Atlanta Truck Accident Lawyer Supports Ban on Texting for Truckers

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Jason Schultz

 

As an Atlanta truck accident lawyer, I am pleased to see federal agencies taking decisive steps to promote truck safety and prevent accidents. In the latest such measure, the US Department of Transportation has announced a ban on texting while driving for all commercial truck and bus drivers. The ban is effectively immediately.  Considering the DOT’s war on distracted driving, I wasn’t too surprised that the ban was enacted.

The ban comes soon after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it would be revising the hours of service rules for truckers. New rules can be expected in the next few months, and these will hopefully set consecutive working hours back to 10.

 

As long as the federal government is on a roll with these commendable steps, I believe it should go the distance and implement a number of other measures that this Atlanta truck accident lawyer has been hoping for years. These include

 

  • Mandating onboard recording devices on trucks that monitor the number of hours the trucker has driven, by tracking the number of times the vehicle is switched on and off
  • Mandating seatbelts on all buses
  • Mandating sleep apnea screenings for all commercial truck drivers. If the government wants to deal with trucker fatigue-related accidents, it would make sense to also deal with the other major factor in trucker fatigue.
  • Putting aside all plans to increase the weight limit of tractor trailers on our highways. The trucking industry has been lobbying hard for bigger and heavier trucks that would allow companies to transport more cargo in a single trip. We don’t need heavier trucks on our highways. What we do need are stronger laws that prevent accidents involving our current-sized trucks.
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Truck Drivers - Not the Dangerous Ones on the Road?

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Jason Schultz

I read with great interest an article written by Kyle Jernigan, an account executive for Hiring Truck Drivers entitled Truck Drivers: Not The Dangerous Ones On The Road.

While I agree with much of what Mr. Jernigan has written and believe, as he does, that most truck drivers and trucking companies are safe, unfortuanately there are still too many truck drivers, trucking companies and shippers that have too little regard for the federal motor carrier safety regulations, including hours of service violations, and treat them as a nuisance.

Many truck drivers blame shippers, not trucking companies, for the pressure some drivers are under to deliver no matter what unforeseen delays, including traffic jams or weather, slow them down.  Those delays cause drivers to push the rules.  On the other hand, you have "supertruckers" who will drive well in excess of the rules on a consistent basis and trucking companies, especially smaller ones, look the other way in order to make money.

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, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Daphne Izer, founder and co-chair of Parents Against Tired Truckers, said the federal rules still don't address the continued problem with driver fatigue.  "Drivers are paid by the mile. Not much is going to change until that changes," Izer said.  Delays can prompt truckers to falsify logbooks so they can make up time and mileage.  "Oftentimes, loads have to be delivered at any cost and that cost is human lives," she said. "Granted, the truck driver is responsible when he is behind the wheel. But if he doesn't do what he's told, in many cases he will lose his job."  Izer started the group in 1994, seven months after her son and three other teenagers were killed when a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into them. The teens had pulled over onto the shoulder of the Maine Turnpike. Another teen was seriously injured.  Izer also called for onboard electronic recorders to replace the logbooks many drivers are required to fill out themselves.

While truck drivers are certainly not “the dangerous villains of the highway,“ my professional experience has revealed that in almost all of the serious injury and wrongful death trucking cases that I have handled, driver fatigue has played a role.  Oftentimes, discovery reveals a tale far different from the one told on the truck driver's log book alone.

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