Georgia Truck Accident Attorney Blog

The Centers for Disease Control released last week a report on truck driver health risks related to Irregular schedules, long hours of work, poor diet and nutrition, and the stress of driving in heavy traffic and bad weather.

The CDC reported:

Life expectancy: 61 for truck drivers, 77 for national average.

Obesity: 50% of commercial truck drivers are overweight or obese compared to only 33% of general adult population. Obesity leads to hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and other health problems.

Smoking: 54% of truck driver smoke, compared to 21% of adult population.

Exercise: 8% of truckers exercise regularly, compared to 49% of all adults.

That's bad for the truck drivers and bad for others on the road whose safety is adversely affected by truck drivers with sleep apnea and other conditions that make them less safe.

Continue reading " Truck driver health issues shorten life expectancy 16 years " »

Monday was a rainy day here, and in the rain there were at least three tractor trailer wrecks on the Atlanta expressways. The worst was on I-285 Northbound just above I-20 West, as a tractor trailer overturned after colliding with at least one other vehicle.

One of the basic rules for operation of a large commercial truck is to exercise "extreme caution" when bad weather affects visibility or traction.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations §392.14 provides:

Extreme caution in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle shall be exercised when hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, ice, sleet, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke, adversely affect visibility or traction. Speed shall be reduced when such conditions exist. If conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the operation of the commercial motor vehicle shall be discontinued and shall not be resumed until the commercial motor vehicle can be safely operated. . . .

The Commercial Drivers License Manual says:

It will take longer to stop, and it will be harder to turn without skidding, when the road is slippery. Wet roads can double stopping distance. You must drive slower to be able to stop in the same distance as on a dry road. Reduce speed by about one-third (e.g., slow from 55 to about 35 mph) on a wet road.

Just an educated guess here, but I would bet that at least one of the truck drivers involved in those wrecks on Monday didn't exercise extreme caution and slow down by one-third.

Continue reading " Rainy day brings 3 tractor trailer wrecks on Atlanta expressways " »

In our trucking accident litigation practice in Georgia, I sometimes run across fly-by-night trucking companies with terrible safety ratings that go out of business but then reopen under another name and DOT number but with the same people and equipment. Sometimes I have a case against the old company with a terrible record. Other times I get the new company with a safety rating wiped clean.

Almost two years ago, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced a new rule to stop this "chameleon carrier" shell game. 49 CFR 385.306 provides that if a company provides false or misleading information in the application process, the new applicant registration is subject to revocation. The application requires disclosure of related companies and individuals, and these are supposed to be scrutinized for outstanding orders to cease operations. Any new entrant registration is supposed to be linked to the history of any related old motor carrier in the FMCSA database.

That's great if it works. However, an article on The Trucker reveals how the FMCSA is so swamped with applications that companies that should have such safety scrutiny can easily slip through the cracks, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Days before Hester Inc. — the motor carrier involved in an 11-fatality, much publicized accident in Kentucky March 26 — was scheduled to be shut down by FMCSA due to an unsatisfactory saffety rating, an existing carrier with brokerage authority, FTS Fleet Services, was granted operating authority to do business from Hester’s Fayette, Ala., facilities using much of the same equipment, the same drivers and some of the same operations personnel.

Scott Hester, president of Hester Inc., listed himself as president of FTS Fleet Services. However, despite the requirements of 49 CFR 385.306, the FMCSA never made the connection between Hester Inc. and FTS Fleet Services until questioned by a reporter. By June 10, five days after Hester Inc. had been ordered closed due to its unsatisfactory safety record, former Hester trucks and drivers were on the road as FTS Fleet Services.

The Trucker reports that where companies about to be shut down file for a new DOT number under a new name, they still can easily go undetected because of the heavy load of applications and because of a lack of information sharing between divisions at the agency.

The last time in our trucking accident practice we had a case against a "chameleon carrier," as soon as we asked for the background records and made a demand, the insurer tendered its million dollar policy limit. The Hester / FTS example is a reminder that whenever one has a case against a newly authorized trucking company, it is prudent to do discovery about the company owners and officers, and the safety ratings of any prior companies with which they were associated. If the defendant is a chameleon carrier, the unsatisfactory safety rating of the old company should be admissible in evidence in support of a claim for punitive damages or for attorney fees due to bad faith in the transaction.

Continue reading " Unsafe "chameleon" trucking companies still slip through the cracks at FMCSA " »

As a trucking accident trial attorney in Georgia, half of my work seems to be ferreting out the facts that the other side wants to conceal. For years much of the challenge has been in attempting to prove driver fatigue by piercing the fog of deception in paper driver logs that are referred to in the industry as "comic books." Often we are able to find enough time stamped receipts, loading dock tickets, etc., to prove the truth despite the obfuscation.

In recent years we have seen halting progress toward use of Electronic On-Board Recorders in the trucking industry. While still subject to manipulation, EOBR records are at least harder to fake.

Now, however, two Senators backed by giant trucking companies have proposed legislation that would allow use of EOBR information only if it's good for the trucking company defendant, and keep it hidden if it helps the folks who are injured or killed by the trucking company.

Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ar) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tn) recently introduced the Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act (S. 3884), which is an attempt by the trucking industry to hide evidence of fatigue in any truck driver involved in a wreck.

Of course, campaign contributions -- and now the unregulated flow of anonymous corporate cash -- count for more in Washington that the interests of members of the public who don't yet know that they will be maimed or killed on the roads.

The bill, if passed, would allow the information contained in Electric On Board Recorders (EOBRS) to be used only by the owner. If the information helped the trucking company, they could use it. If it showed that the truck driver was fatigued, the company would be allowed to conceal its existence. Thus, people injured due to the trucking company's practice of allowing fatigued drivers on the road would be denied access to the information needed to prove that aspect of the case.

Five giants of the trucking industry -- JB Hunt Transportation, Knight Transportation, Maverick Transportation, US Express, and Schneider National -- have formed a coalition they’re calling “The Alliance for Driver Safety & Security” to back the bill. They benefit financially from EOBR as a management tool, will benefit financially by revealig the data if it helps them in a case, and will benefit financially by burying the truth if it shows that their fatigued drivers injured or killed another person on the road.

Kudos to my friend, Morgan Adams in Chattanooga, for calling this to my attention.

Continue reading " Trucking industry backs legislation to hide any truth that hurts them in Electronic On Board Recorders " »