A vehicle accident involving a large truck can be devastating and scary. The Ohio truck accident attorneys with Kademenos, Wisehart, Hines, Dolyk & Wright Co. LPA have experience representing people injured throughout the state. If you have been involved in a vehicle accident, contact Victor Kademenos today at (419) 625-7770 to find out how he can help you.
Life-Saving Automatic Braking Systems
Despite advances in car safety features, truck accidents and deaths remain on the rise. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that total tonnage of freight shipments per truck will rise by as much as 63 percent over the next 25 years. Thus, reducing large truck accidents and mitigating their impact is a universal goal.
We live in an era of amazing technological innovation, but for every story about a computer-driven car, there’s another one reminding us how certain industries are often slow to change. A recent example is the truck industry’s lag-time in implementation of autonomous emergency braking (ABS). Studies show that ABS not only reduces traffic-related truck accidents, but saves lives as well.
What is an AEBS/ABS?
An ABS – which is also referred to as AEBS, FCAM, and a slew of other terms– is a system that monitors how close vehicles are to one another and helps detect speed and distance between a vehicle and other objects, including other vehicles and people. The system automatically applies brakes to avoid direct accidents – or, in the event that total avoidance is not possible, to mitigate the extent of damages.
Human error is an overwhelmingly common factor in all automobile accidents. A NHTSA study concluded that the last event in an accident’s causal chain can usually be attributed to a driver in 94 percent of all accidents.
Benefits for Trucks
An agreement between insurance companies, regulators, and manufacturers will put automatic systems on most smaller cars by 2022. Large trucks and commercial automobiles, which are responsible for 4,000 deaths a year, are still far behind.
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has estimated that if all tractor-trailers were equipped with ABS and other mitigation systems, the result could be a reduction in rear-end fatalities by 44 percent and injuries by 47 percent.
Based on data collected by the NHTSA, between 2003 and 2008, large trucks struck smaller vehicles in approximately 32,000 crashes a year, causing 300 deaths and over 15,000 injuries. Each year over 16,000 large trucks are involved in accidents where the front portion of the truck is the primary impact point. The majority of these were rear-end crashes. ABS systems were created specifically to prevent rear-end collisions. Therefore, it makes sense for them to be installed in trucks – but logic does not always get its way.
In 2015, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) announced that ABS would be mandatory for trucks. While the United States is behind the innovation curve, we’re catching up. In February 2015, Truck Safety Coalition, Center for Auto Safety, Road Safe America, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, petitioned the NHTSA requesting that the agency establish a new safety standard requiring manufacturers to install forward collision avoidance and mitigation systems (FCAM) on all vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance supported the petition (though a slightly modified version).
ABS Should Lower Insurance Costs
Insurance companies are delighted at the new technologies, as forward crash avoidance systems – especially ABS systems – show the biggest reductions in accidents, according to studies conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute. These anti-collision technologies are reducing accident claims, including property damage, and the positive news should help to generate a stronger push for the trucking industry.
The Ohio Truck Accident Attorneys Can Help
Here at Kademenos, Wisehart, Hines, Dolyk & Wright Co. LPA, we are hopeful that Congress will pass safety measures to protect truck drivers and passenger car drivers on our state and federal roadways. Ohio has too many truck accidents, and automatic braking systems have the potential to preserve families, save lives, and keep you happy and healthy.
If you have been injured in a truck accident, call our truck crash lawyers today. We serve the entire region and regularly provide experienced representation to individuals who have been dealt a setback due to another’s negligence or recklessness. Call the Ohio truck accident attorneys with Kademenos, Wisehart, Hines, Dolyk & Wright Co. LPA, at (419) 625-7770 and speak with a lawyer.