Tennessee Crash Leads to Call for Better Safety Oversight

If there is a silver lining from a devastating tractor-trailer accident that took place earlier this year near Murfreesboro, it’s that the crash that left two people dead and another six injured is encouraging federal overseers to demand a review of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency, which is charged with making sure commercial vehicles are safe, has been singled out by the National Transportation Safety board as needing to be more vigilant. One of the accidents that inspired this finding was the June truck accident in Tennessee.

In that crash, a tractor-trailer collided with a total of eight separate vehicles in a crash. Two people inside one of the cars that was struck and flipped over as a result died in the accident. There were 13 other people in the other seven cars; six of those people were hurt in the crash.

A review of the driving records of the trucking company and the driver involved in the crash showed that he and four of his fellow drivers had exceeded the allowable time spent behind the wheel, in violation of the law. The NTSB found that the FMCSA had become aware of violations of this type, but focused its inspection on the company too narrowly and allowed it to continue operating.

The FMCSA has a big job, overseeing more than half a million truck and bus companies around the country. But it only takes one incident to have an irreversible effect on the lives of many people. Those who have been injured as a result of a commercial driver’s negligence can speak with an experienced truck accidents attorney.

Source: KnoxNews.com, “Gov’t oversight of bus, truck industries faulted,” Joan Lowy, Nov. 7, 2013