Trucking accidents are too often deadly for victims in smaller cars, and inordinately so for pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists. An examination of fatality rates in these types of accidents leads a person to wonder if large commercial trucks are really even a good idea. In order to be profitable, trucks carry mammoth loads, up to 80,000 pounds at a time. But the risk these vehicles pose to the general public may not be worth their level of production and efficiency. Missouri is no different from other U.S. states when it comes to trucking crashes, and Missouri truck accident lawyers are kept busy representing victims and their families.
American life in 2012 revolves around easy access to anything and everything. An increasing margin of people shop on the internet, and their goods are delivered by truck to their doorstep. Food is produced in key places throughout the country and then shipped to every town, convenience store and supermarket. In short, we have developed a system that relies heavily on the shipment of goods. We have learned to expect consumer items to be readily available; this luxury requires a constant stream of trucks on our roads.
People involved in the trucking business find themselves in the midst of a very lucrative field, despite the recent economic downturn. Certain non essentials are in lower demands, but the demand for essential items has remained steady. With all this shipping comes the necessity for large truck fleets, and with large truck fleets come the inevitable trucking accidents. Missouri semi truck accident lawsuits surface each year, and more often than not, they settle in favor of the people driving in the smaller cars and non commercial vehicles. This points to the fact that most truck crashes are caused, at least in part, by the commercial driver or the trucking company. Trucking companies go to great lengths to avoid admitting any fault, but they do usually end up paying a sum of money to people who were injured in the accident.
More than almost any other industry, trucking is a business that relies very heavily on a government built infrastructure: roads. They should be held to very high safety standards, and companies that cause accidents or otherwise violate safety standards should be forced to pay for damages, so much so that they will have a greater incentive to be safe in the future. Attorneys working on Missouri truck accident lawsuits often say that a primary reason to take legal action against a trucking company, besides that they deserve compensation for their losses, is that lawsuits put pressure on trucking companies to be more safe in the future. If they do not have severe repercussions after their truck kills other drivers, they will continue to pressure their drivers to work long hours or take other safety short cuts. The nature of competitive business is such that a company will do almost anything in its power to make more money, if executives think they can get away with it. If the company has to pay out millions each year for accidents, safety regulations will have more weight.