ROAD SAFE AMERICA PETITIONS FOR SPEED GOVERNORS

On January 3 of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filed a Grant Decision on a previously filed petition to require heavy commercial vehicles to come with activated on-board electronic governors to limit the top speed of the vehicle.The petition, originally filed in 2006, would limit the top end speed for vehicles equipped with it at 68 miles per hour. The new administration at Road Safe America filed the petition and expects the process to move along quickly now that NHTSA has acted.“Road Safe America is very pleased that Administrators Strickland (NHTSA) and Ferro (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) have decided to move this request forward,” said Steve Owings, Road Safe America President. “Although it has taken a long time, and this action does not end the discussion, a key role that safety advocates believe will save hundreds—maybe thousands—of American lives annually is closer to a reality.”Road Safe America has been trying to reduce commercial truck accidents, whether through installing speed governors or limiting the amount of hours truck drivers can log in a week. Their mission is “to reduce collisions between heavy commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles.” Road Safe America argues that the United States is the only developed country that does not already have heavy mandated speed limiters on large commercial trucks.“The European Union Countries, Japan, Australia and the heavily populated provinces of Canada all have laws requiring that speed governors be set at a top speed ranging from 55 mph to 65 mph—their rate of truck crash related fatalities is lower than ours and we need to catch up,” Owens explained.Manufacturers have installed speed governors in large commercial trucks since 1992, although they are not always activated. Road Safe America argues that when trucks travel at the posted speed limits, the drivers do not leave themselves enough time to correct mistakes and react in time.Tom Hodgson, Executive Director of Road Safe America, argues that the governors will help the drivers and the trucks themselves. Traveling at the lower speeds will save the trucking companies money on gas, fuel, tires and other expenses.“Rules that slow down the top speed of big rigs will certainly save lives. But the pay-by-the-mile formula of most in the industry is an incentive to drive fast and long. RSA thinks that the truckers deserve a professional’s wage for the hard and crucial job they do,” Hodgson said. “We want them to get paid for all their working hours, whether their truck is moving or not, so that safety is a primary concern for all.” 

CHILD SAFETY SEAT RECALL

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a child safety seat recall last week of nearly 800,000 units.  The harnesses do not hold securely, according to New York Times blogger Christopher Jensen.The company responsible for the recall is the Dorel Juvenile Group of Columbus, Ind.  Dorel issued the seats under a variety of brand names--according to Dorel spokesperson Julie Vallese—including Safety 1^st, Maxi-Cosi, Cosco and Eddie Bauer. The styles of the seats range from booster and convertible seats to strollers and infant seats. The defective child seats were manufactured from May 2008-April 2009. None of the products were involved in any reported car accidents.NHTSA began their investigation of the Dorel products after they received 143 formal complaints about the front latch unfastening easily.“There have been no reports of center front adjuster failure in real world crashes, no injuries and no deaths reported to the company,” Vallese defended.Dorel did not admit to the seats being a safety hazard and simply admitted to the NHTSA that they “exhibited performance issues.”

Tragic Truck Accident in Diboll Texas

Immediate Priorities:

• Drug Testing the Driver
• Downloading Crash Data From the Truck's Black Box
• Inspection of the Driver Logs
• Inspection of the Truck

East Texas recently received a tragic, sobering, reminder of just how devastating 18-Wheeler wrecks can be.  On January 4, 2011, Mary Chiz of Garrison and her fiancé, Travis, were severely injured when a big rig truck crashed into their SUV in Diboll, Texas.  Even more tragically, the couple lost their unborn baby boy, Wyatt, who was expected to be born within 2 weeks of the accident.  Details of the accident have been reported in several stories by the Lufkin Daily News.Based on news coverage and the scene photos, it appears that the Chiz vehicle had been stopped behind one truck at a traffic light when a second 18-Wheeler slammed into them at high speed.  The SUV was crushed by the impact and even the 18-Wheeler showed significant damage from the force of the crash.  Our hearts and prayers go out for the family in this tragic accident so close to home.Reading accounts of this accident and others that have been reported recently, brings to mind so many reasons why victims of these types of serious accidents desperately need skilled trucking accident attorneys to zealously, and aggressively, protect their rights.  As one might imagine, victims of these type accidents focus on the immediate crisis of injured loved ones.  In the immediate hours and days following this kind of tragedy, the victims don’t have the luxury of long term planning.  They must focus on emergency medical treatment, paying bills, and in the worst cases, making funeral arrangements.Unfortunately, in the hours and days following the wreck, the trucking company has very different priorities on which to focus.  The trucking company and their insurance company will be focused on ‘circling the wagons’ to limit their financial exposure and liability for damages caused by the accident.  These companies are very sophisticated when it comes to protecting themselves.  Critical evidence can be lost, or even destroyed, if an experienced attorney is not retained to protect the rights of the victims.

Drug Testing the Driver

Many people assume that the police will test the truck driver for drugs and alcohol after an accident like this.  Not so.  The police have no obligation to conduct drug and alcohol tests, and most often, only conduct tests if the driver demonstrates obvious intoxication symptoms.  However, the trucking company is required by federal law to immediately perform a drug and alcohol test on the driver after an accident of this nature.  Unfortunately, many trucking companies ignore the law because they simply don't want to risk the chance of finding drugs and alcohol in the driver’s system.  After a serious accident, the last thing a trucking company wants is documentation of the driver's drug or alcohol intoxication.  However, if the accident victim immediately retains an experienced trucking accident attorney, he or she can file emergency paperwork with the court to compel drug and alcohol testing of the driver.

Down-loading Crash Data From the Truck's 'Black Box'

Modern trucks have Black Box style recorders in the form of an ECM (Electronic Control Module, or EDR (Event Data Recorder).  These computer modules can record critical evidence in a crash.  One of the most important pieces of evidence to obtain from the computer is referred to as a 'Hard Stop' event.  Essentially, the computer takes a 'snap shot' of what is happening with the truck any time the driver slams on the brakes.  Engine RPM's, speed, transmission gear, etc. are all recorded.  This evidence becomes critical when the truck driver later claims to have been obeying the speed limit before the crash.  Unfortunately, the computer acts much in the same way as the old surveillance VCR recorders i.e., they continue to record over, and erase, old data. Most Black Boxes only record the last 1 to 3 'hard braking' events.  Therefore, if the truck is put back in service after the wreck and the driver happens to accidently ‘hit the brakes hard' while driving around his company’s parking lot, critical evidence establishing fault of the truck driver will be destroyed.  It can be very important for your attorney to immediately obtain a download of the truck’s computer as soon as possible following the accident.

Driver Logs

Truck drivers are also required by federal law to maintain a complete record of their time behind the wheel and their total working time.  For obvious public safety reasons, the law limits the number of hours a driver can drive.  These 'hours of service' rules are often flagrantly violated by some trucking companies with predictable and tragic results.  The most common accident involving a fatigued driver is a rear end collision.  Unfortunately, in the hours and days following accidents of this nature, many drivers (or their companies) will attempt to 'recreate' or 'cleanse' the driver logs to remove any evidence of the driver's illegal time behind the wheel.  An experienced trucking accident lawyer can prevent evidence tampering by immediately issuing supoenas for the driver logs.  Likewise, there are a number of ways that an experienced truck wreck attorney can identify and expose fabricated driver logs.  Our office recently presented a CLE paper demonstrating the best ways to identify and expose fabricated driver logs.  * Prosecuting or Defending a Trucking or Auto Accident Case 2010 hosted by the State Bar of Texas in San Antonio.

Inspection of the Truck

Many big truck accidents are a direct result of the failure to maintain the trucks and trailers driving up and down the road.  Again, federal law sets out minimum standards that trucking companies must comply with to ensure public safety.  Our firm has successfully prosecuted many big truck accidents which were directly caused by a failure to properly maintain the vehicles.  These accidents are often caused by faulty brakes, tires, steering components, or defective lighting on the trailers.  Our firm has even prosecuted cases where entire sets of wheels fell off the 18-Wheeler and crashed into another vehicle.  In defective maintenance cases, it is critical to obtain an immediate inspection of the defective equipment before evidence is lost or destroyed.If you, or a loved one, have been involved in a serious accident involving an 18-Wheeler or other commercial vehicle, these are just a few of the many reasons you should contact an experienced truck wreck attorney as soon as possible after the accident.  Our firm stands ready to assist upon a moment's notice.

Apartment Complexes and Their Duty to Protect Tenants

Apartment landlords have basic duties to ensure the safety of their tenants. While courts have not required landlords to take extraordinary measures, they are increasingly permitting tenants to sue landlords when landlords fail to take basic measures to protect their tenants’ safety. New York’s highest state court permitted a woman to sue her landlord after an ex-convict attacked her in her apartment. The man beat and raped her after he got into the apartment complex. The woman sued the building owners for failing to properly staff the security desk or secure the complex, and she sued the firm that provided security for negligently performing its security contract.The woman’s case was particularly strong because the landlord knew the ex-convict well. He had relatives in the complex, police had arrested him several times for criminal acts in the complex (including robbery, attempted rape, and the beating of a security guard), and the landlord kept an arrest photo of him. When landlords have a particular reason to be on guard for criminal activity, courts are more likely to find them liable for crimes on their tenants and guests. An East Texas injury lawyer will discuss your options with you if a landlord’s negligence caused you injury in your apartment complex.

Apartment Landowner Liability

Here are some of the more important aspects of landlord liability that tenants should be aware of:

• If a landlord knows about dangerous conditions on apartment property and does not tell his or her tenants, a court could hold the landlord liable if someone is injured. This includes everything from a broken stair to dangerous dog that belongs to one tenant or a string of recent robberies or assaults.
• A court will generally not hold a landlord liable if a tenant creates the dangerous condition him- or herself and does not report it to the landlord.
• Landlords have a duty to inspect apartment complexes to ensure that they are reasonably safe from dangerous conditions. This includes safety concerns such as inadequate or broken lighting or security issues such as gaps in fences or a lack of child safety precautions surrounding an apartment pool.
• An important, general legal standard for landlord liability is that that landlord must have known, not merely should have known, about the dangerous conditions. This standard asks: how foreseeable was the accident or crime? If something has occurred for the first time, a court will likely not conclude that a landlord could have foreseen that.
• Another standard that courts use for landlord liability is to consider how much it would have cost the landlord to take preventive steps. For example, if an apartment complex is in a high crime area, courts might expect landlords to take basic, non-costly measures such as installing building and room locks and ensuring that they function properly.

Contact an experienced Lufkin personal injury attorney at Mike Love & Associates, LLC if you have been injured in an apartment complex as the result of the landlord’s negligence.