Truck Accidents Caused By Fracking Vehicles
April 17, 2015
Truck accidents caused by fracking vehicles
Truck accidents happen all over Pennsylvania, nearly every single day. However, when the truck is owned by or under the employ of a major fracking conglomerate there may be several parties at fault.
While the argument of whether or not the extraction of natural oil and gas from below our Earth’s surface is safe rages on in every fracking state throughout the country, one lesser known issue has had a great impact on families and is likely rarely considered by pro-fracking advocates.
In counties and rural areas where fracking is a booming industry, the residents around those areas are getting fed up with the great spike in injuries and deaths that stem from traffic accidents where fracking vehicles are involved. Citizens’ main complaint is that their tiny, rural roads are not equipped to share, let alone access, with passenger motor vehicles. Giant tractor trailers and heavy drilling equipment is intimidating and makes traversing local roads and highways difficult for everyone, including the truck drivers.
In some areas of the country, fatalities that happen as a result of motor vehicle accidents have gone up as much as four times the rest of the country’s average in the past ten years. This, in spite of a time in the United States when passenger cars and roadways have seen great technological leaps in safety and the population of licensed drivers has risen.
There is probably no more telling statistic than this: in counties in Western Pennsylvania where fracking takes place, there has been a 4% increase in traffic accident deaths. In counties where fracking does not take place, there has been a 19% decrease.
While fracking conglomerates such as Range Resources and others have acknowledged that this is an issue, and they say they are working in cooperation with traffic agencies to improve safety in fracking regions, no one has said that the problem will be fixed anytime soon; and halting work until the issue is resolved is not even an option to be considered by fracking companies.
If you have been injured in one of the many truck accidents that plague Western Pennsylvanians and are caused by truck drivers who work for or are contracted out by fracking companies, please call the truck accidents lawyers at Goodrich & Geist, P.C. for a free consultation at 412-837-8426 today.
