Ten people, every day. That’s how many people die every day in truck crashes. Except in cases like last week’s truck accident involving Tracy Morgan, we rarely even hear about these crashes.
Maybe, if the truck burns in a spectacular fire, it may make the evening news with a 10-second video clip of the fire. Otherwise, news coverage is limited to cases where the truck accident results in a large traffic delay, and then it often seems as if it is presented more as an explanation of why traffic was backed up than any real concern over the accident itself.
To some degree, we have all habituated to the presence of car and truck accidents. While a plane crash grabs headlines and triggers safety investigations, in part because of their rarity, car and truck accidents are so mundane, so routine, that hardly anyone notices.
Except the families of the 10 people who die every day. The husband who forgets momentarily that he can’t call his wife to check on dinner, the wife who worries about how she will handle the mortgage payments, the son or daughter how can no longer run to their mom or dad for a hug.
They all notice. And they can never forget.
This is why strengthening the safety regulations involving trucking companies and their drivers is important. In addition to the 10 who die every day, there are 100,000 who suffer injuries, and some of those injuries will be life-long.
They will require everything from a cane to walk to a motorized wheelchair, because they are paralyzed from the shoulders down. They may suffer a traumatic brain injury that ends their ability to work, because they have short-term memory loss. Or they may be left with chronic pain in their back and neck that is untreatable, but never goes away.
They notice. Every. Single. Day.
Source: Lehighvalleylive.com, “EDITORIAL: Don’t delay tougher truck-safety rules,” June 12, 2014