logging truck

Published on: February 20, 2023

Will The Alabama Legislature Worsen The Problem Of Overweight Trucks?

You are driving down a rural road in Alabama. You look in your rearview mirror. A huge logging truck is bearing down on you! That big truck is moving fast!! Real fast!! If you’ve driven any of the rural roads or highways in Alabama, you’ve probably experienced the rush of a huge, overweight logging truck.

Most logging truck drivers are only paid a small amount per mile. Logging companies incentivize them to drive as many miles as possible, as fast as possible. Then, these companies often overload their trucks with logs. Too fast. Too heavy. Big overloaded trucks barreling down narrow rural highways. These trucks can be very dangerous to others on our roads.

Several years ago, I was inspecting the scene of a logging truck accident along a rural road. What happened in that crash? A logging truck slammed into the rear of my client’s pick-up truck. The violent collision propelled my client’s pick-up into a nearby field. Logs also went flying all over the roadway. My client and his passenger both suffered serious back injuries requiring spinal surgery. Yet, nothing changed for the logging company after the crash. Months later when I inspected the scene, my investigator and I watched several of the company’s trucks pass the scene well over the speed limit and fully loaded with logs.

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Published on: December 14, 2020

Overweight Trucks — A Danger On Alabama Roads And Highways

By Jeff Blackwell

I’ve written a couple times about the danger of overweight commercial trucks. In recent years, the number of fatal highway accidents has declined. Cars are safer. The one area where the number of fatal accidents has increased — crashes involving large commercial trucks. In numerous posts, I’ve discussed the issues contributing to this increase. They include distracted driving, truck driver health and truck equipment. So, I thought it a good time to revisit the issue of overweight trucks.

Alabama is criss-crossed by Interstate highways. We’re all familiar with the big trucks on Interstate 65, Interstate 20 / 59 and Interstate 10. But, this is not just an issue for our Interstates and major highways. In some rural areas of our State, logging trucks are a frequent sight. These trucks are often overweight. If you drive the rural roads of Alabama, you’ve likely seen plenty of overloaded log trucks. They are a huge danger to other drivers.

I’ve prepared a slideshow which discusses the primary dangers of overweight trucks on our roads and highways. How does the extra weight put us at risk? What are the dangers? Here are four dangers of overweight trucks:

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Published on: July 14, 2014

The Danger Of Overweight Trucks On Alabama Roads

By Jeff Blackwell

I stood on the side of the road – looking at the scene of a recent log truck collision. While standing with a witness. Two log trucks sped by us.

Stand and watch for just a few minutes. You will understand how a speeding and fully loaded truck rammed into my clients from behind as they slowed to make a turn. It’s not difficult to imagine the events that led to two people suffering severe personal injuries in that collision. Yet, this event did not simply happen. It was the result of the repeated choice to drive a dangerously overloaded truck on an Alabama highway.

In my client’s case, I served discovery requests (seeking documents) both to the truck driver and the trucking company. What I discovered was a driver who had been cited numerous times for dangerously overweight trucks. Did the trucking company do anything about it? No. Instead, the company knew this unsafe driving history and still continued to employee the driver. More logs mean more money for the trucking company. And, because the driver was paid only by the mile, his incentive was to make deliveries fast.

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