Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys Talk About Dump Truck Accidents

A recent accident at a landfill in Shreveport has claimed the life of one man. The man got trapped inside the cab of his dump truck when another dump truck, which was dumping at the same time, tipped over onto his truck and crushed the cab. This tragic workplace accident required immense effort from rescuers, with over twenty firefighters spending two and a half hours working to get him out of his truck as emergency medical personnel provided what care they could to him while he was still trapped inside of it. The accident, which is being investigated by OSHA, serves as a somber reminder that those who operate dump trucks as part of their work face similar dangers every day.

It is not easy to forget that you could become trapped inside of your truck. After all, dump trucks are bigger than many other vehicles, and they are built to withstand the rigors of heavy work. However, the strength and size of dump trucks can work against their operators or others who are working near them if an accident occurs. In the aforementioned situation, one massive truck toppled onto another. Other dump truck operators have gotten killed when loads from other trucks were dumped on top of them, and there are many other ways in which dump trucks and the loads that they carry can cause injuries and deaths in the workplace.

For example, dump trucks that are working at construction sites pose a risk to site workers, who could be run over or dumped on if they or the dump truck operator are not careful as they go about their work. Dump trucks must often travel on roads and highways, so there is always the risk of a motor vehicle accident during a dump truck operator’s work day. Operators can be injured or killed in accidents on roadways, in the same ways that drivers and passengers in other types of vehicles can. The places where dump trucks work are as varied as the workers who drive the trucks. Job sites include landfills, construction sites, quarries, fields, farms, forests, waterways, and many other types of places. Each type of job site poses its unique risks to dump truck drivers and other site workers.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Support for Mississippi Workplace Accident Victims

When a dump truck accident occurs in the workplace, there may be multiple parties involved besides the injured worker and his or her employer. For example, a trucking company may be party to the accident even if the worker is not the dump truck operator. Likewise, dump truck operators sometimes get hurt or killed at job sites that are not owned by their trucking company, which can occur in situations like the aforementioned landfill accident. If you got injured or lost a family member in a workplace dump truck accident, Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys could help you pursue a claim for damages so that you can focus on healing from your injury or our family’s loss. To learn more, call the Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (601) 790-1505 to schedule an initial consultation.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys Discusses Tractor Trailer Wrecks

A recent tractor trailer crash on I-55 claimed the life of one man, the truck’s driver. The early morning accident occurred when the truck, which was hauling a double trailer, left the roadway and collided with a tree. Tractor trailer accidents can cause serious injury or death and significant amounts of property damage. If you were hurt or if someone you love got killed in a tractor trailer wreck, it is important that you understand how tractor trailer accidents differ from accidents involving one or more non-commercial motor vehicles.

Tractor trailers have a size and shape that is unique among vehicles that travel along the roadways where you drive. They handle differently than passenger vehicles and specialized training and licensing is required for a driver to have permission to drive them. It is not surprising, then, that they collide with other vehicles or objects in a way that is similar to yet slightly different from other types of vehicles. To truly understand what may have happened during an accident involving a tractor trailer, the accident scene and evidence from the accident scene must be assessed by officials and others who have experience in examining tractor trailer accident scenes. The evidence in a trucking accident includes business records, cargo, and other items that are not a part of most other motor vehicle accident cases. Trucking accident attorneys understand how tractor trailers work, the types of malfunctions that can occur as they travel along the road, and the ways in which they can move during collisions.

When an accident involves a tractor trailer, there are more parties involved in the crash than may meet the eye. In addition to the drivers and passengers who were directly involved in the accident, the company that owns the truck as well as that company’s insurer are all parties to the wreck. This can make for a complicated set of facts, but it can also provide more avenues from which plaintiffs can recover for their injuries or losses. Trucking accident attorneys understand how the various parties in trucking accident cases are related to each other and they know how to engage with each of the types of individuals and business entities involved in your trucking accident case.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Supporting Trucking Accident Victims and Their Families

If you or someone that you love got hurt or killed in a crash involving a tractor-trailer or some other type of commercial vehicle, it’s essential that you select the right attorney to represent you and your family in your trucking accident case. The differences between trucking accidents and other motor vehicle accidents illustrate why it is best to select an attorney who has plenty of experience in handling trucking accident cases. The Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC may be able to help you with your trucking accident case. To find out more about how we might be able to help you, please call our office today, at 1 (601) 790-1505, to schedule a free, initial consultation.

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Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys Talk about Weather-Related Accidents

Two recent accidents in Jones County are thought to have been caused by rainy weather. The first wreck involved two vehicles and injured two women. The second accident occurred when an SUV hit a tree, injuring the two people who were inside of the vehicle. People who were near the scene of the second accident heard it when it occurred and rushed to the scene in a golf cart to try and help. Unfortunately, the golf cart ended up going off of the road near the accident scene, but the passengers were not hurt.

Rain increases the risk of car accidents in two ways. When it is raining, visibility is reduced, and drivers cannot see well enough to drive safely. Also, road surfaces can become slippery when they are wet, which increases the risk that a driver will lose control of their vehicle. Some road surfaces even accumulate water on the surface, creating the risk of hydroplaning.

When it is raining, or the road is wet, drivers can do a few things to decrease their accident risk. Driving slower than you would drive on dry roads gives you more time to see vehicles, signs, and other things, thereby increasing visibility a little during a time when the weather is working against your ability to see things. Driving slower can also reduce the risk of hydroplaning. Remember that stopping a car on a wet surface requires more distance, so leave yourself plenty of space when you need to stop. Also, leave lots of room between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you so that you have more time to react to that vehicle’s movements.

As the weather gets colder, rainy weather can give way to sleet, snow, and ice that can make the roads even more slippery than rain can. Accidents caused by winter weather can be disastrous, whether it is a single car sliding off of the roadway or multiple vehicles piling on to each other when they cannot stop due to ice on the road. Use similar safe driving techniques in the winter as you would for driving in the rain. Also, when the weather is particularly severe, be sure to evaluate whether you need to make that trip. Sometimes, staying at home in a winter storm is the best way to stay safe.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Serving Accident Victims Across Mississippi  

Sometimes, a driver cannot avoid a weather-related automobile wreck no matter how careful they are. If you got hurt in a car crash, contact a knowledgeable Mississippi Automobile Accident attorney right away. Your attorney can help you to pursue a claim for financial compensation for your injuries while you focus on healing. The Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC are here to help you. Please call us at 1 (601) 790-1505 to schedule a free, initial consultation.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys Talk About Accidents Caused by Defective Parts

A recently filed wrongful death lawsuit claims that a component of the braking system of a tractor-trailer caused a deadly crash when it failed. The accident, which occurred in 2015, killed a woman and injured her infant son. The wrongful death lawsuit was brought against the manufacturer of the brake part, Meritor WABCO Vehicle Control Systems, and other parties.

The lawsuit claims that the brake part has undergone forensic testing and that test results show that the Meritor modulator valve was defective, as defined by Alabama law, at the time of the accident. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, the husband of the deceased and the father of the injured child, seeks compensatory and punitive damages for her wrongful death, product liability, negligent and wanton maintenance of the tractor trailer, and failure to warn of defects.

Tractor trailers are designed to be driven long distances on a regular basis. Because of this, the safe operation of any tractor trailer involves regular checks of all of the parts of both the tractor and the trailer. Many components of a truck wear out fairly quickly, and must get replaced on a regular basis, so regular checks ensure that worn out parts get replaced before they fail on the road. If a part fails while the driver is on the road, an accident could occur.

Sometimes safety checks are not performed regularly, or repairs are not made as soon as they are needed and accidents occur. Sometimes these checks are done by the driver of the truck and at other times, mechanics inspect the trucks. At other times, accidents happen when parts fail without any warning or in spite of vehicle checks that could not reveal the defect that caused the crash. When a tractor-trailer is involved in an accident which may have been caused by a mechanical defect, multiple parties could each be partially or fully responsible for the injuries and the damages that were caused by the crash. When there are multiple defendants, the lawsuit can become rather complicated as the parties try to blame each other for the accident and absolve themselves of responsibility for as much of the damages as they possibly can.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Helping Mississippi Trucking Accident Plaintiffs and Their Families

Trucking accident cases involving mechanical defects can be lengthy and complicated. Accident victims and their families may be kept waiting for much-needed compensation while the potentially responsible parties point fingers at each other and argue over who is responsible for how much of the damage that was caused by the crash. This can be frustrating for accident victims and their families, but they do not have to go through it alone. If you were injured or someone that you love was killed in a trucking accident where there may have been a mechanical defect, Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys could help you navigate the complicated trucking accident claims process so that you can devote your time and energy to healing your injuries or recovering from your loss. If you have questions about Mississippi trucking accidents, please call the dedicated Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (601) 790-1505 to set up an initial consultation.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys Talk About School Bus Accidents

A recent crash involving a school bus and one other vehicle recently blocked both lanes of traffic on Highway 57 in Jackson County for a few hours. The Mississippi Highway Patrol reported that there were students on the bus when the accident occurred. Fortunately, there did not appear to be anyone injured.

School bus accidents do not always end as safely as this one did. Last year, there was a school bus rollover accident where students were injured, and some school bus accidents do result in serious injuries and even death. Whenever there is a school bus accident, it is not surprising that parents think about whether they are doing the right thing when they send their kids out to catch the bus to school every weekday morning. Fortunately, school bus accidents are not all that common, and research indicates that they are in fact the safest way for kids to get to and from school. Riding to school in a private vehicle is actually seven times more dangerous than riding to school in a school bus.

If you can think back a few years to when you were in school, and you rode the school bus, you might remember that there were not any seat belts on the buses. You might think that certainly, school buses would have seat belts now, especially with all of the focus on car seats for children up to ages that are well beyond the ages that children were required to use them when you were younger. It might surprise you, then, to learn that in most places, there are still not any seat belts on school buses. This is not an oversight; it is actually a deliberate choice by school bus manufacturers who have studied many different types of school bus design and have decided that the no-seatbelt design is the safest for a few reasons.

School buses are designed to keep passengers safe in a much different way than other types of passenger vehicles like cars and SUVs are. School buses are made with padded, high-backed seats. These seats serve a purpose – they divide the interior of the bus into compartments, which reduces the amount of passenger movement during collisions. The large size of a school bus distributes any impact from a collision across a wide area. These and other design features help to keep kids safe on school buses, and parents can feel good about that.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Assistance for Accident Victims and Their Families

If you were involved in any type of motor vehicle accident, contact Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys right away. An attorney can help you using their knowledge about the automobile accident claims process to help you pursue a claim for recovery from the party or parties who are responsible for your injuries or your loss. Call the compassionate and experienced Mississippi Automobile Accident attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505, to schedule a free consultation.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys Talk About Accidents Involving Multiple Trucks

A recent accident involving three tractor trailers and other vehicles claimed the life of a UPS truck driver. The accident occurred on Interstate 20 in Newton County. The driver of one of the trucks and his passenger got hurt in the wreck, and the driver of the third eighteen-wheeler was not injured. This accident started out with one rear-end collision, and a third truck crashed into the back of the second truck. The driver who died in the crash was driving the third truck.

Tractor trailer accidents are often both severe and fatal. Because eighteen-wheelers are so large and so heavy, any accident involving one or more of them can cause fatalities, serious injuries, and massive amounts of property damage. Unfortunately, accidents involving multiple tractor trailers can happen at any time. However, the risk of those accidents happening is higher during morning and evening commute times, when the roads are crowded with trucks and other vehicles. When trucks are traveling near each other, there are several ways that they might collide with each other. Sometimes, as happened in the accident mentioned above, one eighteen-wheeler rear-ends another and sometimes other trucks or vehicles hit with the first two trucks. These rear-end collisions often cause a lot of damage to the trucks. Also, the driver of the truck that collides with the rear of the first truck can become trapped in the cab of their truck, resulting in serious injuries or death from injuries, fire, or an explosion. Pile-up or chain reaction accidents are another way in which multiple eighteen-wheelers can collide. Side impact accidents are another possible multiple-truck accident scenario, especially when tractor trailers are driving close to each other.

Whenever there is a trucking accident, there is often a complicated set of facts. This can make it difficult for accident victims and their families to pursue claims for damages. The reason for the complexity is that trucking accidents involve more parties than the drivers and any passengers who may be at the accident scene. Some tractor trailers are driver-owned, but many others are owned by trucking companies and are covered by commercial insurance policies. The trucking company and insurance company are parties who have interests in the outcome of the accident investigation, so whenever an eighteen-wheeler gets into a wreck, the trucking company calls its insurer to notify them of the crash and the insurer often immediately dispatches a team of investigators to the accident scene.

The “accident response teams” that respond to accident scenes on behalf of insurers and trucking companies are not neutral parties. If you are ever at the scene of a trucking accident, remember that those individuals represent interests that may be contrary to yours. You are free to refuse to speak with them until you have consulted an attorney.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Helping Trucking Accident Victims and Their Families Recover After Injury or Loss

If you were involved in a trucking accident, contact a Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney right away. Your attorney will help you deal with accident investigators, and they will use their knowledge about trucking industry laws, commercial insurance policies, and truck accidents to help you pursue claims for recovery from the various parties who are responsible for your injuries or your loss. Call the dedicated and experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505, to schedule a free, initial consultation.

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Progress in Medical Certification of Truck Drivers Making Roads Safer

Our trucking accident attorneys recognize the importance of ensuring that commercial truck drivers are medically fit to operate tractor-trailers, which can weigh as much as 25 times more than a passenger car. While federal law has long required medical certificates confirming that a truck driver is medically fit as a condition of keeping a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), this safety requirement offered limited comfort until recently because no significant standards were imposed for who could sign off on the driver’s fitness. However, changes in recent times by federal regulators to impose standards on who can certify a commercial driver as medically fit promise safer Mississippi roadways.

The benefits of this change in trucking safety regulations are worth revisiting because of the potential impact on roadway safety. Until the recent change, drivers could seek medical certification from virtually any individual within the medical field including a nurse practitioner or chiropractor. Further, there were no standards in terms of how the examination should be conducted nor what types of impairments or conditions would be found to disqualify a truck driver.

A 2008 congressional investigation revealed the even more troubling finding that a third of all medical certificates reviewed by law enforcement during vehicle stops could not be confirmed as authentic or accurate. The person who signed off on the inspection either did not exist or would not confirm ever conducting an examination. The process was so informal that there was nothing to prevent truck drivers from copying the name, contact information, and medical license number of a doctor off the web to falsify the form. Since the forms were rarely verified, truck drivers could engage in this form of fraud with little risk of being detected.

The danger posed by having a truck driver on the road who suffers from a serious medical condition can hardly be understated. Because of the average age of truck drivers and the amount of time they spend engaged in the sedentary activity of driving, there is a high prevalence of obesity-related health conditions in the trucking industry, such as sleep apnea and diabetes, which can render a truck driver unconscious. A University of Pennsylvania study found that 28 percent of truck drivers suffer from sleep apnea. The seriousness of the problem was revealed by the fact that the congressional investigation referenced above found that 560,000 truck drivers were receiving full medical disability benefits.

Prior to the changes, there was no electronic data base where the certificates could be reviewed, so law enforcement officers were required to rely on paper forms produced by the truck driver. The lack of a computerized system left law enforcement officers without a way to verify that the medical certification was valid. Even if an officer attempted to contact the doctor who signed the certificate, medical privacy laws prevented the medical professional from disclosing information about the driver’s medical condition without a signed waiver.

Fortunately, changes have targeted medically unfit truck drivers. In December 2008, a federal law was passed requiring all states to merge medical certificates and commercial driver’s licenses into a single electronic record for each driver, but states were given three years to comply with this requirement.

Arguably, the most significant change was implemented in May of 2014 when drivers were compelled to have their medical examination performed by a qualified health professional listed with the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. The law imposed standards for training and testing of medical professionals seeking to qualify for the registry. The US DOT medical examination was also defined to include health conditions that affect driver safety-related to respiratory and muscular functions, vision, hearing, and cardiovascular disease. Because the prospect of an 80,000 pound tractor-trailer combination being driven by a medically compromised driver is a terrifying prospect, these changes are generally welcomed by the commercial trucking safety.

If you have been injured in a tractor-trailer accident in Jacksonville or the surrounding areas, our Mississippi Trucking Accident Lawyers have successfully represented many big-rig collision victims in obtaining compensation for their injuries. At Barrett Law, we are here to help. Contact our firm today at (601)790-1505 to schedule your free consultation, so we can answer any questions you may have regarding filing your claim.

 

 

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FMCSA Sets Higher Standards for Random Drug Testing of Truck Drivers Than for Rail, Vessel and Aviation Segments of Economy

When vehicles weighing thousands of pounds and traveling at freeway speeds collide, the result can by permanent debilitating injuries and fatalities. The danger increases when one of the vehicles is an 80,000 pound fully loaded tractor-trailer. When the driver of the forty ton big-rig is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the potential danger posed to others on Mississippi roadways rises to alarming levels. Despite this frightening reality, commercial drivers often opt to use drugs to cope with pressures at home, boredom on the road, and fatigue behind the wheel. Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) continues to regulate the trucking industry by imposing screening procedures that target intoxicating substances, the threat to public safety caused by impaired truck drivers has not disappeared.

 

The magnitude of the problem is reflected by the continued priority that the federal government places on substance abuse testing of tractor-trailer operators. While federal safety regulators impose random drug testing on many people employed in the transportation industry, the level of testing by the FMCSA exceeds similar testing by the Federal Aviation Commission, Federal Railroad Administration, and other agencies under the auspices of the Department of Transportation (DOT).

 

The FMCSA found that random drug sampling in 2015 remained at the same 50 percent rate as the prior year. This level of testing requires trucking companies to perform one random drug test for every two drivers. If the trucking company employs 250 drivers, for example, the company will be required to administer 125 random drug tests. This fifty percent standard is double that set by the federal government for most other transportation agencies during the same period, which include the following: Federal Aviation Commission, Federal Transit Authority, United States Coast Guard, Federal Railroad Administration, and the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

A worldwide study of the use of intoxicating substances by truck drivers that was published in the Occupation and Environmental Journal was noted by the FMCSA in comments to Reuters, “Safety is our number one priority and the FMCSA has strict requirements on pre-employment screening and random and post-accident drug and alcohol testing….”

The study also found that certain truck drivers were more likely to be prone to test positive for drugs or alcohol. Offending drivers were more typically young and inexperienced. Offending drivers were also prone to working nighttime shifts and navigating longer routes. The companies that employed these drivers also tended to be small to medium firms as opposed to large trucking companies. The authors of the study speculated that perhaps larger trucking companies can provide higher salaries and better working conditions. They also suggested that larger trucking companies might be less prone to demand longer driving times and short rest periods, which provide a motivation to use amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, and other controlled substances that fight stress, fatigue, and boredom.

Despite federal regulations that mandate screening for intoxicating substances and random drug testing, commercial carriers that disobey these requirements continue to permit drug-impaired truck drivers to navigate our roadways. If you or your love one is injured by a drug-impaired truck driver, you may have a legal claim for damages against the negligent truck driver and/or the indifferent trucking company that fails to conduct required screening, to report infractions, and/or to implement appropriate disciplinary action.

If you have been injured in a commercial trucking accident in Jacksonville or the surrounding areas, our Mississippi Truck Accident Lawyers have successfully represented many victims of negligent truckers and commercial carriers in obtaining compensation for their injuries. At Barrett Law, we are here to help. Contact our firm today at (601)790-1505 to schedule your free consultation, so we can answer any questions you may have regarding filing your claim.

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accidents: Negligent Selection and Hiring

When drivers and passengers are involved in a multi-vehicle collision, there is always a risk of severe injury or wrongful death.  If one of the vehicles weighs 25 times more than the other vehicle, the consequences can be even more serious for occupants of the smaller vehicle.  Given the high risk of catastrophic injury associated with tractor-trailer crashes, victims are well-advised to understand the theories that make companies liable for collisions caused by the negligence of truck drivers.  Companies receive legal advice from insurance carriers and attorneys regarding ways to shield themselves from liability for the injuries caused by commercial drivers.

A common strategy employed by many businesses involves classifying drivers as independent contractors.  If a truck driver causes an accident because of exhaustion after ignoring hours of service rules, the trucking company will argue that the plaintiff in a trucking accident lawsuit must seek compensation from the so-called “independent contractor.”  This can present a serious dilemma for plaintiffs because a true independent contractor, such as an “owner-operator” typically will not have nearly as much coverage as a trucking company or a company shipping products.

Given the financial incentive to maximize profits, companies often develop practices designed to move goods to their destination at the lowest cost.  Compliance with safety rules does not necessarily permit the greatest possible reduction in cost, so companies cut corners.  Truck drivers with poor driving records and/or a history of alcohol or drug abuse typically cannot command the same pay as a good driver.

Our experienced Mississippi trucking accident attorneys can help you pursue a claim even if the trucking company contends that the driver is an independent contractor.  The classification given to a driver by a company is not the final word on whether the truck driver is really an independent contractor.  If the company exercises a sufficient degree of control over the driver, the so-called independent contractor status can be exposed as a fiction.  Careful discovery and analysis of documents and testimony regarding the degree to which the company manages the driver can persuade a court to determine that an employer-employee relationship exists.  This finding is important because the liability of a careless or inattentive truck driver can be attributed to the company under the doctrine of respondeat superior, which literally translated means “let the master answer.”

Even if the negligent truck driver that causes your injuries is an independent contractor, the company with whom he contracts can still be financially responsible for his lack of care.  Generally, a company can be liable for physical injury to third parties caused by its lack of reasonable care in employing a careful and competent contractor.  This principle extends not only to a trucking company that uses independent contractors to navigate its routes but also to a retailer that hires an individual owner-operator to transport loads.  Our Mississippi trucking accident lawyers gather evidence to determine whether the company failed to adequately screen a driver before authorizing him to operate an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer.

Trucking companies sometimes hire drivers (even as an independent contractor) without an adequate background check regarding the driver’s past traffic citations, failure to comply with trucking safety regulations, alcohol or drug abuse issues, employment history, and collisions.  We are committed to holding companies accountable when they endanger public safety by cutting corners during the hiring process.

If you have been injured in a trucking accident in Jacksonville or the surrounding areas of Mississippi, our Mississippi Trucking Accidents Lawyers have successfully represented many tractor-trailer accident victims in obtaining compensation for their injuries.  At Barrett Law, we are here to help.  Contact our firm today at (601)790-1505 to schedule your free consultation, so we can answer any questions you may have regarding filing your claim.

 

 

 

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accidents Caused by Air Brake Failure

Defects and malfunctions are a factor in close to five percent of all fatal crashes involving tractor-trailers.  While there are many vehicle-related issues that can contribute to a trucking accident, unsafe brakes constitute one of the most dangerous types of malfunction that can cause a large truck to collide with other vehicles.

Since semi-trucks are much heavier than passenger cars, vans, and pickups, truck drivers require a much longer time to stop when confronted with a road hazard.  Because of their size and weight, large trucks are equipped with a different type of braking system than passenger cars.  Generally, large trucks come equipped with compressed air brake systems whereas passenger cars rely on hydraulic brake systems.

A compressed brake system is comprised of several components, including an air compressor driven by the engine, control panels, a compressed air storage tank, services brakes, and parking brakes.  When a truck driver pushes down on the brake pedal, pressure is generated and propelled into the brake chamber.  The air slows the rotation speed of the wheels of the tractor-trailer.  Although this type of braking system is more efficient at reducing the speed of heavier vehicles, air brake systems can fail without adequate and timely maintenance.  When air brakes on a large truck fail, the prospect of an 80,000 pound vehicle streaking down the highway out-of-control can be a terrifying sight.

The vast majority of tractor-trailers are equipped with a backup braking system designed to avert collisions when a big-rig cannot stop or slow properly.  Despite this form of redundancy and the general reliability of air brake systems, trucking accidents involving brake failure cause a significant number of motor vehicle accidents.  In most instances, the brakes fail on a large truck because the operator’s driving places too much stress on the brakes, or the driver fails to properly engage the braking system.

Even when problems exist with the air brake system, the brakes offer some resistance which allows the truck driver to gradually bring the vehicle to a stop.  However, mechanical or maintenance issues can interfere with the efficient functioning of the brakes.  If these problems are not detected and rectified prior to leaving on a route, minor errors by the driver can exacerbated stress on the brake system when an emergency occurs.

Commercial drivers need to anticipate that air brakes and backup brake systems will not functioning at full capacity all the time.  Drivers can reduce the risk of a trucking accident if they reduce the amount of stress and wear on the braking system by avoiding riding on the brakes on sharp inclines or stopping short.  Safe driving practices can prevent situations that necessitate placing excessive stress on the brakes, such as traveling at a safe speed, observing a proper following distance, and anticipating potential road hazards that necessitate slamming on the brakes.

Brake sensitivity also commonly is a factor in many large-truck crashes, particularly when drivers use too much force engaging the brakes.  This mistake is common among less experienced drivers who utilize excess pressure when activating the brakes.  When novice drivers must navigate wet and slippery Mississippi roadways, the risk of a jackknife accident caused by applying the brakes too quickly and rapidly increases significantly.

If you or your loved one is injured in a commercial trucking accident, you are invited to contact the experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys at Barrett Law to learn how we can help.  Our tractor-trailer accident lawyers have been representing accident victims throughout Mississippi for over 75 years.  We offer personalized legal representation and zealous advocacy.  We provide a free initial case evaluation so call us today at (601) 790-1505.  No Recovery No Fee!

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