On behalf of Kammholz Law PLLC posted in Truck Accidents on Thursday, May 17, 2012.
When it comes to consumer, passenger vehicles, we all tend to expect a lot with regards to safety. We shop for the vehicle that suits us, and much of what we consider during that shopping experience is whether a vehicle’s safety features are enough to make us feel protected. Most of us drive every day. We drive our kids, friends and other loved ones around, making it natural that we would make safety a priority in our vehicles. But we share the roads with other vehicles, and it is crucial to traffic safety that we fight to ensure the safety of those other vehicles on the roads, including trucks and buses. If a truck accident were to occur, anyone on the road could get hurt in the wreck, right? Truck and bus safety is a matter that all standard drivers should worry about. The Associated Press reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing what seems like an obvious safety step regarding bus and truck safety. Most current passenger cars are built with a required safety feature referred to as electronic stability control. It is a sort of sensor system within vehicles that can help correct steering and slow a vehicle down that is seemingly out of control. According to the NHTSA, the addition of the safety system in passenger cars has improved traffic safety by reducing rollover accidents. But the risk of rollover truck and bus accidents is still high due to the lack of the electronic stability control system in those vehicles. This is worrisome. If a truck or bus rolls over, many lives are put in danger, including those of the commercial drivers, passenger vehicle drivers and their passengers and any potential bus passengers. Requiring electronic stability control systems in buses and trucks could reduce the number of injuries and deaths connected to bus and truck accidents every year. New York has seen its share of tragedy in the shape of bus accidents in particular in recent years. Perhaps if a proposal like this were to become law, such tragedy could become a thing of the past. Source: The Associated Press, “Gov’t proposal aimed at bus, truck rollovers,” Joan Lowy, May 16, 2012