Exposé: Eyes on the Road

In 2004, an 18-wheeler crossed the median on a highway north of Dallas and collided with two vehicles, killing ten people, including three children - a tragedy that represented but a fraction of the roughly 5,000 Americans who die each year in accidents involving big trucks. However, it was this particular accident that set an investigative team from The Dallas Morning News on a 14 month-long exploration that revealed - among other things - unqualified drivers, dangerous working conditions, lack of safety inspections, and very little oversight of an industry that affects every city in the country.

In Part I of the program, Exposé introduced Texas trucking by interviewing Jan “Pistol” Stewart, a driver for 12 years and owner-operator of her truck. Mike Martin, who lost his family in a truck crash in 2004, contacted The Dallas Morning News who picked up the story and further investigated truck safety as a whole in Texas. They began by investigating the truck driver, and then the other factors that contribute to violations of truck safety laws.

The investigative reporters further explored the embedded issues in Part II. Gerald Donaldson from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety emphasized that since truck drivers are paid by the load, “…there is no way that he or she can deliver that load unless they falsify their logbooks, drive illegal hours and speed.” The reporters then looked into Texas truck safety laws and how federal and state deregulation of shipping rates has affected the trucking industry.

In conclusion, Part III looked at truck inspections and the issue of staffing inspection stations and adequately catching inspection violations or safety issues. In 2006, The Dallas Morning News published 20 stories of road safety in a series called Road Hazards. It caused the Texas legislature to increase the amount of inspectors at stations.

© 2007 Educational Broadcasting Corporation All Rights Reserved

© Copyright 2007 Davis & McCabe, P.A. · All rights reserved.
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