New Report Unfavorable for Commercial Carrier Watchdog

 Posted on December 00,0000 in Cook County personal injury lawyer

In 2012, almost 4000 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks (those with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds). This was a four percent increase from the number of fatalities in 2011. Another 104,000 people were injured in large truck crashes in 2012. There were a total of 317,000 of these vehicles involved in crashes that year.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) was established in 2010 as a way to “improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicles.” In the past several years, the FMCSA doubled the number of investigations and interventions against commercial carriers. A new study by the  U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that one of the main systems the FMCSA uses to determine dangerous carriers may not contain enough data to compare all the carriers. The data is collected from violations that occur either during road-side inspections or after an accident. But the GAO says there just aren’t enough violations to ensure effective predictions. One of the main hindrances is lack of frequent inspections. Another issue the GAO discovered in their study is that the companies themselves do not keep accurate data and many carriers do not bother to respond to requests for information. According to the report, less than half of the carriers have submitted the updated MCS-150 form they are required to submit. Only 10 states are currently using the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) program. The other forty states are still waiting for software and training from the FMCSA in order to implement the program. If you have been injured in truck accident, contact an experienced Tinley Park personal injury attorney to find out what compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss you have suffered.