Missouri Tuck Accident Injury Lawyer Discusses Truck Driver Distracted Driving Caused by Cellphone Use
Missouri has had its fair share of recent fatal truck accidents caused by a distracted truck driver. Truck drivers who take their eyes off the road, even for a minute, present a serious safety hazard and endanger the lives of Missouri motorists in passenger vehicles. Commercial motor vehicles can weigh in excess of 60,000 pounds and take 5 times the distance to come to a complete stop as passenger vehicles. The recent fatal truck crash in Herculaneum was caused by a distracted truck driver, and involved 8 vehicles and numerous injury victims.
A recent study concluded that tractor-trailer drivers were 5.9 times as likely to get in a serious truck accident if they were dialing a cellphone and 6.7 times more likely to cause a wreck if they were reaching for a phone. The real shock is that truck drivers are over 23 times more likely to cause a serious tractor-trailer crash if they are text messaging. This figure is staggering and the truth of the matter is that truck drivers text message fairly regularly. Truck drivers communicate with employers and friends and family by text message. They relay the position as well as communicate with other truck drivers regarding traffic conditions and upcoming delays.
As a Missouri truck accident injury lawyer, I represent the innocent injury victims and mourning family members of those victimized by distracted truck drivers. Something has to be done from a legislative level in order for these preventable truck accidents to be reduced. Hefty fines and even the threat of a suspended CDL may be the only way to deter tractor-trailer drivers from using their cellphones while behind the wheel. Contact a Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyer at Schultz & Myers if you have been injured in a truck accident. We will subpoena cellphone records and find out of cellphone used contributed to the cause of your crash. If it did, you may be entitled to compensation for punitive damages, which is a form of recovery implicated when a defendant acted in conscious disregard for the safety of the motoring public.