Right now, in the Texas House and Senate, two bills have been proposed that could put your family at a higher risk for accidents on the road. These bills, Texas House Bill 19 and Senate Bill 207 protect trucking companies from liability for accidents involving their commercial vehicles and place more of the blame on the drivers.
Accident victims and their families would have limited access to information about company negligibility. In many cases, it’s not just poor decisions by a driver, but a history of bad conduct by the trucking company that causes an accident. For example, trucking companies may push drivers to go beyond the legal limit of driving hours – then falsify the documents. Or they don’t maintain the vehicles or even train their drivers on proper safety.
Earlier this year, on February 8th, a little girl and her mother both lost their lives in an accident with a tractor-trailer in Kermit, TX, west of Odessa. The 18-wheeler slammed into Margie Thompson’s vehicle killing her and nine-year-old Hazel.
A crash report revealed that the tractor-trailer was poorly maintained. It had bad brakes and flat tires. But this information could be withheld if these new bills pass.
Proponents of the bills claim that they are designed to protect trucking companies from “frivolous” lawsuits. However, what they really do is put the blame for the accidents on the drivers. Trucking companies could get away with allowing trucks on the road that have bad brakes or bad tires. And if they pressure drivers to keep driving to meet an unrealistic deadline, these companies may not even be held accountable.
Texas roads are already dangerous. In fact, truck wrecks caused 685 fatalities in 2019. And our state has ranked #1 in large truck crashes for four straight years in a row.
If the Texas House and Senate pass these bills that protect trucking companies from being held responsible, then it would be much harder for trucking accident victims and their families to pursue the full and fair compensation they deserve.
To learn more about the two bills, read them, or sign the petition to oppose them visit the website KeepTexasSafe.com
DeSouza Law Firm is a leading personal injury firm representing accident victims throughout Texas.
If you’ve been injured by a car, truck, 18-wheeler, company vehicle, or in the oilfield, call DeSouza Injury Lawyers today at 361-799-2222 or visit the firm online at https://jfdlawfirm.com/.