, failure to maintain a truck just causes the truck to break down and the driver to lose valuable time, but some parts of the truck can actually make it more likely to crash. If brake components, tires, axels, signal and brake lights are not working, the driver may not be able to stop or maneuver the vehicle properly, or warn other motorists of their intentions, and the truck becomes a threat. When these parts are functioning, they can actually prevent accidents, but when they are not, a Missouri truck accident can result.
Of course there are also accident in which a defective piece of equipment was not the cause of the crash but made it worse for the people involved. Under ride guards, which are now installed below the back bumper and extending below the sides of the truck, can mitigate the seriousness of a truck accident. These were initially developed in the 1950’s, but their initial designs were largely ineffective. Today, there are guards that can actually keep a smaller vehicle from moving beneath a large truck upon high impact, but some trucks still do not have them installed. When an under ride accident takes place, a smaller vehicle actually continue to travel beneath a large truck, but not before its upper portion is torn off. If an under ride truck accident takes place, a Missouri truck accident attorney will first look to see if the under ride guards on the truck meet industry standards.
Defective under guards are those that are improperly installed, that fail to provide side coverage (especially in the back corners of the truck, where most under ride accident take place), those that are not low enough to the ground, or those that are simply not strong enough to prevent the smaller vehicle from crashing through it. Effective under ride guards turn a potentially fatal under ride accident into a still serious rear ending.
With the use of and proper installment of effective equipment such as brakes, tires, under ride guards and signals, the threat posed by large commercial trucks is reduced. As long as trucking continues to be such a significant industry, truck accidents will always be a threat to motorists – but proper safety equipment is necessary to minimize the severity of accidents.
