Tennessee Tractor-Tractor Trailers Running Too Fast and Too Heavy

Our Knoxville truck accident lawyers know that speed kills.

That fact is especially compounded when the vehicle that’s moving too fast is a tractor-trailer truck and is overweight.

This is why we are in firm support of regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation that would require all heavy commercial vehicles to set their top speed at 65 miles per hour. It’s not a formal rule yet, but the department administration has indicated it intends to push such regulation hard in 2013.

That push is further fueled by recent reports like the one out of Atlanta, indicating there are a number of companies that, despite racking up dozens of tickets for overweight vehicles, continue to put overweight vehicles on the road – right beside you and your family. A recent Florida report found an estimated 30 percent of tractor-trailers and dump trucks are running overweight — that’s about 1 in 3! Fines for a first offense are often small and tight budgets have enforcement officers in short supply. Meanwhile, about 1 in 8 fatal collisions involves a large truck.

It’s cheaper and there is more money to be made — even if they got caught and are forced to pay the fine.

This is particularly troubling when you consider that in 2010, more than 3,600 people died and another 80,000 were seriously injured in crashes that involved a large truck. These trucks are defined as having a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more.

Here in this country, there were more than a quarter million of these vehicles involved in traffic crashes in 2010. That represented a nearly 10 percent increase from the previous year.

It’s unsurprising that the majority of those hurt in these crashes are those in the other vehicles. In fact, these accounted for approximately three-quarters of the injuries and deaths.

Large trucks account for less than 5 percent of all vehicle miles traveled in this country. But when they are involved in crashes, they have a higher likelihood of fatalities, due to their size. They account for approximately 8 percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes. Being overburdened with weight and then speed – makes for a deadly combination.

In Tennessee, large trucks account for approximately 6.5 percent of the roughly 1,400 fatal crashes we see each year. Very few of these incidents involved truckers who had been drinking (about 2 percent). However, about a quarter of all truckers involved in fatal crashes did have at least one prior speeding conviction. That’s a higher rate than passenger car drivers, whose rate is about 18 percent.

All of this contributes to the transportation department’s recommendation to require trucks to lower their top speeds. Setting these limits won’t prevent every trucking accident, but it may go a long way in holding both the drivers and their employers accountable.

If you are involved in a Tennessee traffic accident, contact Hartsoe Law Firm, P.C. for a confidential consultation to discuss your rights at (865) 804-1011.

Additional Resources: Help RSA Push Washington to Mandate Speed Limiters, Aug. 9, 2012, Road Safe America

More Blog Entries: Increase in Sleep Problems Exacerbates Drowsy Driving Dangers, Jan. 10, 2013, Knoxville Truck Accident Lawyer Blog