In Johnston and throughout Pennsylvania and the United States, there is a three-day period each year when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and other state and federal authorities come together in an effort to make roads safer. Overdrive Online reports CVSA estimates more than 10,000 inspections will occur over a 72-hour period. The goal of the roadside inspections for trucks and buses is to identify problems with equipment that could make roads unsafe and potentially increase collision risks.
An experienced truck accident lawyer knows this safety blitz has actually backfired in some ways to result in more truck crashes than ever. The problem is the days following national “road check” period end up being the three most dangerous days of the year. In 2015, the three-day safety blitz will occur June 2nd, June 3rd, and June 4th. The three most dangerous days of the year for truck crashes will be June 5th, 6th and 7th. Drivers need to be aware of added risks on these dates and should take extra precautions to try to avoid truck collisions.
Why Are the Post Road-Check Days so Dangerous?
More than 70,000 inspections occurred in previous national road check periods. Inspections resulted in a 22 percent out-of-service rate for equipment as well as a four-percent out-of-service rate for truckers. Inspections focus on brakes, fuel and exhaust systems, coupling devices, truck lighting, equipment used to secure cargo, suspension systems and tires, steering systems, rims, hubs and truck wheels.
Drivers do not want to take a chance of having their vehicles found in need of costly repairs and drivers do not want to risk being put out of service. The result is many truckers opt to stay off roads during national road check. Truck drivers need to make up money and time lost by being off the roads for a three day period of time.
Drivers do this in a number of dangerous ways. Truckers may have an incentive to keep driving even when they are too tired to do so, in some cases even in violation of hours-of-service rules. Marathon stretches behind the wheel make up for taking three days off. Truck drivers may also speed or try to take shortcuts and end up in dangerous or unfamiliar territory.
While truck equipment is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents and road checks are necessary to help avoid collisions due to vehicle defects, high crash rates after this safety event demonstrate why crash prevention is so difficult. Both driver behavior and equipment problems can put motorists at risk and efforts to improve the safety of equipment have an undesired effect of making trucker behavior less safe.
Truck drivers and trucking companies can be held accountable for breaking rules of the road after road-check days. Victims of resulting collisions need to get help from an experienced accident lawyer.
Central and Western Pennsylvania attorneys at Marcus & Mack have helped protect the rights of the injured for nearly 40 years. Contact Marcus & Mack now if you need aggressive representation. Call (814) 277-5664 for a free consultation or visit marcusandmack.com. Tell them you mean business!
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