Tire Tread Defects Lead to Catastrophic Accidents on Nation's Roads

Truck accidents account for over 20 billion dollars a year in damages, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Trucks, especially semi tractor-trailers are complex machines made up many systems that must all work correctly at the same time to avoid breakdowns, accidents and tire blowouts or tire tread separations.

Defective tires can cause catastrophic truck and car accidents as they happen suddenly, and drivers are often unable to maintain control of a vehicle whose tires have blown. When the tire blowout occurs to a rear tire, controlling the vehicle becomes very difficult, especially driving at speeds common to most highways. The loss of control often results in the rear of the vehicle swinging around to become perpendicular to the direction of travel. The resulting tire failure is exacerbated by the high center-of-gravity vehicle design found in vans, light trucks and SUV's.

Over the last several years, there have been multiple large-scale tire recalls. Despite the numerous recalls, defective tires continue to cause devastating accidents and fatal crashes. Many consumer safety groups are pushing for an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into the effectiveness of the consumer replacement programs put in place in 2000 and 2001 by several major tire manufacturers. Manufacturers including Goodyear, Dunlop, Bridgestone/Firestone, Cooper and Uniroyal have issued recalls to reimburse for or to replace specific models of tires that have a tendency to crack and split. The cracking and splitting cause the tire belts to separate from the casing.

Manufacturers are legally responsible for notifying consumers of tire defects in the hopes of preventing crashes, serious injuries and deaths. However, many of the large manufacturers continue to make, market and sell tires they know are defective.

Tread failures begin as small cracks on the side of the tire where the serial number is found; these tread failures are a result of design and manufacturing defects. Small cracks, which are virtually invisible to the naked eye soon give way to larger cracks that develop between the tire's belts and cause premature tire fatigue and tread failure.

The fatigue life of a tire should exceed its tread life in well-made tires. The tread life is the length of time it normally takes to wear down tire treads. However, design and manufacturing defects cause substantially shorter fatigue life and can lead to devastating accidents resulting in injuries and death.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck accident caused by a defective tire in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, please visit the website of the experienced Truck Accident Attorneys at Hardesty Tyde Green & Ashton, P.A.

Colorado Employment Law
Employment Law Maternity
Wage And Labor Law
Title Vii Civil Rights Act 1964
Auto Injury Lawyer
Co Employment Law
Car Accident Injury Lawyer
Hancock Lawyers
Alberta Family Law
Parkersburg Lawyer

Work Site Injuries Cost Billions Each Year

Most Americans between the ages of 22 and 65 spend almost 50% of their waking hours at work, and every year millions of Americans suffer injuries and thousands die as a result of workplace injuries and accidents. The total direct and indirect costs associated with these injuries were estimated to be $155.5 billion or nearly 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Direct costs included medical expenses for hospitals, doctors, medications as well as health administration costs. Indirect costs include loss of wages, cost of fringe benefits and employer retraining and workplace disruption costs.

Workers' Compensation covers roughly 27% of all these costs and taxpayers paid approximately 18% of these costs through contributions to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Workplace deaths and injuries may be decreasing according to recent statistics published by the United States Department of Labor and Industries; however, when workplace accidents do occur, the injuries are usually serious and sometimes fatal. Construction workers, especially, are in a high-risk industry, and more work for construction companies means more pressure on construction workers to produce.

Injury rates are high in the building trades, in natural resource extraction and in some manufacturing industries. According to Leonard Smith, a spokesman for the Teamsters union local headquartered in Seattle, Washington, some employers are just not making safety a priority. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is estimated that 1,200 American construction workers die in falls on the job each year. While the construction industry only employs about 7 percent of the nation's workforce, construction sites accounted for 21 percent of workplace deaths.

One of the possible solutions offered to help decrease the number of construction work site injuries is to increase the inspectors-per-worker ratio in the states that do not have enough inspectors for the size of the state. For example, Idaho has just nine accident investigators covering the entire state whereas Washington just hired 11 additional inspectors for the state assigned solely to examine and certify cranes.

If other states would follow Washington's lead and hire more inspectors, the number of work site injuries and deaths may decrease in time. In the meantime, industry workers must continue to be very careful at their work sites and be aware of the hazards that surround them.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a worksite accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Work Site Accident Injury Lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP.

Orangeburg Lawyers
Templeton Attorney
Credit Card Debt Laws
Grandparent Custody
Colorado Employment Law
Russellville Attorney
Novi Lawyers
Nyc Criminal Lawyers
Name Change Deed Poll
Renters Law