Lawyer For NJ Truck Accidents Caused by Improper Maintenance
New Jersey Attorneys Fight to Hold Negligent Parties Liable for Accidents Caused by Improper Truck Maintenance in Multiple Cities Including Red Bank, Toms River, and Howell
Large commercial trucks are required to satisfy an extensive set of requirements relating to proper inspection and maintenance of the vehicle. These rules are designed to prevent the potentially catastrophic and life-threatening results of an accident caused by improper truck maintenance. Commercial trucks are consistently in use and are often driven for hundreds of miles each day—making proper maintenance key to protecting the safety of all drivers on New Jersey roadways.
Laws governing truck maintenance requirements apply to all parties involved, including the truck driver and the truck company. If a truck is improperly maintained and causes an accident, the Toms River improper truck maintenance lawyers at Drazin & Warshaw PC fight to hold the negligent parties responsible for their actions. If you or a loved one has sustained injuries in a truck accident, contact our attorneys for guidance in determining the cause of the accident. Improperly maintained trucks can have a devastating impact on the lives of those injured in a truck accident, and our personal injury attorneys take these cases very seriously. We fight to obtain compensation for the victims of truck accidents caused by improper truck maintenance.
Federal Truck Maintenance Standards Must Be Followed in New Jersey
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) provides a detailed list of inspection and maintenance standards that trucking companies are required to satisfy before operating a commercial truck on the New Jersey roadways.
Trucking companies are required to implement a “systematic” truck inspection, maintenance, and repair program in order to ensure that the vehicle is in safe operating condition at all times while on the roadways. While specific interval requirements are not specified, the law is clear that maintenance must be conducted at regular intervals based on the specific characteristics of the trucking fleet itself. This includes inspection of the trucks’:
- Tires
- Brakes
- Steering mechanisms
- Windows and rearview mirrors
- Suspension
- Lights, reflectors, and other visibility devices
- Trailer and coupling devices
- Cargo weight and security measures
The trucking company is required to maintain a maintenance log for any truck that it operates for 30 or more consecutive days. This log must clearly identify the vehicle, its owner, and past and future inspection and maintenance dates.
The driver is also required to maintain a log containing information regarding the truck that he or she is operating. This log must contain information about the truck’s brakes, lights, tires, reflectors, horns, and other safety features, and it must note any problems that the driver has identified.
The Attorneys at Drazin & Warshaw PC Are Serious About Obtaining Full and Fair Compensation for Clients Injured Because of Improper Truck Maintenance in Red Bank, NJ
Failure to pay attention to the specific set of truck maintenance requirements that are clearly laid out for trucking companies makes these entities particularly culpable for truck accidents caused by improper truck maintenance. Unfortunately, the trucking company is entitled to destroy its maintenance records if six months have passed since the company operated the vehicle in question. This makes it important to contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible after a truck accident in order to ensure that all evidence in your NJ truck accident case is preserved.
Contact the Middletown Personal Injury Attorneys at Drazin & Warshaw PC to Schedule a Free Consultation About Your NJ Truck Accident Case Today
At Drazin & Warshaw PC, our team of legal experts has over 70 years of experience fighting for clients who have been injured in truck accidents in Howell, Marlboro, Toms River, Brick, and other towns throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey. Call us at (732) 576-8860 (Red Bank) or (732) 264-6900 (Hazlet) or fill out this online form to schedule a free consultation to discuss how improper truck maintenance may have caused or exacerbated a truck accident in which you were injured. We have an office conveniently located at 25 Reckless Pl, Red Bank, NJ 07701, in addition to offices in Brick and Hazlet, New Jersey.
Frequently Asked Questions About Truck Accidents in New Jersey
Q. What safety regulations do truck companies have to obey in New Jersey?Both federal and state laws apply to provide safety standards that trucks and commercial vehicles must follow in order for their vehicles to be operated in a non-negligent manner. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) provides some of these rules, and the state of New Jersey itself has its own set of standards. These rules govern everything from the frequency of required truck inspections to insurance requirements to the number of hours that a driver is legally permitted to be on the road.
Q. Who is required to complete the inspection and maintenance of commercial trucks in New Jersey?The law is clear that the individual who completes work on the truck must be a trained commercial truck mechanic or technician. If a trucking company hired an unqualified individual to conduct inspections or do maintenance, the trucking company may be liable for any damage caused as a result.
