New Program Announced to Curb Unsafe Driving Involving Trucks and Buses
The Gainesville Sun reports that two Florida agencies have joined together to promote driving safety through a statewide traffic education and enforcement campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of large commercial trucks and school buses. Col. John Czernis, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, and Col. David Dees of the Department of Transportation’s Office of Motor Carrier Compliance, head the joint traffic safety initiative. Their goal is to save lives by increasing awareness about unsafe driving acts and habits that often cause auto accidents involving commercial vehicles.
In a press release, Col. Czernis said that Florida state troopers and officers in the MCC will work together to watch for drivers operating their vehicles in unsafe, negligent and potentially hazardous ways and issue citations as necessary. They will pay special attention to unsafe driving habits that often contribute to collisions between passenger vehicles and large trucks and school buses. The campaign is part of the Florida Highway Patrol’s Be Smart, Drive Smart, Florida! Program, which is a series of measures to raise awareness about dangerous driving and reduce deaths and injuries from Florida auto accidents on the state’s streets and highways.
Col. Dees highlighted the dangers and disadvantages that passenger vehicles and pedestrians have in collisions with larger vehicles that outweigh them by many thousands of pounds. He said, “Because of vehicle size, weight and the cargo tractor trailers haul, the impact of a crash with a commercial truck can be catastrophic.”
It is very likely that both Dees and Czernis have responded to many auto accidents between large trucks, pedestrians and passenger vehicles where the pedestrian or occupants of the passenger vehicle died or sustained serious injury. The physics of a large truck weighting tens of thousands of pounds colliding with a person or a passenger vehicle weighing four thousand pounds or less dictate that the damage to a person or vehicle hit by the truck is disproportionate.
Florida trucking accident lawyer James O. Cunningham has been helping Florida truck accident victims recover the financial compensation they deserve since 1977. With his vast legal experience, accident victims and their families get much-needed help with catastrophic medical bills, lost wages and other accident-related damages. He offers free consultations and isn’t afraid to take on the big insurance companies. Call Orlando trucking accident attorney James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.
