According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, each year approximately 328,000 accidents occur due to fatigued driving; and close to half of these accidents inevitably result in injury or death. Unfortunately, even when truck drivers are on the clock, they may act negligently and contribute to this accident statistic. Continue reading to learn what regulations help prevent fatigued truck driving accidents and how an experienced Tampa truck accident lawyer at Merricks Law Group, P.A. can help you hold the correct party liable.
What regulations attempt to prevent fatigued truck driving accidents?
Notably, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is a national agency that sets rules to help curb the rate of truck driving accidents. Specifically, it has enforced regulations to prevent fatigued driving. They are as follows:
- A truck driver cannot be scheduled for longer than 14 hours within 24 hours.
- They can only extend this time limit if they encounter adverse driving conditions.
- A truck driver cannot drive for longer than 11 hours within 24 hours.
- They can only extend this time limit if they encounter adverse driving conditions.
- A truck driver must take at least a 30-minute break after driving for eight consecutive hours.
- A truck driver must take at least a 10-hour break in between on-duty shifts.
With that being said, when a fatigued truck driving accident arises, a trucking company is typically to blame. This is because a trucking company manager may fail to abide by the FCSA’s guidelines when making a truck driver’s shift schedule. Or, a truck driver may feel pressured by their manager to meet tight deadlines and forgo their mandatory breaks.
Under what circumstances might a truck driver be held liable for fatigued driving?
Contrastingly, there are times when a fatigued truck driving accident is not the fault of a trucking company but rather of the driver.
For example, a trucking company manager may have diligently scheduled a driver for a 10-hour break in between their on-duty shifts. But instead of taking this time to rest, a driver may have used their break to run errands, go party, or otherwise stay awake. This improper use of a break may have caused the driver to be fatigued when they started their next shift.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to test for fatigued driving. But if you truly believe that a truck driver is fatigued at the time of your accident, then you must collect proof that points to this. That is, you may assign liability by taking photos of them asleep behind the wheel, collecting witness testimonies, or even having them admit their fault to a law enforcement officer.
You must not hesitate to reach out to a skilled Tampa auto accident lawyer as soon as possible. Our team at Merricks Law Group, P.A. will be awaiting your phone call.
