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April 25th, 2013
To protect motorists and ensure trucking companies take safety seriously, the federal government can — and does — shut down dangerous companies from time to time. But, despite the oversight, it’s easier for a reckless company to skate under the radar than you might think.
They even conspire to do it deliberately.
4 Companies, 1 Dangerous Owner
Just this week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it had shut down 4 trucking companies based in Kansas. These were no ordinary trucking companies.
In the order shutting them down, the FMCSA wrote that the companies were “mere continuations” of one another, created when one company was hit with safety violations. One of the companies had been fined, and another had been ordered out of service. The FMCSA wrote that the man who owned all 4 companies “demonstrated a pattern of creating new companies to avoid the negative compliance history of old companies.”
Ironically – and perhaps unsurprisingly – even the other companies had established less-than-stellar safety records. Read the rest of this entry »
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April 9th, 2013
The February 2013 issue of the American Association of Justice’s magazine Trial features an article written by none other than Joe Fried of the Truck Accident Attorneys. If you guessed the article was about trucking law, you’re right – but it isn’t about tractor-trailers or 18-wheelers.
That’s because an ordinary pick-up truck can be subject to the same regulations as an 18-wheeler under certain circumstances, as the article explains. If an attorney handling a trucking accident case knows these regulatory ins-and-outs, it may be possible to build a stronger case for the client. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 25th, 2013
The Truck Accident Attorneys are pleased to announce that our attorney Joe Fried is pictured on the cover of the 2013 edition of Georgia’s Best Lawyers. In the story, Fried describes how he, Brian “Buck” Rogers and Michael Goldberg approach their roles as advocates for those injured in accidents with tractor-trailers.
The article’s headline — “Measuring Success in Both Dollars and Safety” — speaks directly to our history of getting not only the best results for our clients, but getting results that help keep others safe, too. In the article, Joe Fried goes a bit deeper than the specifics of a crash to explain how each case has broader implications:
“When we get into a courtroom, we want the jury to understand that how they decide the case before them will affect the safety culture of the company and how all its drivers will act tomorrow,” he said in the article. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 6th, 2013
Steve Owings has been selected as the new chairman of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety advisory committee, which advises the federal government on policy and legislation surrounding trucking safety. You might know Owings, an Atlanta resident, as the co-founder of Road Safe America, an organization that fights for increased awareness about the dangers on our nation’s highways.
Owings is no bureaucrat. He’s a dedicated safety advocate who knows firsthand the dangers tractor-trailers can pose to motorists. He and his wife, Susan, founded Road Safe America after their son Cullum, 22, was killed in 2002 when his car was slammed from behind by a speeding semi truck while stopped in a traffic jam. Read the rest of this entry »
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Trucking |
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February 14th, 2013
Could truck drivers’ body mass index (BMI) be a factor in their safety on the road?
Severely obese truck drivers are 54% more likely to cause traffic accidents during their first two years on the job than their slimmer counterparts, according to a study conducted at the University of Michigan.
Researchers only looked at preventable truck accidents, meaning those that could have resulted from negligence on the part of the truck driver. Even when the research team isolated the most serious crashes, they found that most obese drivers were still 50% more likely to be involved in accidents. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 24th, 2013
When it comes to the safety of commercial drivers, fleet managers have a lot to consider. They need to know their drivers are up to speed on current driving laws, that they are getting proper rest and staying alert on the road, and managers need to be certain drivers are tack sharp when it comes to making split-second decisions behind the wheel.
According to the Federal Department of Transportation, 400,000 trucks are involved in motor vehicle crashes each year. Accidents can cost a company millions in damages, not to mention the risk of injury to its drivers or others. Taking every precaution to ensure the safety of commercial drivers, as well as others on the road, is an important responsibility for a conscientious fleet manager. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 24th, 2013
Accidents involving tractor-trailers are particularly dangerous because the trucks weight more many times more than any vehicle most of us will ever drive. But size isn’t the only thing that makes semi trucks a danger on the road.
Nearly a decade ago, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said more than 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials—mostly flammable liquids—are carried on American roadways each day. That number is likely higher now.
When a truck crashes, so does whatever cargo it holds. When a truck rolls over on its side, so does its cargo. When a tank of gasoline or other hazardous material spills onto on open roadway, it poses a danger to all drivers nearby—not simply the occupants of the semi truck and any other vehicles involved in the collision. Read the rest of this entry »
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December 27th, 2012
Accidents involving large trucks claimed 3,757 lives on American roads and highways in 2011. No deaths were reported in America due to a commercial airliner crash in 2011. None were reported in 2010, either.
Flying is safer than ever—thanks, in part, to rigid requirements for airline pilots to ensure they are alert, trained and qualified. If the government treated truck drivers like it treats airline pilots, trucking might be a similar story.
Two Different Sets of Rules
The law limits truckers to 70 hours of driving per week—recently decreased from 77. Airline pilots, meanwhile, can fly no more than 30 hours each week. Truck drivers are subjected to a physical exam every two years; pilots, every six months. The federal budget for airline regulatory expenses is nearly 30 times more than what is allotted for trucking regulation enforcement, even though there are nearly 20 times as many truckers as pilots, according to Road Safe America, a group that advocates for safer highways.
The group posted a chart of the disparities here.
Limiting the amount of operational hours per day, week and month is intended to prevent fatigue and keep pilots and drivers alike alert. So why are the limits so different?
As RSA President Steve Owings said last year, “fatigue is fatigue.” He also noted that, unlike airline pilots, truck drivers do not have co-pilots, have no autopilot to take the wheel for them and are in close proximity to other occupied vehicles.
Consequences Can Be Fatal
Owings and his wife Susan know the harm an inattentive truck driver can cause on the road. The Owings started RSA after their son was killed in 2003 when a speeding tractor-trailer rammed his car from behind.
The Truck Accident Attorneys have made their careers out of representing people harmed by dangerous semi trucks, and we’ll keep doing it until it’s no longer necessary.
Contact us if you or a loved one was hurt due to a truck driver or trucking company’s negligence.
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November 19th, 2012
Joe Fried, one of The Truck Accident Attorneys from Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC, will educate fellow attorneys and other professionals on trucking laws and liability in a Dec. 11 teleconference.
In the teleconference, Fried and Massachusetts lawyer Edward Bassett Jr. will speak to lawyers, insurance executives and other interested professionals about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, its regulations and the responsibilities all tractor trailer companies bear to keep our roads safe. Strong knowledge of these laws can help professionals keep their clients safe from both danger and potential litigation. Read the rest of this entry »
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November 2nd, 2012
The firm of Joe Fried, Buck Rogers and Michael Goldberg—The Truck Accident Attorneys—has been designated as one of America’s Best Law Firms by U.S. News & World Report.
Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC was ranked in the second tier of personal injury attorneys representing plaintiffs. We’re proud to live up to this distinction day in and day out as we work our hardest to achieve the best possible results for our clients.
That’s why we’ve recovered more than $200 million on behalf of our injured people across 20 states in recent years. Many of those innocent victims were injured in accidents with tractor-trailers. Trucking cases are our focus, and they account for three-quarters of our caseload.
That’s why other attorneys view us as a resource when they handle trucking cases of their own, and it’s why people in Georgia and a number of other states turn to us when they are injured in an accident with a semi truck.
Past Distinctions
The attorneys at Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC were named 2012 Georgia Super Lawyers earlier this year. Joe Fried was also included in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
But it’s the respect of our clients we’re most interested in. If you’ve been injured in an accident with a tractor-trailer, contact us today for a free consultation. We will review your case and let you know what we can do to help you.
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