According to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), more than 750 people are killed each year and more than 20,000 are injured each year due to fatigue among truck drivers operating commercial vehicles. Tired drivers are deadly drivers. Unfortunately, operating an 18-wheeler is generally a low-paying job and can lead many truckers to drive long hours to earn more money. Commercial trucking employers are not helping the situation by imposing tight turnaround times on their truckers.
Sleep deprivation can cause a trucker to fall asleep or drift into other lanes. Ineffective sagging, rollovers, and jackknife are also typical results caused by inattentive and fatigued truckers. Multi-vehicle accidents are not uncommon when it involves a truck. Truck operators themselves are exposed to these obvious dangers, with nearly 600 commercial truck drivers killed each year in highway accidents.
All truckers are required to keep log books and they will usually be helpful in litigating a case and proving liability based on driver fatigue. Black boxes as well as electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) can also be useful tools to reconstruct the events that led to the collision with a truck.
Truck accidents involve overlapping laws and regulations. Typically, a truck accident lawsuit must be brought against a trucking company and the driver of the commercial truck. However, government agencies, truck mechanics and maintenance companies, truck manufacturers and their insurance companies are also potential defendants and their involvement in an accident should be investigated before filing a lawsuit. In tractor-trailer collisions, a history of vehicle inspections and weigh station stops is always important and traceable information. Recent changes to highways, such as regrading or new signage, may create liabilities for government agencies or subcontractors.
Obviously, passenger car operators need to stay away from trucks as much as possible on the highway. This means, for example, remembering that trucks have a shorter stopping distance than cars, so when changing lanes after passing a truck, car operators should keep in mind that an 18-wheeler will will zoom up behind them. Make sure you see at least both of the trucker’s headlights in your rearview mirror before re-entering the lane. That being said, most truck accidents occur, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, on rural highways and in the middle of the day and weekdays. Therefore, driving on the highway is not the most likely location for a collision between a car and a truck.