Driver fatigue is responsible for up to 40% of all accidents caused by semi-truck drivers. Data from the Deptartment of Transportation show that driver fatigue causes as many as 750 deaths and nearly 200,000 injuries on an annual basis.
Under the current rules, a driver must be allowed 10 hours off duty is he has been driving for more than 11 hours and/or has been “on duty” for up to 14 hours. In addition to this daily rule is a weekly rule that requires drivers to stop operating their truck if they have been “on-duty” for either 60 hours in a 7 day period or 70 hours in an 8 day period.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has fought unsuccesfuly to tighten these rules and avoid the driver fatigue that has caused so many accidents and injured so many people.
Even though the current rules limit the number of hours a truck driver can be behind the wheel, there are many drivers who falsify there logs to skirt the regulations. It is these drivers that end up injuring and/or killer innocent motorists on our nation’s highways.
If you or a family member has been injured because of the fault of someone else; by negligence, personal injury, slip and fall, car accident, medical malpractice, trucking accident, drunk driving, bad product, toxic injury etc then please contact the Dallas Truck Accident Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.
