Was Your Truck Accident Caused by a Fatigued Truck Driver?

 Posted on April 29, 2021 in Truck Accidents

Most adults will admit that they do not get enough sleep at night. However, when someone is operating an 18-wheeler, sleep deprivation can be extremely dangerous. Fatigued truck drivers are slower to react to sudden changes in traffic and may make potentially deadly mistakes behind the wheel. Some truck drivers are so tired that they actually fall asleep while driving. If you or a loved one was hurt in a truck crash, it is possible that truck driver fatigue was a contributing factor.

Why Sleep Deprivation is So Dangerous for Truckers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that being awake for more than 17 consecutive hours has the same effect on cognitive and physical processes as having a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05 percent. If someone is awake for more than 24 hours, his or her impairment is equivalent to having a BAC of 0.10 percent. Commercial truck drivers operate vehicles that often weigh up to 80,000 lbs or more. If a truck driver is too sleepy to drive the truck safely, catastrophic truck accidents may occur.

Hours of Service Regulations and Truck Driver Logbooks

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has instituted rules regarding how many hours truck drivers can drive consecutively. These regulations are supposed to prevent truck drivers from driving while they are too tired to drive responsibly. Unfortunately, truck drivers do not always adhere to these rules. Truck drivers are expected to meet tight deadlines and deal with unexpected traffic delays. As a result, they may continue driving past the FMCSA-imposed limit to meet these deadlines. In some cases, trucking companies encourage or even force truck drivers to violate the federal regulations limiting the number of hours they can drive without a rest break.

Truck drivers are expected to keep track of the hours they spend driving and the hours they rest in a logbook. Increasingly, electronic logbooks are replacing pen and paper logbooks. Although electronic logbooks are harder to falsify, the issue of truck drivers violating hours of service regulations continues to be a major problem.

Contact a Van Horn Truck Crash Lawyer

Truck drivers who do not get enough sleep can cause terrible accidents that result in serious and even deadly injuries. If you were hurt or a loved one was killed in a car accident involving a large commercial truck, contact Texas truck accident attorney James Kennedy for help. Mr. Kennedy and the rest of our team can help you identify the cause of your accident and take steps to pursue financial compensation. Call us at 915-544-5200 for a free case assessment.

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/motorvehicle/topics/driverfatigue/default.html

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-of-service

https://thehill.com/regulation/215403-osha-fines-company-1-million-for-violating-truckers-hours-of-service-rule