Georgia Truck Accident Attorney Blog

For nearly as long as I've been an attorney representing people hurt in tractor trailer accidents in Georgia, we have seen a running battle over the hours of service rules that are supposed to protect people from the dangers of truck driver fatigue.

Without reviewing the whole history (see this, this, this, this, this, this , this and this), let's just say it hasn't stopped.

Trucking industry organizations now say that the current rule -- 11 hours driving / 14 hours on duty per day -- has improved safety. For 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recorded 3,380 fatalities in 2,987 truck-involved crashes, down from 4,245 fatalities and 3,754 truck-involved crashes reported in 2008. At the same time, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has reported that trucks traveled more than 288 billion miles in 2009, down from 310.7 billion in 2008. Industry advocates say that means the rate of truck-involved fatalities on U.S. highways fell to 1.17 per 100 million miles-- down from a rate of 1.37 in 2008 for a 14% drop.

We all know that figures don't lie, but they can be subject to manipulation. Before concluding that the current hours of service rule has actually caused an improvement in safety, it would be good to see a study that adequately takes into account multiple factors in addition to the rules change -- changes in overall motor vehicle traffic in the economic slump, trucking miles, weather and road condition variables, etc.

Of course, in handling individual truck crash cases, and the resulting mayhem, we work with the rules as they are and don't worry too much about what they ought to be.

Continue reading " Hours of service battles go on ... and on and on " »

For many years, interstate truck drivers have referred to the driver logs required by federal law as "comic books." Falsification of logs has been so common that many drivers kept two sets of logs, one for their own use and another to show to inspectors. As a trucking accident trial attorney, I have spent many hours ferreting out the misrepresentations, using loading dock tickets, fuel receipts, etc., to recreate an honest timeline. Once, when I established in deposition that a log was a complete bundle of lies, and that the trucker had been driving 20 of the previous 24 hours before he ran over a family and killed their son, the truck driver broke down and cried.

Though the technology has long been available, the trucking industry has been slow to accept a requirement of electronic on board recorders, replacing easily falsified paper logs with electronic ones. The current FMCSA rule, which will go into effect June 4, 2012, says that carriers that violate hours of service rules 10 percent of the time, based on single compliance review, must use electronic onboard recorders to track driver hours. It will affect only 5,700 of 500,000 interstate carriers.

Now, however, there is growing acceptance among trucking industry groups of the idea of electronic driver logs. The Truckload Carriers Association, American Trucking Associations, National Private Truck Council, and . National Tank Truck Carriers, and all recently announced support for federal laws and regulations that would require trucking companies to use electronic logging devices to monitor driver hours-of-service. The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association still opposes mandatory electronic logs.

Of course, the devil is often in the details. As long as there is an economic motivation to cheat, there will be those who find a way to do so. As electronic logging systems become more common, those of us whose job it is to look behind the surface to determine the truth will be required to become more sophisticated about detection of falsified electronic records.

Continue reading " Electronic truck driver logs slowly making headway " »

Tonight, a tractor trailer changing lanes on I-285 west, near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, struck a Nissan, sending it into a highway guard rail. After hitting the guardrail, the vehicle was then struck by the cab of another tractor-trailer. Newlywed Danielle Holly, 21, was was killed at the scene. Her husband was transported to the trauma center at Grady Memorial Hospital.

One report stated that the first tractor trailer attempted to change lanes in front of the young couple, clipped the car, and sent it into the inner barrier wall. The car bounced back into the traffic lanes where it was struck by a semi which not carrying a load, resulting in what was described as a horrible rollover.

Initial media reports do not identify the trucking company involved.

The root cause of such tragic crashes often lies in mismanagement of safety issues by the trucking company. A poor safety culture flowing from corporate headquarters may lead to tragedy on the highway. In addition to the police investigation and statements of eyewitnesses, proper handling of civil cases arising from such tragedies includes examination of driver logs, operational records, and records of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regarding the company's safety history.

Continue reading " Young bride killed by tractor trailer on I-285, groom hospitalized " »