When it comes to public image, we all could do more
Ads like these from ambulance-chasing law firms appear in daytime and late-night TV ads in media markets across the country. Thankfully, the negative messages of these baseless ads targeting the trucking industry quickly are lost amidst similar ads for victims of worker’s compensation claims, mesothelioma and other plaintiff cases.
Unfortunately, every now and then news involving truck accidents grabs the attention of state and local newspaper and television media markets, and these outlets have a lot more power in forming public opinion of our industry. Such was the case last month when I received an e-mail from a distressed reader who was upset over the treatment by a local news media report of a regional carrier after a deadly accident involving a truck and a passenger car on Interstate 4 in Florida.
The news report – in an attempt to put the trucking company in the worst light imaginable – shows an image of the fiery wreck and flashes details of the carrier’s two-year performance for unsafe driving (41 violations) and fatigued driving (22 violations) on the screen in big red numbers in an effort to back up claims of an unsafe driving culture by three “whistleblowers” – disgruntled drivers appearing in the news piece with disguised faces and distorted voices.
