Tennessee Highway Patrol Cracking Down on Unsafe Commercial Vehicles
In a program similar to others that are used to target various types of unsafe drivers such as drunk drivers and drivers who are not wearing seatbelts, the Tennessee Highway Patrol plans to turn its attention to commercial vehicles that are driving in an unsafe manner. The program will reportedly crack down on commercial vehicles who speed, drive recklessly, follow too closely, and change lanes improperly. The program will be known as Operation Speeding Trucks and Negligent Drivers (STAND).
The same types of driving for which the Tennessee Highway Patrol will be on the lookout are the same types of driving that constitute negligent or reckless driving in Tennessee. Driving in such a manner in a commercial vehicle usually poses a greater danger than driving negligently or recklessly in a personal vehicle because commercial vehicles are generally larger, longer, taller, heavier, and harder to control than personal vehicles. It is for these reasons that many commercial vehicles have special licensure requirements.
Wrecks involving commercial vehicles are also more likely than those that do not involve commercial vehicles to result in serious injury or death to victims of the accident, both because the vehicles are so much larger than personal vehicles and because there are often a large number of people involved in such accidents. Auto accidents involving commercial vehicles are often the types of wrecks that involve many vehicles and put a halt to traffic on interstates and highways for hours while the wreckage is cleared away. This is due to the fact that the sheer size of many of these vehicles makes it likely that when one is involved in an accident it will collect other vehicles in the accident. Drivers of such vehicles have a duty to make sure they drive their vehicles carefully and reasonably in order to avoid accidents.
Wrecks involving commercial vehicles can have significant repercussions (aside from injury) for all parties involved. The driver of the commercial vehicle can lose his CDL or even possibly his job depending on the type of driving behavior that led to the accident. Victims of the accident will often be able to sue not only the driver of the vehicle but also the company that employs the driver in order to recover for their losses. This is significant, because it provides victims with another responsible party from which to recover, one that will often be the only responsible party with sufficient financial resources to fully compensate the victims for their losses.
Source: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100115/NEWS03/100115004/THP+plans+to+target+unsafe+commercial+vehicles
