Treating truckers like pilots could reduce the risk of Georgia semi accidents
Road Safe America, a traffic safety organization founded by parents who lost a son in a trucking accident, is pushing for legal changes in the trucking industry to improve safety and reduce the risk large trucks pose to other motorists on the road.
Our Georgia trucking accident lawyers note with interest the organization's comparison of truck drivers to airline pilots -- both take the lives of hundreds of travelers into their hands each time they climb into the driver's seat.
-Age Limit: Pilots must retire at age 65. No such limit exists for truckers, drivers older than 80 remain on the road.
-Prescription drugs: Pilots are forbidden from consuming some prescription narcotics, while truck drivers are permitted to consume narcotics under a doctor's orders.
-Physicals: Pilots are required to under go a physical every six months. Truckers are required to get a physical every two years.
-Hours of work: Pilots are limited to 1,000 hours a year, or 30 hours a week. Truckers can work four-times longer, up to 4,000 hours a year.
-Electronic Tracking: Work hours for pilots are tracked electronically, while trucking regulations entrust truckers with keeping paper records.
-Deaths: Fewer than 100 people have died in airline crashes during the last three years, while more than 15,000 have been killed in trucking accidents and as many as 400,000 motorists have been injured.
Among the changes in the trucking industry that Road Safe America is pushing for:
-Require all trucks to have speed limiters, which would prevent them from traveling faster than 65 mph.
-Require on-board data recorders that will accurately report a driver's driving time, hours of service and location.
-Increase pay for truckers.
-Improve and standardize training requirements.
-Require use of available safety technologies, including collision warning systems, stability control and active braking.
-Limit the use of cruise control.
-Standardize requirements for intrastate (travel within a state) and interstate (travel across country) truckers.
-Increase insurance requirements.
-Require advanced medical screening of truck drivers.
-Limit the ability of truck drivers to consume prescription narcotics, even with a doctor's note.
If you are involving in a Georgia trucking accident, contact the Atlanta truck accident lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP for a free and confidential appointment to discuss your rights. Call (800) 228-9159 or at (404) 658-9070 or contact us through this website.
