Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog

Our lawyers frequently encounter heavy truck collision cases involving death and serious injury where the truck driver is in violation of federal regulations concerning the hours that can be driven in a given period. As we have written before, driver fatigue is a serious and potentially deadly problem.
Federal regulations permit a truck driver to drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. They can drive a maximum of 60 hours in a seven-day period or 70 hours during an eight-day period. Before starting a shift that will run for seven or eight days straight, they must take off 34 or more consecutive hours.Last year authorities investigating a Florida crash that killed seven children discovered that, except for a brief nap, the truck driver involved had been awake but not necessarily driving for more than 34 hours before the accident. The tractor-trailer he was driving struck the rear of a car carrying the children. The car had been stopped behind a school bus dropping off students.

Estimates on the role driver fatigue plays in truck accidents differ. As many as 30 percent to 40 percent of heavy truck accidents may be related to truck driver fatigue, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Florida ranked 21st, tying with Delaware, for the number of truck crash deaths per 100,000 people in 2004, with 2.17 deaths, according to data from the 2004 Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the National Center for Statistics Analysis. Wyoming was first with 8.08 deaths per 100,000 people. Hawaii was last with 0.32.

Many in the trucking industry blame shippers, not trucking companies, for the pressure some drivers are under to deliver. We have seen many cases in which truck drivers falsify logbooks so they can make up time and mileage. In many of these instances, when confronted with the falsified data, the drivers have responded that if they did not drive in excess of the mandated hours they would lose their jobs.

As Georgia injury lawyers, it is not uncommon for us to review potential wrongful death claims involving truck driver fatigue. We often see this in the context of tractor-trailer accidents where the truck driver has fabricated his driver’s log and/or driven far in excess of his allowable hours. Many times there is demonstrated sleep loss involving the use of amphetamines, methamphetamines or other stimulants used by the driver to overcome the fatigue.

According to a newsletter we recently ran across published by a well respected truck safety organization, there is an interesting correlation between sleep loss, fatigue and the serious impairment caused by being legally drunk. Studies have shown that the impairment from sleep loss and long working hours are almost the same caused by alcohol consumption. The longer one is awake, the slower the reaction time. If one gets too little sleep (4 or less hours) this is equivalent to the effects of .05% blood alcohol for the long working hours. In one study, where people were kept awake for 24 straight hours, the slowed perception reaction time had approximately the same effect as .10% blood alcohol level which is above the level (.08%) now nationally recognized as being legally drunk. Thus, it can be clinically demonstrated that if one loses sleep for a long period of time one’s perception and reaction time is dangerously slowed.

In our personal injury practice we often see the evidence of serious impairment caused by fatigue and lack of sleep. The end result of such fatigue we see in our practice is a serious collision. Increasingly, we see this particularly in the context of truck drivers who are trying to increase their wages by driving longer and longer hours and greater and greater distances. Even though large trucks make up just 4% of all registered vehicles, and 7% of all vehicle miles traveled, the same trucks are involved in 11% of all crash fatalities. This year, as in years past, approximately 5,000 people will be killed in truck crashes and collisions throughout the country. We know from our experience that many of these crashes are preventable and would not occur if drivers kept shorter hours and were not seriously impaired by fatigue. While commercial airline pilots typically fly only about 30 hours a month, most truck drivers drive around 300 hours a month. For some reason, this has become acceptable in the workplace even though the number of people killed in truck crashes annually exceed the number of people that are killed in major airline crashes. Query why this is so?

With improvements in technology, before long, employers and trucking companies will be able to monitor precisely the hours being kept by their truck drivers. We can only hope that legislation will follow which mandates that employers not only monitor the number of hours driven but also the number of hours taken by the driver to rest. Too many hours driving means too much fatigue which also means possible impairment of perception and reaction times. Because we see the end result of this, which is serious injury, death and tragedy for our client’s families, and we can only hope that the speed of technology will continue to develop to the point where trucking companies will have no choice but to monitor and address the significance safety issues caused by driver fatigue.

As a Georgia personal injury lawyer, it never ceases to amaze me how the trucking industry lobbies to limit the rights of victims who either suffer wrongful death or serious injuries in truck accidents caused by negligent, careless, or drunk drivers.

In researching an issue last week, I ran across a website of the American Trucking Association who proudly listed, on a state-by-state basis, some of their legislative efforts to deny accident victims fair compensation. They published their "Tort Reform Scorecard 2006". Rather than concentrating their efforts on driver safety and other ways of preventing human tragedy caused by the negligent, if not criminal, operation of their trucks, they invest in trying to change the laws to limit what they have to pay to fairly compensate people with serious injuries. They seek to eliminate joint and several liability, limit or eliminate punitive damages and attorney fee awards. In some states, like Georgia and Alabama they have backed legislation limiting damages for non-economic damages.

Our firm recently settled a wrongful death case involving a truck driver using drugs who was found to have been hiding vials of urine under his belt in case he got caught and was subjected to drug testing!

In another recent case involving serious spinal injuries to our client, the truck driver switched driving positions with his friend who happened to be riding along for company. This friend who had no commercial drivers license had recently been scheduled for back surgery because he had a spinal cord injury as a result of being struck by lightening. The friend was taking prescription narcotic pain medication to ease his back pain and he had numbness in one of his legs. To top it all off they switched seats going south on I-75 at 70+ mph with a load of steel on the trailer!!

It is maddening to hear the trucking industry and other groups tout their alleged accomplishments which they refer to as tort reform. Trucking companies as well as all other businesses should be able to be held accountable for the actions of their employees who injure or kill innocent people and they should be required to make such victims completely whole for all of the damages those victims or their families sustain. "Reform" which limits an innocent victim's rights in favor of a corporations bottom line is wrong.

We recently read a blog posted by Ronald Miller in his excellent Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog about an interesting correlation which exists between truck driver compensation and safety outcomes. According to a study by Cornell University (about which the Miller wrote), the more a truck driver is paid the less likely he is to engage in risky behavior. This actually seems to be common sense. Those drivers who have to drive too many hours or drive while fatigued are obviously doing so in order to increase their wages. If they were paid a fair wage based on reasonable work hours and driving conditions there would be no reason for them to engage in such risky behavior. Regrettably, the anecdotal experience we have as lawyers here in Georgia tends to indicate that the study conducted by Cornell University is absolutely “spot on”.

A case we are currently handling is a good example of this interesting correlation. In this case, the truck driver was paid by the mile. The more miles he drove, the more money he made. Unfortunately, his mileage rate was lower than is customary and thus he had to work long hours and drive while fatigued to make a decent wage. Of course, this was a deadly mixture because this driver, in order to keep driving such long hours and distances began taking methamphetamine and amphetamine and finally cocaine. The term “speed ball” is almost an industry term by now base on this phenomenon and refers to drivers who are hyped up all the time on stimulants in order to allow them to drive longer and longer hours and greater and greater distances. Why? To increase their compensation.

The attorneys here at our office certainly can attest based on our experience in handling many such cases that truck drivers will speed and drive without proper rest in order to make more money. Thus, if trucking companies paid good wages on the front side and provided good working conditions, the risk to the public would go down. Thus, the implication of the study conducted by Cornell University is that the trucking industry needs to engage in some self-evaluation. If there is reform in wages, there will be an impact on safety. This is nothing more than common sense. Regrettably, in our judgment, because of the desire to maximize profits at the expense of the public, accidents will continue to occur until the reform is mandated either by a government body, the insurance industry, or the employer/trucking companies themselves.

In previous blogs our lawyers discussed the dangers of drivers operating large trucks while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. This is a continuing problem in the United States which often leads to serious injuries and fatalities.

Interstate motor carriers and certain intrastate motor carriers are subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations as prescribed by the United States Department of Transportation. These regulations control a wide range of activities involving large trucks and tractor-trailers. One section, part 382, addresses controlled substances and alcohol use. The regulations prohibit a driver from reporting to duty or remaining on duty while having a breath alcohol concentration of 0.04% or greater. It also makes it illegal for an employer having knowledge that a driver has an alcohol concentration above that level to permit a driver to drive. The regulations also prohibit a driver from reporting for duty or remaining on duty while using any controlled substance or testing positive for any controlled substance.

Specific testing is mandatory under the regulations. Prior to the first time a driver operates a vehicle, the driver must be tested for alcohol and controlled substances. In addition, post-accident testing is required as soon as practicable following an incident involving a commercial motor vehicle operating on a public road. Random testing is required in accordance with directives described in the regulations. Finally, it is required that an employer shall test for alcohol or controlled substance test when the employer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver has violated any prohibitions of the regulations concerning alcohol and/or controlled substances.

While the federal government has issued these alcohol and controlled substance regulations, our lawyers are unfortunately continuing to review cases in which drivers of heavy trucks and tractor-trailers are under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled substances at the time of the incident giving rise to the serious injuries or fatalities.