It’s only natural to enjoy the excitement of watching your children unwrap gifts during the holidays. Throughout the shopping season leading to up your gift-giving festivities, you probably stood in checkout lines with other Missouri parents for 10 minutes or more at a time, waiting to purchase your goods, and never expecting one of those items would injure your child.

It’s all worth it, right? The time, effort and anticipation all lead to a room full of giggles and smiles as your surprised children unwrap the toys and gift items you’ve chosen especially for them. All too often, those happy holiday moments turn tragic, when children try to play with long-awaited toys, unaware (as are their parents) the items are defective and/or highly dangerous. If your child had to be rushed to an emergency room after playing with a new toy this past Christmas, you understand the devastation, suffering and outright fear associated with such situations.

Trucks are the heartbeat of America’s highways. 18-wheelers cross the highways and boulevards of the nation, bringing goods to local consumers. Since they are an important part of commerce, there are thousands of big rigs on the roads every day.

Because of the omnipresence of truckers on the roads, trucker safety is extremely important. An unsafe trucker can put many lives at risk. The sheer size and weight of the vehicle makes it more likely to cause substantial damage to other vehicles on the road. When a trucker causes injury to an otherwise safe driver because of some negligence, injured parties may endeavor to hold him or her responsible for the harm they cause.

Truck accidents occur far too often

In any given year, hundreds of thousands of accidents involving large trucks occur on the nation’s roadways, including many here in Mississippi. Numerous truck drivers suffer injuries or die in these accidents right along with other motorists.

Like anyone else on the road, truck drivers may drive at least 10 miles over the speed limit on occasion. Considering that these large vehicles don’t exactly stop on a dime, this behavior puts lives at risk.

Truckers also drive for many hours a day, and they are likely to suffer from common risks such as drowsy driving and distracted driving. Visual, manual and cognitive distractions can contribute to the likelihood of an accident. Text messaging, typically illegal in all states, is especially dangerous because it combines all types of distraction.

Too many trucking companies fail to provide their drivers with written safety policies to help keep them from engaging in risky driving behaviors as they travel the country’s roadways.

Fostering safety  

Law enforcement, trucking agencies and truckers themselves can come together to ensure greater safety on the roads. Truckers have families at home waiting on them, and the other drivers on the road hope to come home to their families as well. Distracted driving and other unsafe driving behaviors do not only affect the person operating the vehicle. It can also mean life or death for other innocent people.

In a perfect world, everyone would embrace safe driving practices so that everyone makes it home each day, but sadly, such a world does not exist. If you suffered injuries, or lost a loved one, due to the neglectful actions of a truck driver, you have the right to seek legal recourse.

You are not alone if you feel nervous and intimidated sharing the road with big rigs. When a truck passes you on the left, you may wonder if the driver will see you before moving the truck back into your lane. When a big truck follows too closely behind you, you may worry about what might happen if you should have to stop suddenly.

If you or a loved one has recently experienced the trauma of an accident with a tractor-trailer, you may have special reasons to feel vulnerable on the highways. Still, about 25 percent of all motorists report discomfort when driving around large trucks. In response to this, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently issued a report about the benefits of new safety devices in trucks.

If you have experienced adverse side effects that posed a severe threat to your life or health after taking prescribed medication, you may have grounds to file a product liability lawsuit to recover financial and other losses. Any pharmaceutical drug sold nationwide, including in Mississippi, must not pose serious health threats to patients.

Monitoring pharmaceutical drug safety is the job of the Food and Drug Administration that is a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Any medication that contains a drug that may cause harm to a patient can be recalled. Such action will require patients to return or discard the dangerous drugs.

The role of the Food and Drug Administration

The involvement of the FDA starts even before pharmaceutical drugs land on the shelves of pharmacies. The agency must approve all drugs before manufacturers can offer them for sale. Monitoring by the FDA continues, and it maintains an online reporting platform for consumers to report interactions and side effects. Manufacturers receive this information, and the FDA makes sure drug labels show updated details of health risks and reported side effects. Along with studies by researchers who compare similar drugs, the FDA can address the majority of problems without affecting recalls.

Reasons for Recalls

When pharmaceutical drugs pose unanticipated health risks once after they are in distribution, the FDA will evaluate every case individually before recommending a recall. The more common reasons for recalls include the following:

• Previously unidentified health risks — Further studies or experiences by patients may reveal the potential for a particular drug to pose increased risks of strokes, kidney failures, heart attacks or more.
• Unanticipated drug interactions — Certain drugs may cause unexpected health problems when used in conjunction with other specific drugs or even vitamins or particular food types.
• Packaging or manufacturing problems — Even drugs that have been on the market for years may need to be recalled if a packaging malfunction occurred or in the event of contamination during the manufacturing process.

Manufacturers may issue voluntary product recalls for several reasons. These may include receiving a significant number of negative patient reports or complaints, clinical trials indicating severe health risks, or manufacturing problems. Recalls are mostly voluntary, even if at the suggestion of the FDA. However, occasionally, the federal agency must enforce a recall.

Where to find help and support if you were a victim

While this may all be very informative, it might be too late to prevent the consequences you suffered after taking an unsafe medication. Regardless of whether the pharmaceutical drug that caused your condition and subsequent financial losses had been recalled, you may have a viable claim. The most appropriate step might be to consult with an experienced product liability attorney who can provide the necessary guidance and support throughout the legal proceedings that may follow in pursuit of recovery of your damages.