JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Curry Pajcic, a local injury lawyer, deals with truck accidents all the time. He worries that a proposed bill in the state house would make Florida’s roads even more dangerous.
He says House Bill 7055 would allow trucking companies to go without basic safety equipment on their vehicles and hide standard industry safety practices, limiting their liability in lawsuits.
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“Florida is number two in the nation for accidents caused by tractor-trailers. Number two, if House Bill 7055 passes it would be a race to the bottom and we would be number one in a matter of months, tractor-trailer kill,” Pajcic said.
We spoke with Miguel Murillo, a truck driver passing through St. Johns County.
He told says not having the proper equipment on your truck like lights, cameras, and mirrors isn’t the best idea.
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“That is important because the best way on the road is communication, and we make communication with our lights so we can make a signal,” Murillo said.
Murillo tells me when he drives his truck, safety is always top of mind.
“Best precaution you can have is always to look at the mirrors, that’s the best way. You don’t see the mirror is clear to you, don’t do any action,” Murillo said .
Pajcic is fighting this bill in Tallahassee. He says it would make it hard for people and their families to sue who are involved in a trucking accident in the future.
“It would hide the truth from the jury of what safety equipment, the exercise of reasonable care requires, what the industry standard is,” Pajcic said.
We reached out to this bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Randy Maggard, a Republican from Southwest Florida, but did not hear back from him.
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