When I speak at legal seminars educating other lawyers how to litigate truck accident cases, I always take my role as an opportunity to be a safety advocate and to teach attorneys how they can help prevent serious truck crashes.
Making trucks safer was something that I was very involved in when I was President of the American Association for Justice Truck Accident Lawyer Group. My efforts speaking to motor carriers and working with politicians at the federal and state level were part of what led Michigan Lawyers Weekly to choose me for a Leader in the Law award. I’ve devoted nearly 20 years to truck safety, and it’s an issue I take very seriously.
So I’m saddened to report that fatalities involving large commercial trucks increased by 3.7% in 2012, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report: 2012 Motor Vehicle Crashes: Overview. These numbers are the latest statistics available for truck accident fatalities.
There were 3,921 truck accident fatalities in 2012 versus 3,781 people killed in collisions involving trucks in 2011.
That makes 2012 the third straight year that the number of people killed by trucks has increased since the number hit a low in 2009 according to the NHTSA data.
Multivehicle truck accident deaths rose from 232 in 2011 to 273 in 2012, an increase of almost 18%. And other commercial motor vehicle deaths increased from 2,713 in 2011 to 2,843 in 2012.
Below is a breakdown of people killed in large truck crashes in 2012.
I write and speak extensively on the safety crisis that is occurring now on our roads and highways involving large commercial trucks. Until the trucking industry is willing to put time and money into training and supervising their drivers and making safety as much as a priority as profits, the trend will continue.
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