No Bumpers, No Airbags for Vehicles on Airport Runways
Unlike cars, trucks, vans and other vehicles we see on the highways, many of the vehicles on or around the runways of our major international airports do not have the safety features we take for granted. For example, the small, metal Cushman industrial carts that maintenance workers use around Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Reagan National Airport (DCA) do not come equipped with the same kind of bumpers you see on even the smallest mini Cooper, Volt or other 2-door car.
In addition, many vehicles that go zipping around the Air Operations Area (AOA) do not have airbags. So, if a steel-framed Cushman cart crashes into an all-metal luggage tug, the tug driver’s knees are not protected by the types of energy-absorbing bumpers you have on cars. Furthermore, some of these vehicles are quite narrow, and they tip over more easily than wide wheel base cars and trucks.
Attorney Doug Landau has represented luggage tug operators whose ankles have been crushed in tug crasheson the AOA. The Herndon law firm Abrams Landau has also helped airport maintenance personnel who have sustained permanent knee damage as a result of their legs going into the airport vehicle’s unprotected dashboard.
The Abrams Landau team has even represented airline personnel who have been impacted when inter-terminal buses have run over construction debris and other barriers. Because of the absence of safety equipment in these dangerous work areas, airport personnel are well advised to contact experienced legal counsel immediately after an accident involving permanent injury and extensive time loss from work. Failure to do so can result in the loss of valuable legal rights, as the insurance companies used by most airlines will seek to deny or delay the claim.
If you or someone you know has been injured at no fault of your own either as an employee or traveler at an airport, please contact us by phone (703-796-9555) or email at Abrams Landau, Ltd.