I deal with people whose lives have been damaged because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. When a tractor-trailer company, an insurance company, or a nursing home puts profits ahead of safety, people get hurt and lives are damaged — and that’s a problem for all of us.

I understand truck drivers. During college, I took time off to drive a tractor-trailer, and while I met plenty of great truckers, I also saw the dark side of the business. I saw truckers flouting safety rules. I saw people take handfuls of drugs and climb into the cabs of their trucks. I saw abuses of public safety that I never would’ve imagined were possible.

We have to get trucking companies to stop these drivers. They need to monitor driver behavior, introduce safety tests, insist on drug tests, and be strict about hours of service. There’s a very strict statistical correlation between the number of hours a trucker is behind the wheel and the number of accidents caused by that driver, and when truckers up their number of hours or take drugs to stay awake, accidents happen. People are injured for the rest of their lives, and people die.

I want to make the world safer for our children, and I want everyone on the road, from families on road trips to commuting parents to motorcyclists to carpoolers, to be safe. That’s what’s in my mind every time I take a case, every time I step in front of a jury, every time I fight to win for the greater good.