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Why must truckers perform pre-trip inspections?

On Behalf of | May 26, 2020 | Truck Accidents

Fleet managers have many responsibilities. One of those is to make sure and inspect their trucks before the tractor-trailer operator takes it out on the road. While many truckers may not see the point in checking out their truck before it’s driven out of the parking lot, federal regulators demand that truckers do this for a reason. Tractor-trailers are large and often heavy. They can do a lot of damage if they’re involved in a crash.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires all truckers or trucking companies to complete a Driver-Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) before initiating a haul.

Truckers must sign the document acknowledging that all of the truck’s parts and systems appear to be functioning properly before they take off. Tractor-trailer operators must abstain from driving their truck and from allowing anyone else to do so until after it’s been repaired if they have any concerns about its safety.

The FMCSA instituted the policy requiring truckers to complete DVIRs in December 2014. They did so after discovering that the leading cause of truck crashes was maintenance problems. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that trucking companies and their drivers often get sued because they failed to perform an inspection of the truck before taking off or haven’t completed as comprehensive of one as they should have.

Fleet companies that are proactive in performing inspections tend to be able to better pinpoint the reasoning a crash may have occurred should their trucker be involved in one. Trucking companies that are lax in completing these inspections expose themselves to increased legal liability if some type of crash occurs.

An attorney in Nitro can aid you in proving negligence in your West Virginia case if you believe that some type of oversight occurred. You may be able to recover compensation if you’re able to prove that the inspection that the trucking company performed wasn’t adequate.

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