CBS Atlanta recently reported that Cobb and Douglas County leaders are considering improvements to State Route 6, a busy highway that is especially loaded with tractor-trailers. The route has been the subject of many driver complaints about large trucks speeding down the highway and endangering passenger vehicles, causing the potential for truck accidents.
While State Route 6 runs all the way from the Georgia-Alabama border at Cedartown all the way to College Park, it becomes especially congested with commercial vehicles in Cobb and Douglas Counties around Interstate 20. There, the highway connects to an intermodal facility for Norfolk Southern. At the facility, large cargo containers are unloaded from freight trains and loaded onto trailers. Tractor-trailers then distribute the cargo throughout Georgia and the Southeast, but all those trips start on Route 6.
Both drivers and county officials recognize the dangers of eighteen-wheelers on the congested route. One driver noted that the big rigs “come speeding through here all the time.” The director of Douglas County’s Department of Transportation said that “anytime you have large freight vehicles and automobiles, there’s a really significant element for danger to be present at any time.”
Large trucks hauling cargo are especially dangerous to Georgia drivers, both in metro Atlanta and along Georgia’s interstate highways. Savannah is one of the largest ports in the country, and cargo containers unloaded from ships often end up on Georgia roads. Also, South Georgia’s logging industry requires a fleet of log trucks to export forest products around the United States. A wreck involving any of these large vehicles can lead to catastrophic injuries to people riding in passenger vehicles.
A wreck involving a large truck is completely different from an everyday car wreck. There are a number of additional factors that could have caused the truck accident, including inadequate driver training, tired drivers driving longer than allowed under the hours of service rules, and improper truck maintenance. Truckers and trucking companies must ensure that the tractor, the trailer, and the cargo container are maintained properly.
Our injury lawyers is especially experienced in handling all of the issues that are unique to tractor-trailer wrecks. If you or a loved one has been severely injured by a commercial vehicle, please visit our website, where we have detailed a number of factors that must be investigated in any eighteen-wheeler wreck.
Source: “Drivers Call for Relief Along Busy Truck Route,” CBS News Atlanta, 9/23/11