Trucking and transportation companies have watched passively as the death toll from crashes involving large trucks and commercial vehicles has nearly doubled over the last decade. Each one of these motor vehicle tragedies was preventable, and trucking companies must do more to take responsibility for their failures to hire, train and supervise drivers before these trashes occur.
Trucking companies place profits over people
In response to rising fuel prices and inflationary pressures, trucking companies have cut spending on hiring, driver training, supervision and vehicle maintenance.
As a result, large commercial vehicles on the road today are more likely to be driven by overworked and inexperienced drivers in trucks that have not been properly maintained.
Negligent trucking companies have created a public safety crisis:
- In 2022, 5,887 people were killed in crashes involving trucks — the equivalent of 23 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners crashing and killing everyone on board.
- Crash fatalities involving trucks and commercial vehicles have increased 48 percent in the last 10 years.
- Texas had the highest number of large trucks involved in fatal traffic crashes at 832, and the largest number of total vehicles involved in fatal traffic crashes. The highest number of large-truck occupants killed was 170 in Texas, followed by 48 in California. In Texas, trucks accounted for 12.8 percent of fatality crashes.
Truck crashes are more likely to result in fatalities compared to wrecks involving consumer vehicles. That’s primarily because 18-wheelers are heavier, which increases stopping distances.
Don’t fight insurance companies alone
Individuals injured in accidents involving commercial vehicles are often victimized a second time when they deal with the transportation companies’ insurance representatives. Insurance adjusters handle injury and property claims all day every day. As a result, they have vast experience that gives them an unfair advantage when negotiating with injured individuals. At these times, it’s important to have an experienced advocate on your side to ensure that you obtain all of the monetary damages that you deserve. And when an insurance claim is insufficient, it’s important to have an advocate willing to take the dispute all the way to a jury trial, if necessary.
The trial lawyers at Nachawati Law Group have the resources and experience to conduct aggressive investigations that uncover what happened and why.