Out of adjustment air brakes and brake system defects are factors often attributed to fatal crashes by large commercial trucks and buses. This week the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), conducted road safety checks of commercial vehicles’ air brakes as part of Operation Air Brake 2012.
Poorly adjusted or defective air brakes reduce the braking capacity for large vehicles, increasing their stopping distance and the risk of an accident. Even under ideal conditions, the braking capacity of commercial vehicles is twice as far as that for cars and other smaller vehicles. Bus and truck companies and their drivers are responsible for making sure air brake systems are working properly.
In a matter of a few minutes a bus or truck driver can easily adjust air brakes equipped with manual slack adjusters and check for other brake-related defects. According to FMCSA:
It is the opinion of professionals in the enforcement, regulatory and training business that the primary causes for drivers not adjusting brakes is a lack of education and not having the proper commitment to safety. A good number of drivers are trained to adjust brakes but simply choose not to adjust them, or are not certified to do so.
Attorney Fred Pritzker and I head up our truck accident litigation team. If you hire us to represent you or a family member after an accident with a commercial truck, we will closely inspect the air brake system to see if there were any defects (manufacturer or maintenance) that contributed to the crash. Our past successes have provided our law firm with the resources to hire the best engineers available to help us find any defects.
Contact Fred and me for a free consultation here. We represent accident victims throughout the United States. Our clients include drivers and passengers in buses and cars, commercial truck drivers injured by other commercial vehicles, motorcyclists and bicyclists. We currently have two cases where a motorcyclist hit by a semi truck required a leg amputation.
Eric Hageman, recently named an “Attorney of the Year”, is a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. He represents accident victims and their families in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
