As this blog has discussed on numerous occasions, semi trucks can pose a serious risk to other motorists, particularly when they are driven or maintained negligently. Those who are injured in a truck accident may be able to recover compensation, but in order to do so, they must prove the trucker and/or the truck company was negligent, and that this negligence caused the accident and the victim’s injuries. One way to prove negligence is to show that federal trucking regulations have been violated.
One critical area of truck maintenance is a truck’s tires. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has established regulations regarding tires, and these regulations should be strictly adhered to. Under them, a truck is prohibited from having a tire that has belt material or body ply that can be seen in the tread or sidewall. A tire that has sidewall or tread separation is also prohibited. A trucker should also never drive with a tire that has an audible leak. The regulations also state that all tires should have a tread depth of at least 4/32 of an inch.
When truckers and their employers fail to adhere to these regulations, a truck’s stability may be in jeopardy. A sudden tire blowout can cause an accident resulting in serious injuries and even death.
If a truck accident victim decides to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation for his or her injuries, they may want to review the company’s maintenance records to see if there were any FMCSA violations. An experienced attorney can demand that the company turn over the records in the pretrial discovery process, and ask the court to compel their production if the company refuses.
Source: FMCSA, “Part 393,” accessed on July 29, 2016