How Can Trucking Companies Improve Safety and Avoid Being Sued?

Most people mistakenly believe that truck accident attorneys love truck accidents, because that’s we make a living. Frankly, we’d prefer that trucking companies take the needed steps to prevent more accidents and stop hurting people. We’re not worried about our living; we’ll just pivot to tax law (once we learn it). In that spirit, let’s discuss: How can trucking companies improve safety and avoid being sued?

Answer: Trucking companies can improve safety and avoid being sued by implementing a safety plan and following it. That safety plan should include common sense rules such as obeying all Department of Transportation safety regulations, verifying the credentials of every driver they hire, conducting rigorous performance evaluations, banning cell phones in the cab, forbidding U-turns, and rigorously enforcing their own rules.

In this article, we’ll look more closely at the critical elements of a comprehensive safety plan—and why implementing them helps both trucking companies and the public. Let’s start at the top, with the rules the government imposes on the industry.

Obeying Federal Regulations

Obeying federal Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) guidelines is an effective way for a trucking company to both keep people safe and protect itself legally. The regulations are meant to reduce the risk of accidents and cover things like hours of service, vehicle inspections, and drug and alcohol testing. By following those rules, a trucking company lowers the likelihood of collisions—and builds a paper trail of cooperation they can point to if something goes wrong.

I know it’s a novel concept, but if trucking companies knew and followed the rules that govern the trucking industry, then we’d have fewer accidents. That may sound obvious enough not to bother saying, but the fact is that I regularly litigate cases where trucking companies seem almost surprised by the rules they’re supposed to follow. The ones that meet those expectations are less likely to put careless drivers and malfunctioning trucks on the road, which makes driving safer for everyone. Toeing the line drawn by the government is only one step of many, though; safety-conscious companies will also be sure their employees are fit to do their job.

Driver Vetting and Monitoring

It’s not always obvious the ways some truckers behave, but trucking companies have to evaluate potential hires for red flags. Performing thorough background checks and reviewing driving and medical histories can catch warning signs (DUIs, traffic violations, major health problems) before they turn into disasters.

On top of that, companies are supposed to keep an eye the drivers they do hire. Nobody’s perfect, of course, but some flaws and bad habits are too dangerous for anyone driving a commercial truck to have. Ongoing monitoring (like drug testing, health checks, and performance reviews) reinforces safe habits and identifies problems early. That vigilance reduces the chances of unfit or reckless drivers causing accidents, which protects public safety and helps shield the company from liability.

Once a company is sure it has qualified drivers, the next layer of protection comes from establishing—and enforcing—how those drivers operate on the company’s behalf.

Enforcing Best Practices

While there are bare-minimum safety demands that trucking companies have to meet, many go one or more extra miles with rules of their own. These best practices show the company is committed to doing things right even if nobody’s making them.

For example, many trucking companies fully ban driver cell phone use in transit, as distracted driving is one of the leading modern causes of traffic accidents. Federal regulations already prohibit hand-held phone use, but some companies actively discourage even hands-free operation for anything but emergencies while the truck is moving. The idea is pretty sound: A distracted truck driver is generally a dangerous one, and the damage they can cause may be devastating.

Many companies also forbid their drivers from making risky maneuvers like U-turns, no matter the reason—often under threat of termination. Big commercial trucks just aren’t built to pull off a U-turn in most places; their size and wide turning radius means they block lanes when they try it. That can be a serious hazard to approaching traffic, especially in bad weather or low visibility conditions. Banning the move outright helps companies prevent a high-risk behavior often linked to severe accidents like underride crashes, and it helps them show a proactive effort to curb foreseeable dangers.

Like federal compliance and employee oversight, emphasis on best practices is a good strategy to help trucking companies protect their reputations and their finances. However, the vast majority of people have no dog in that fight—so why should they care whether a trucking company has a proper safety plan?

Why is Trucking Company Safety Important for Everyone Else?

Outlining the ways a trucking company can avoid getting raked over the coals is all well and good, but why would the general public care about this information? Because they’ll probably share the road with many commercial trucks over the course of their lives, and they’ll want those trucks and drivers in good enough shape to travel safely. Even a single error in an 18-wheeler can end in catastrophic damage, and anyone caught up in that stands far less chance of surviving than they might in a regular car accident.

Unfortunately, not all trucking companies take safety as seriously as they should. Whether they cut corners on urgent safety measures or just don’t consistently enforce their policies, they create the potential for devastating accidents caused by negligence. Those lapses don’t just put their own drivers at risk—they endanger everyone sharing the road. That’s why it’s in everyone’s best interests for a trucking company to have a comprehensive, and enforced, safety plan.

Grossman Law Helps Teach Non-Compliant Companies a Lesson

It may seem odd that we’re talking about ways to keep a trucking company out of trouble, but the better they behave the safer everyone is. When trucking companies prioritize that thinking with measures like the ones we discussed today, they reduce the risk of causing major accidents—like the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If they ignore their responsibilities, though, they put lives in danger and must be held accountable. Since it often takes litigation to get through to them, it’s best to have an experienced attorney by your side.

When trucking companies don’t prioritize safety, the truck accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices make sure the public doesn’t pay the price. If you were hurt or lost a loved one in a truck accident, our attorneys will fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact Grossman Law Offices today for a free and confidential consultation. We are available 24/7.