The whole point of having large trucks on the roads of Houston and in the rest of the country is that they can carry a lot of heavy items relatively easily. While this is, of course, an advantage because it allows for the efficient transportation of all kinds of goods and equipment, it is also a risk. After all, if heavy items were suddenly to fall from the back or the sides of the truck, they may strike other vehicles or otherwise cause a serious trucking accident.
Drivers who are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as well as their employers, have an obligation to make sure that if they are transporting cargo the load is properly secured. This is particularly important when the cargo is heavy, awkward or hard to balance.
The FMCSA has a set of regulations specifying how a load on a truck must be secured. In addition to general rules, the regulations also set out some specific rules for cargo that may be especially delicate to balance, like logs, reems of paper and even large rocks.
The rules also require drivers to check their loads from time to time to be sure that the load has been secured according to the rules. The driver must also verify the cargo is properly distributed. A poorly distributed load will have a tendency to wobble or even spill from the truck.
Should a load spill from a truck suddenly, even the most careful drivers around the truck may not be able to avoid an accident. Should they wind up getting hurt as a result of an unsecured load, they may be able to hold the driver and trucking company, and perhaps other parties, accountable for negligence.