Georgia Personal Injury Law Blog : Atlanta Georgia Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Jason R. Schultz Law Firm : Wrongful Death, Malpractice, Car Accidents : Georgia

The year 2010 has seen a number of new measures aimed at trucking safety. First, there was the ban on texting while driving for all commercial truck drivers.  While no Atlanta truck accident lawyers doubt that a measure like this will keep motorists safer from distracted truckers, it's also true that the truck drivers will benefit from having their attention focused 100% on the highway ahead of them.

News on truckers seat belt usage is encouraging - the numbers of truckers buckling up is higher than in 2007. According to figures released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 74% of all truck drivers now wear seatbelts while driving. Those figures are up from 65% in 2007.

Some interesting facts came out in the FMCSA survey.

·         Truck drivers in states that have primary enforcement seat belt laws were more likely to buckle up, as compared to those in states that have secondary enforcement. In primary enforcement states, the compliance rate was 76%, while in other states it was just 67%.

·         Drivers working for national fleets had a better rate of compliance with seatbelt laws, as compared to drivers working as independent operators.

·         Western states have the highest seatbelt compliance rates with an average of 79% of truckers wearing seat belts.

·         The worst compliance rates were seen in the northeastern states, with just 64% of drivers buckling up.

·         Southern states had a respectable compliance rate of 75%, which is better than the national average, while the Midwest had a compliance rate of 68%.

Most truck safety efforts focus on the safety of those sharing the road with trucks, for good reason. In approximately 80% of truck accidents, it’s the occupants of the smaller vehicle that have the highest risk of injuries and death. However, every year, hundreds of truck drivers are seriously injured or killed in accidents as well. Wearing a seatbelt is certainly one way a truck driver can increase his or her chances of survival in a truck wreck.

Truck safety groups and accident lawyers around Georgia will welcome the launch of a new website that will allow trucking companies to screen drivers before they are hired.

Last fall, Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would launch a website that would provide access to driver safety records. The website was launched this week. Employers can now access up to five years of a potential employee’s accident history, and up to three years of his inspection history. The program uses data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System. Employers who use the system will access the same information that’s available to police officers and FMCSA staff. The data is not yet available on the website, but should be online in the next couple of months.

The website marks a step forward in trucking safety. One of a trucking company’s responsibilities in preventing truck accidents is the hiring of competent, trained and experienced drivers with a good driving record. This website will make it easy for trucking companies to screen employees before making the decision to hire.

An easily accessible system like this has been necessary for quite a while now. As an Newnan truck accident attorney, I have been calling for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to get more involved and proactive in bolstering driver screening programs. The information on the website will be available not just to trucking companies, but also to the truck drivers themselves, who will be free to use the report as part of their job application. This makes the entire process of hiring truckers much more transparent.