In today’s video, Personal Injury Attorney Ben Schwartz gives up a safety tip on falling debris and safe following distance while sharing the roadways with tractor-trailers. All videos are available for viewing on YouTube and Facebook.

Hi, I am attorney Ben Schwartz 

Today we are doing our third video in a series on tractor-trailer safety. This is a video series for people, not tractor-trailer drivers. But regular people who drive cars and trucks out on the roads may come into situations where they are driving near or driving around tractor-trailers. So our thoughts are that if we do a video series with some tips about how tractor-trailers work and how to be safe near tractor-trailers, maybe we can cut down on the number of personal injury and wrongful death cases that we see in the office. 

The tip for today is that when you see a tractor-trailer, as a driver of a car or driver of a truck you should expect debris. Now, what do I mean by that? Debris is stuff that falls off the tractor-trailer or stuff that is kicked up by the tractor-trailer that could hit your car, that could injure you, or could cause you to have a situation where your vehicle becomes unstable and gets into an accident. 

We see cases all the time where a tractor-trailer is driving and there is tread separation. Tread separation simply means that the tread becomes separated from the tire casing from the tire itself and the large pieces of the tire tread come loose, and they can fly up. They can hit other vehicles following closely behind the tractor-trailer. They can lay on the road and be kicked up by vehicles that pass by. This tire tread separation causes many accidents every year, as it is something to be aware of if you are driving behind a tractor-trailer. You need to be aware that the tire tread can separate, and it could come and hit you. So, maintain a very safe following distance. Never follow closely behind a tractor-trailer!

The other type of debris that can be kicked up is road debris. Rocks and stones can be kicked up by the tractor-trailer tires. Things can fall off the tractor-trailers if it is an open trailer and it has an unsecured load. For example, you know a lot of the cases that we see are in downstate Delaware or the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where the tractor-trailer is hauling a load of corn, or you know hauling a load of sand, or something like that and the top of the trailer does not cover the load, it is unsecured. That load can blow out and can land on vehicles or land on the roadway causing accidents. 

So, our tip today is to be aware of the road debris and you should maintain a very safe following distance. Stay away from big trucks. I am attorney Ben Schwartz. Hopefully, this is a tip that can help you or a family member. Maybe it will help save somebody out there from being in an accident with one of these vehicles. If you have a tip that you would like me to give folks in this video format on the internet or if you have a question about the law in general that you would like answered in this format, feel free to send me an email.