Defective safety equipment on a commercial vehicle can easily lead to a serious accident down the road. Where trucks are concerned, any traffic accident can result in a serious injuries and even fatalities. Here in Maryland, heavy vehicle wrecks can and do occur with alarming frequency. As a Baltimore trucking accident lawyer and personal injury attorney, I know that poorly designed or incorrectly maintained vehicle systems — such as brakes, steering and occupant protection components — can be the cause of commercial motor vehicle accidents that result in head, neck and internal injuries as well as death.
Truck producers and commercial vehicle owners and driver must be aware of their responsibility to make certain that these massive vehicles are as safe as possible to protect the road-going public. If any system breaks on a truck the results can be fatal, not only for the people in nearby passenger cars, but also to the occupants of the commercial truck or bus.
Not long ago, police determined that the brakes on a Maryland tour bus were not working correctly and apparently caused two of the vehicle’s tires to blow out while traveling along the interstate at highway speeds. According to news reports, the failure of the motor coach’s braking system resulted an overheating condition, which caused a couple tires on that vehicle to blow out.
More than 40 tourists from Maryland were on that bus when it lost those two ties on Interstate 89 late on a Tuesday morning. The incident occurred on the southbound lanes and fortunately for the senior citizens traveling aboard, the driver was able to maintain control of the bus and bring it to a stop in the breakdown lane.
An inspection by the department of motor vehicles turned up a faulty valve that had allowed compressed air to flow to the vehicle’s six air brakes even though the driver was not using the brakes at the time. This condition caused the brakes to be applied and as a result heat up. Not only did the heat ultimately cause two of the tires to blow out, it damaged the brake linings, rotors ABS sensors.
As a result of the narrowly averted traffic accident, the company that owns the bus received a $156 traffic ticket for having defective brakes. The vehicle was towed and taken out of service. The owner said he expected to have the vehicle back on the road following a tire change.
Police: Faulty brakes caused bus tires to blow out on I-89, BurlingtonFreePress.com, September 14, 2010