By This Blog was brought to you by the Laredo’s Truck Accident Attorneys The Carabin Shaw Law Firm, Principal Office in San Antonio
Many View Dirt Haulers are Dangerous Hazards on Texas Streets and Highways
Not to belabor the point, dump trucks and gravel haulers have been responsible for many significant commercial trucking accidents. There are several reasons for that. Besides general traffic laws, this industry has very little oversight because it is not considered interstate commerce. Rarely do loads of earth cross state lines. So that leaves it to individual states to monitor and administer any laws passed by states to govern earth haulers. In Texas, such laws are virtually non-existent. Dump trucks and gravel haulers are near the bottom of the “trucking food chain.” More info on this website
Being a driver of such a rig is not what many consider a “plumb” job. Because of this, the earth hauling industry is often the last stop for drivers who can’t find work in the over-the-road trucking industry (or have been run off because they have a penchant for wrecks) and the first stop for those with little experience. The trucks themselves are generally not in the best of shape either.
Earthmoving contractors are in a very low profit-to-return industry. Since these rigs can cost as much as $125 thousand dollars second-hand (and twice that amount if new), it takes many years of hauling dirt and gravel to-and-from job sites. Maintaining these rigs is expensive. So that is done as absolutely necessary rather than on any preventative scale. Finally, since in the construction business, time is money, the rigs are overworked, and the drivers are underpaid. They have to meet brutal and uncaring schedules, often with more than one driver keeping the rig going (and earning) 24 hours a day. So when you add all of this up, does it surprise you that the public views large dump trucks and gravel haulers as dangerous, road-hogging, and always in a hurry nuisance? We have one final fact to share if you need even more convincing. A higher-than-normal number of large earth-moving trucks are underinsured (if they have liability insurance) or self-insured. So winning compensation will probably be very difficult when one of them hits you and your innocent family. And all of this should reinforce the need for an experienced trucking wreck attorney to assist your quest for rightful compensation when someone causes a needless, negligent wreck.
