Month: November 2012

You and your family are in an automobile collision.  You suffer serious personal injury.  Your wife has broken bones, your child might have a spinal cord injury, you might not be able to get back to work.  You go to see your lawyer because you believe the other driver was at fault and caused the harm to your family.  You tell your lawyer that the other car was waiting to turn left into a parking lot, the car began to turn and you could do nothing to prevent the collision.  .  Your lawyer tells you have a good case and because he/she is a good lawyer that lawyer takes immediate steps to get statements from all the witnesses, gets a copy of the police report, puts the other driver’s insurance company on notice of your claim.  Your job, at that point is to let the lawyer worry about the case, and focus on recuperating from your injuries.  However one thing is bothering you.  Your lawyer said that the other driver failed to use “reasonable care” in the operation of their car and caused the collision.  Now what the heck does that mean?

Lawyers sometimes speak in a foreign language.  Reasonable care is generally a simple concept.  In terms of driving, it generally means to follow the rules of the road.  The rules of the road are those rules you learned in drivers education.  In the above circumstance it means that the other driver has the obligation to yield the right of way to approaching cars, letting them pass before turning.  Said another way, if the approaching car is so close as to present an immediate danger if the turning car turns, then the turning car must wait to turn. So why didn’t the lawyer just say that?  Well, lawyers are taught that the words “reasonable care “ are important words, and when we talk among ourselves, it is easy to throw that term around because we are used to it, and know what it means.  I think lawyers need to do a better job using ordinary language to describe what we mean instead of using terms that are difficult for the general public to understand.  The courts also believe this too and are trying to create jury instructions that use plain language, so jurors can do a better job at getting to the truth.

Ask your lawyer, whenever they use terms you do not understand, to tell you what they mean.  That will allow you to fully understand what is happening and it will cause your lawyer to slow down and think about what they are saying and how to say it more clearly.

There are a lot of differences between living in the country and living in the city.  For one, traffic is generally less congested in the country.  This fact alone does not relieve drivers in the country from using due care in the use of their car.  There are just different dangers in the country.  When a car is driving down the road and approaches an intersection, and the corn is high, and there is no stop sign, be careful, the sign might not yet have been placed by the county for either direction of traveler.  As no one approaching the can see anything of the intersecting road until  they are at the intersection, any driver should slow as they approach the intersection to make sure the other direction of travel is clear. Automobile collisions at blind intersections can be violent causing serious personal injury and even wrongful death.

At this time of year, the harvest is being completed.  This necessarily means that farmers, and their employees will be using the country roads to move their oversized equipment from field to field.  These slow moving vehicles generally take up more than just one lane of the road  and are moving slowly.  The farmer operating this equipment have the same obligation to follow the rules of the road as all other vehicular traffic.  The farm equipment must stop at stop signs, yield the right of way and keep a proper look out.  These vehicles are also required to display the slow moving symbols on their vehicles.  A failure to honor these rules of the road can, unfortunately result in serious injury and wrongful death.  In West Point, Indiana, yesterday, a combine being operated on a country road in order to move from one field to another apparently failed to stop at a stop sign and yield the right of way to a minivan transporting a family.  The collision caused the deaths of all three passenger of the van.  Our prayers go out to the family members of the lost family. This is an unfortunate example of how not following the rules of the road.  We implore all operators of equipment on the road to follow the rules of the road for your  own safety and for the safety of all other Hoosiers using those same roads.

We applaud and support the Motor Carrier Industry.  Without responsible owners and operators our economy could not function.  Billions and Billions of dollars worth of goods and supplies are transported back and forth across our great country every day.  The industry supplies us with the food we eat, the materials supporting our homes and the tools of business and commerce.  In order to achieve this wondrous feat, semi tractor-trailers, big rigs, large trucks and small trucks must share the road with passenger cars carrying families and individuals whose missions are essential to the well being and industry of society.   In order to accomplish both missions safely, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposes certain obligations on Motor Carriers.  Of the various rules applicable, we are here to talk about the inspection, repair and maintenance of the semi tractor-trailers on the road.  A poorly maintained big rig is a serious danger which likely will cause trucking collisions. Big truck accidents pose danger to the driver of the truck, but also pose significant risk to the small cars on the road resulting in serious injury including paralysis, brain injury, broken bones, and even wrongful death.  In order to help avoid semi tractor-trailer collisions, motor carriers are required to comply with the Inspection Repair and Maintenance regulations.

I set out the  applicable provision below for your ease of reference. As you can see, safety is the primary motivation behind the regulations.  Strict record keeping is also required to ensure compliance with these regulations.

Inspection, repair, and maintenance

§ 396.3Inspection, repair, and maintenance. (a) General. Every motor carrier and intermodal equipment provider must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain, or cause to be systematically inspected, repaired, and maintained, all motor vehicles and intermodal equipment subject to its control. (1) Parts and accessories shall be in safe and proper operating condition at all times. These include those specified in part 393 of this subchapter and any additional parts and accessories which may affect safety of operation, including but not limited to, frame and frame assemblies, suspension systems, axles and attaching parts, wheels and rims, and steering systems.(2) Pushout windows, emergency doors, and emergency door marking lights in buses shall be inspected at least every 90 days. (b) Required records. Motor carriers, except for a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), must maintain, or cause to be maintained, records for each motor vehicle they control for 30 consecutive days. Intermodal equipment providers must maintain or cause to be maintained, records for each unit of intermodal equipment they tender or intend to tender to a motor carrier. These records must include: (1) An identification of the vehicle including company number, if so marked, make, serial number, year, and tire size. In addition, if the motor vehicle is not owned by the motor carrier, the record shall identify the name of the person furnishing the vehicle;(2) A means to indicate the nature and due date of the various inspection and maintenance operations to be performed;(3) A record of inspection, repairs, and maintenance indicating their date and nature; and (4) A record of tests conducted on pushout windows, emergency doors, and emergency door marking lights on buses.

Code of Federal Regulations493

(c) Record retention. The records required by this section shall be retained where the vehicle is either housed or maintained for a period of 1 year and for 6 months after the motor vehicle leaves the motor carrier’s control.

We read, study and use these regulations in each and every case we handle for Hoosiers seriously injured in big truck accidents. Let us put our experience (58 years) to work for you.