These days, passenger vehicles in almost every make and model can be equipped with safety technologies like rear-facing cameras, alerts systems if a driver crosses a line and even an automatic brake that engages if a person draws too close to the car ahead of him or her. These additions help save lives every day, and keep us safer even if our own cars don’t have them equipped. It would make sense, then, to start including these safety technologies in commercial motor vehicles like big rigs, dump trucks or mail trucks – but it appears that the government won’t let us.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently ran an article claiming that “the effort to require such
In particular, truck safety advocates are calling for a particular system that alerts tractor trailer drivers to stalled traffic ahead of them on roadways, and can take control of the truck’s brakes if the driver fails to react in time. When they tried to get a change made to the transportation bill, the House rules Committee refused to hear them out. It has left the advocates wondering whether or not D.C. really has people’s safety in mind.
Preventing truck accidents
The ACJ explains how the system would work:
“Through a radar device mounted on the front bumper, a truck barreling toward traffic can detect an impending collision. If the driver is too distracted, intoxicated, incapacitated or fast asleep to slow down, automatic braking takes over. Many newer-model cars already have the systems, known as collision avoidance or collision mitigation.”
Large trucks were involved in 96 fatal accidents in Tennessee this year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 20% of all large truck crashes involve rear-end collisions. Thus, this technology could potentially up to 1/5 of all Tennessee truck accidents each year, and save 19 people’s lives this year alone.
The cost of retrofitting the trucks may be too great, given that older models would not necessarily support the system. But there is no reason why we should not require all new big rigs to have a system installed moving forward. We could save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of catastrophic injuries if we did.
If you have been injured in a large truck accident in Sevier County or throughout Tennessee, Delius & McKenzie, PLLC is ready and able to help. Please contact one of our Sevierville truck accident attorneys about scheduling a consultation. We have additional offices in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for your convenience.
Attorney Bryan E. Delius was born and raised in Sevier County, TN. He founded Delius & McKenzie more than 20 years ago, after receiving his JD from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is admitted in Tennessee and in several federal court systems. Learn more about Bryan E. Delius.
