WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A measure that is now making its way through the Florida House would modify the criteria for safety standards and block several routes for bringing legal action against trucking businesses in Florida.
The House Bill Number 7055 Because of a law called “Duty of Care Regarding Commercial Motor Vehicles,” commercial vehicles that weigh more than 6,000 pounds and have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 6,000,000 pounds are exempt from legal liability if they are up to code according to the year they were constructed.
Trucking firms, according to Representative Randy Maggard, the bill’s author and a Republican who represents District 54, are “paying the price for things they can’t control.”
“What this bill basically says is that you can’t sue the truck because you didn’t have something, and that the truck should have been retrofitted,” the senator said. “Well, in the field of commercial trucking, it doesn’t-it doesn’t always work that way,” said Rep. Maggard. “It doesn’t always work that way.”
Curry Pajcic, who practices law and serves as president of the Florida Justice Association, believes that this measure poses a threat to Floridians.
“It is absolutely terrible for Floridians, and it makes driving on our highways even riskier.” It would move us down to the third spot from the second. Already, our nation ranks second in terms of the number of people killed by commercial motor vehicles. And it would put us atop the rankings,” Pajcic said.
According to Representative Maggard, “cars kill people just as much as commercial vehicles,”
The statistics provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicate that Florida has one of the highest rates of collisions involving trucks in the United States.
Heavy-weight trucks were involved in 33,166 incidents in the state of Florida in 2019.
According to Pajcic, the size of these vehicles makes it more difficult to prevent collisions, particularly on highways, which makes them unsafe.
“If this law is passed, they will be free to begin removing the contemporary safety equipment that meets a fair standard of care, and Florida roadways would be subjected to the dangers posed by the most hazardous vehicles in the whole nation.
Trucks that are only authorized in Florida but are not permitted on other highways in the rest of the nation, as stated by Pajcic.
