How to Hold Truck Companies Accountable in Atlanta
Day after day, trucking companies (for-profit trucking companies, at that), send out their fleets of large vehicles to drive hundreds of miles up and down the streets that you, your family, and your friends drive every single day. These vehicles—known as tractor-trailers, semi-trucks, commercial vehicles, 18-wheelers, and more—have been lauded for their usefulness, delivering goods and products across the country quickly and, in most cases, efficiently.
But these vehicles are different. Just by looking at them, you can see how different they are. These 80,000, 80-foot tractor-trailers that are running the road are logistically incapable of performing like the rest of the vehicles on the road. Not only are they unable to stop quickly, but they’re also not logistically able to perform quick turns, make speedy reactions, and in most cases, they’re driven by professionals who have been on the road for hours—sometimes up to 10 hours at a time.
These for-profit trucking companies are privileged to use these roads—our roads—to make the profits they’re legally allowed to make. But here’s the thing—if trucking companies are going to put these massive vehicles on the road, they have a single obligation they must abide by, no questions asked—they must do everything in their power not to endanger private citizens.
And yet, every few days, we see reports of overturned semi-trucks streaming across our news channels, we see 18-wheelers on the sides of the road, and worst of all, some of us have been personally affected by the throes of a tragic or fatal tractor-trailer accident.
These vehicles can cause serious accidents. These vehicles can hurt people. These vehicles, run by for-profit trucking companies, can change lives in an instant.
At Butler Kahn, we believe it’s vital that trucking companies are held accountable and vigilant about how their 18-wheelers interact with the daily lives of private citizens.