Safety advocates hope advances in technology will significantly reduce the risk of trucking accidents on the nation's roads.
The National Safety Council reports new collision-mitigation technology may save lives by reducing serious and fatal traffic collisions involving tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles.
Systems under development use a combination of radar and cameras to identify risks, provide early alerts to drivers, and assist with emergency intervention. For now, the technology aims to assist, not replace, an experienced commercial driver. Such video-based onboard monitoring systems in trucks could prevent as many as 63,000 crashes annually, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Trucking Industry Slow to Adopt Safer Tech
These technological advancements have the potential to save many lives, but the trucking industry has been particularly slow to adopt many safety advances, including speed limiters, rear-view cameras, electronic data recorders, and side underride guards.
Even as technologies such as lane-departure warnings and advanced crash warnings are making a real impact in the nation's fleet of automobiles, the nation's 3.5 million Class 8 commercial trucks continue to age, and many modern technological advances are not being incorporated into new models, let alone retrofitted onto older trucks.
Ohio Trucking Accident Liability
The trucking industry should invest in safety technology. They are also responsible for keeping their vehicles well-maintained and hiring safe, reliable drivers.
Proving causation can be assisted by records of compliance with a host of state and federal regulations, including maintenance logs, data from onboard recorders, cell-phone records, hours-of-service compliance and rules governing freight weight and transport. However, dealing with trucking companies, and their insurers, after a crash can be difficult. There is a lot at stake. That's why trucking companies will go to great lengths to deny any wrongdoing on their part, or on the part of their drivers.
An experienced law firm will be in the best position to identify responsible parties and determine the full extent of your losses. Proving a driver and/or trucking company was negligent, and holding them accountable for damages, is among the best ways to ensure these large carrier operations adopt safer technology.
Injuries sustained in a truck accident may leave you unable to work for months as you recover. An attorney at Smith Law Office will aggressively advocate for you, so you can focus on recovery.
