Fried Goldberg LLC Supports Alex Bebiak And Road Ready Foundation In Washington, D.C.
Three years ago, Alex Bebiak lost his son in a truck crash.
This March, Fried Goldberg LLC attorneys Joe Fried and Briant Mildenhall were honored to help Alex travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with senators, congressional offices, and other policymakers to advocate for safer trucking laws and stronger tire safety standards. On behalf of Road Ready Foundation and Safe Tread Alliance, Alex brought a father’s voice to Capitol Hill after losing his son in a fatal truck crash.
That support mattered because Alex did not come to Washington as a lawyer or a lobbyist. He came as a father carrying a story no parent should ever have to tell. In meeting after meeting, that was the voice people responded to most. Policy matters. Data matters. But when a father explains what a truck crash took from his family and how the law still failed them afterward, the conversation changes.
How Jackson’s Story is Driving Federal Trucking Policy Changes
When Alex walked into those meetings on Capitol Hill, he was carrying more than a policy message. He was carrying Jackson’s story.
In February 2023, Jackson was headed to the beach with friends for a weekend trip. It was raining on Interstate 10 when the car he was riding in hydroplaned, spun across the wet roadway, and came to rest sideways in traffic. A tractor-trailer then slammed into the vehicle, driving it into the guardrail.
At first, the crash may have looked like a tragic weather-related wreck. But the facts showed something more. Evidence later revealed that the truck driver had been traveling more than 70 miles per hour in the rain and had been following the car too closely for miles before impact, despite federal rules requiring commercial drivers to slow down and exercise extreme caution in hazardous conditions.
After the case, Alex founded the Road Ready Foundation in Jackson’s name, focused on tire safety and preventing crashes like the one that took his son.
The Hidden Crisis of Outdated Federal Insurance Minimums
One of the key issues raised in Washington was the federal minimum insurance requirement for trucking companies. That number is still $750,000. It has not changed since 1980. In today’s world, that figure is badly outdated, especially in cases involving fatal crashes or life-altering injuries.
Adjusted for inflation, that minimum would be worth more than $5 million today. Instead, families facing overwhelming losses are still pushed into a system built around a number that no longer reflects the cost of catastrophic harm, long-term medical care, lost income, or the permanent damage a truck crash can do to a family.
In Alex’s case, that minimum barely covered medical bills and funeral expenses after his son’s death. There was little left to reflect the scale of the loss itself. That is exactly why these conversations matter. When lawmakers hear a number, they may listen. When they hear what that number meant for a father who buried his son, they begin to understand what is broken.
Road Ready Foundation And Safe Tread Alliance Are Pushing Tire Safety Forward
Over two days in Washington, Alex met with Senate offices, House staff, and Department of Transportation officials alongside the American Association for Justice and the Institute for Safer Trucking. Our attorneys, Joe Fried and Briant Mildenhall, supported those meetings and helped make sure the right conversations happened with the people who can influence federal trucking policy.
The focus was specific. The outdated $750,000 insurance minimum. Tire safety, including tread depth and maintenance standards. Through the Road Ready Foundation and its work with the Safe Tread Alliance, Alex is pushing for changes directly tied to issues that show up in serious truck crash cases.
The Safe Tread Alliance brings those tire-related risks into policy discussions that often overlook them, connecting advocates and families with lawmakers considering safety updates. That made it a natural part of these meetings.
The message was straightforward. These are recurring safety failures, and they were brought directly to the offices in a position to act on them.
Why One Family’s Story Matters To Truck Safety Nationwide
The issues raised in Washington show up consistently in national crash data. In 2022, 5,837 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most were occupants of passenger vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continues to identify speed, following distance, and equipment condition as leading contributors in serious truck crashes.
The same factors appear again and again:
- Speed Too Fast For Conditions. Federal rules require drivers to slow down in rain, snow, and low visibility. Many fatal crashes still involve trucks moving at highway speeds in unsafe conditions.
- Following Too Closely. A loaded tractor-trailer can take 400 to 500 feet to stop. Short following distances eliminate any margin for error.
- Tire Condition And Tread Depth. Worn or poorly maintained tires reduce traction, increase stopping distance, and raise the risk of hydroplaning.
- Delayed Braking Or Reaction Time. At highway speed, even a one-second delay can add over 100 feet before braking begins.
- Weight And Load Dynamics. Heavier loads increase stopping distance and can make loss of control more severe once it starts.
These are not edge cases. They are repeat causes of serious crashes.
Changes in law and enforcement target those same failures. Stronger tire standards and awareness. Clearer expectations for safe speeds and following distance. Updated insurance requirements that reflect the real cost of catastrophic crashes. Those changes do not undo what happened, but they address the conditions that make these crashes more likely in the first place.
A Force For Good That Can Help Change The Law
When a truck crash leaves someone seriously hurt or takes a life, the people left dealing with it know better than anyone how badly the system can fail.
Fried Goldberg LLC was honored to support Alex Bebiak in bringing that reality to Capitol Hill. Joe Fried also co-founded the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, an organization with a strong focus on truck safety and advocacy. With more than 100 years of combined experience, our work reaches beyond the courtroom to the victims we represent, the families mourning loved ones killed in truck crashes, the lawyers we teach, the law enforcement we train, and the trucking industry we push to make safer.
Anyone seriously injured in a truck crash, anyone grieving the loss of a loved one, and any plaintiff’s lawyer handling a complex trucking case can contact us to talk through the case. Consultations are free.
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