According to federal data, large truck crash fatalities went up between 2009 and 2017. This came despite a corresponding decrease in miles traveled by commercial truckers. Oklahoma drivers have good reason to be wary around big rigs because many are not equipped with the safety technology that can help them prevent crashes.
The non-profit Road Safe America points out how most of the states that saw the highest increases in truck crash deaths have 70 mph speed limits. This is too fast for commercial trucks, according to safety advocates. If speed limiters are set at 65 mph, they can give truckers more time to avoid crashes and can reduce the severity of crashes.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a proposal to mandate speed limiters back in 2016, but this never gained traction. All the same, 80 percent of voters in a national survey expressed their support for such a mandate.
Other countries already mandate speed limiters, and this technology has been built into big rigs in the U.S. since the 1990s. Automatic emergency braking is another bit of vehicle safety tech that can help prevent crashes.
When truck accidents involve innocent victims, legal action may be warranted. For a claim to work, however, there must be proof of negligence either on the trucker’s part, the employer’s part or someone else’s part, such as the one who improperly loaded cargo or manufactured a defective truck part. This is where an attorney can come in and have experts investigate the crash. After that, a victim can leave all settlement negotiations to their lawyer.