Corpus Christi Law Blog

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released statistics on the number of serious dump truck and ready-mix concrete delivery trucks in 2016 (the latest year with available statistics). Truck drivers in Texas should know that there were 8,206 dump truck accidents so severe that the vehicle had to be towed away. This marked a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

The number of dump truck accidents involving injuries rose 2.7 percent to a total of 5,483. This includes accidents with dump trucks used for non-construction-related activities. As for tow-away accidents involving ready-mix delivery trucks, they increased 9.6 percent with 838 in all in 2016. Accidents that caused injuries went up 3.8 percent. Fatal accidents with ready-mix concrete trucks went from 33 in 2015 to 38 in 2016.

Texas roads are filled with all types of vehicles. Motorists are used to sharing space with delivery vans, motorcycles, tractors and even horses. However, one category of vehicle poses a significantly larger public safety hazard to passenger cars. The sheer size of large tractor-trailers makes them a danger to everything in their path.

A fully loaded tractor-trailer rig can legally weigh up to 80,000 pounds and outweigh a passenger car by nearly 39 tons. Bringing a big truck to a safe stop can require the length of two football fields under ideal conditions. When variables such as slick roads and worn tires are factored into the equation, stopping distance can be much longer. For these reasons, truckers are trained to keep a safety cushion in between their trucks and other vehicles. Unfortunately, motorists often merge into this safety cushion and put themselves at risk in the event of an emergency that requires a quick stop.

The results of the 2018 Brake Safety Week are out, so truckers and their employers in Texas will want to know how it went. Inspectors certified by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance pulled over a total of 35,080 commercial vehicles in the U.S. and Canada to check for compliance with brake safety rules, putting 4,955 or 14.1 percent out of service for violations.

The 2018 Brake Safety Week took place from Sept. 16 to 22 while the previous year saw only a one-day event. Despite the fewer number of trucks that were inspected, the percentage of those put out of service during Brake Safety Day was almost the same: 14 percent. Brakes violations made up 28.4 percent of the out-of-service violations during the CVSA's 2018 International Roadcheck, the most frequently cited violation.

Police in Texas say that a 21-year-old man was driving a truck loaded with 38 cattle while under the influence of drugs on Oct. 9. The man was taken into custody following a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 84 according to a Littlefield Police Department press release. After being booked, the man was turned over to the custody of the Lamb County Jail. Initial reports do not indicate if the man's bail has been set, but they do reveal that a sample of his blood was drawn for toxicology testing.

LPD officers say that they pulled over the cattle truck after receiving reports that it was being driven erratically. A caller is said to have told emergency operators that the vehicle was crossing the roadway from shoulder to shoulder. Officers claim that they took the man into custody after noticing clear signs of impairment, but the LPD press release does not reveal what those signs may have been. The truck and cattle were towed to a feed lot in Lubbock.