Articles Posted in Tractor-Trailer Accidents

Hours of service rules are designed to ensure that truckers get plenty of rest and that Tennessee trucking accidents caused by fatigued truckers are less of a danger to motorists in Knoxville, Maryville and throughout the state. Unfortunately, the hours were extended during the Bush Administration, much to the chagrin of safety advocates.

Also at issue are the lack of mandated data recorders and other technologies that can automatically record a trucker’s service hours and keep them honest. Instead, hand-written log books are used in what is largely an honor system. Organizations like Road Safe America also argue for the need to stop paying truckers by the mile — pointing out an honor system regarding hours worked, combined with a system that pays by the mile, is a recipe for disaster.

A Tennessee trucking accident attorney should always be consulted whenever a motorist is involved in an accident with a semi or other large commercial truck on the road. Hours of service are just one measure of compliance that an experienced injury attorney will review as part of your accident claim.

With the holidays upon us, many truckers will be pushing themselves to the legal limit (and perhaps beyond), either to make up for lost time or to get home to family in time for the holidays.

In general, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has established the following hours-of-service rules:

-11 hour driving limit after 10 hours off-duty (10 hour limit/8 hours rest for passenger-carrying vehicles).

-14 hour limit – May not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty (15th hour for passenger vehicles).

-60/70 hour limit in 7/8 consecutive days. 34 hours of rest required to restart the cycle.
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NBC10 is reporting that two people have been killed in a Tennessee trucking accident involving a farm trailer.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports A 24-year old truck driver was towing a farm trailer of logs east on State Road 63 when he hit a Corolla. The Corolla occupants included 81-year-old Robert Lee Cole and 74-year-old Mina Cole. Both were taken to the hospital, where they died on Monday.

The driver of the truck blamed the unstable load on the trailer, which he said caused him to lose control.

Drivers of farm vehicles and other trailers have the same obligation as other truck drivers in Tennessee when it comes to ensuring their load is secure. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has strict requirements for all types of loads. These regulations are designed to not only make sure a load is secure at a stop but that it can withstand the g-forces of the starts, stops and turns that will come with long-distance travel.

Unsecured loads are a frequent cause of Tennessee trucking accidents and semi accidents nationwide. Each type of load has its own guidelines. Liquids, gases, grain, liquid concrete, gravel, sand, logs, new automobiles and rolls of steel are just a few of the loads truckers commonly haul over the road. Not only can an accident with a truck be extremely hazardous, but in crashes where an unsecure load breaks free, it can endanger multiple vehicles on the highway.

Dangerous loads can result from any number of causes, including improper loading, faulty equipment, loads that shift during transport and loads left unstable due to offloading along a trucker’s route.

FMCSA has specific requirements and rules for securing loads:

-Commodity specific requirements.

-Tie down requirements.

-Proper use of securement devices.

-Proper use of anchor points.

-Proper cargo placement.
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The death of a 17-year-old Murfreesboro teenager in a Tennessee trucking accident is a tragic reminder of the deadly consequences that too often result when a passenger car is involved in an accident with an 80,000 pound tractor-trailer.

As our Tennessee wrongful death attorneys have reported, the vast majority of fatalities involving large trucks occur to motorists in passenger vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 3,500 of the 4,229 fatalities involving trucking accidents in 2008 were motorists in other vehicles involved in the accident with large trucks.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports the young woman was killed when the vehicle she was riding in crashed into a tractor-trailer near the intersection of Shelbyville Highway at Stones River Road. The Tennessean reports that investigators believe the 2000 Honda she was riding in pulled into the path of the semi while trying to make a turn. The 43-year-old Ohio trucker was not injured.

Family members say the vehicle was hers but was being driven by her boyfriend, who was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Authorities say charges are pending against him.

As we enter the holiday driving season, teens are among those at highest risk for being involved in a serious or fatal accident. Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers ages 15 to 20. Speeding, distracted driving, failure to wear seat belts, drunk driving and riding with too many passengers in the vehicle are all common causes of teenager accidents.

What gets less emphasis is the need to speak with teenagers about using extra caution around tractor-trailers and other large commercial trucks. A total of 184 teenagers were killed in Tennessee car accidents in 2008.

The Trucker reports that Thanksgiving and New Year’s are two of the deadliest holidays of the year for trucking accidents. The next six weeks, as motorists and truckers hit the roads for the holidays amid the start of the winter driving season, can be especially hazardous.

Please take a moment to talk to your teenagers about the importance of safe driving this holiday season.
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Five prominent highway safety advocacy groups have sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood demanding government action to reduce the threat of trucking accidents on the nation’s highways.

Tennessee trucking accident lawyers will note that one of the group’s primary arguments is a fact well-known to injury attorneys in Knoxville and the surrounding area: The victims killed in trucking accidents are most often the occupants of other vehicles.

The group reports that large truck accidents resulted in more that 5,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries in each year since 1994 until the recent economic downturn. Ninety-eight percent of the deaths occur to occupants of the smaller passenger vehicles.

“Our organizations are working hard to reduce these horrific numbers by urging major changes in commercial motor vehicle safety and motor carrier operations,” the group wrote. “Many of these large truck safety advances have already been implemented in countries around the globe.”

Limit Top Truck Speed: Large trucks moving at faster speeds require longer stopping distances. Three-quarters of fatal truck accident occur on roads with a posted speed of 55 mph. Studies suggest that trucks traveling at 65 mph or slower have a reduced risk of accidents and consumer less fuel.

Additionally, the group backs speed-limiting technology that would not permit trucks to travel faster than 65 mph. Thirty-three other countries, including Japan, the European Union and two Canadian Provinces, already require the limiters.

Lower Maximum Hours of Service Requirements: Driver fatigue must be addressed in order to improve overall safety. The Bush Administration increased the maximum consecutive hours of driving from 10 to 11, permitting 17 to 18 more driving hours per week.

Use Technology to enforce HOS: Instead of using data recorders — similar to the black boxes used on airplanes — the government relies upon hand written log books to ensure compliance with hours-of-service rules.

“It is indefensible that, in order to establish HOS compliance, state and federal inspectors and law enforcement are forced to rely largely on second-hand evidence that must be pieced together usually from lengthy paper trails of collected receipts and driver-generated documents,” they wrote.

The group also contends that the ongoing increases in the size and weight of trucks pose safety hazards. And it supports living wages for truck drivers via a pay structure not tied to miles traveled.

The organizations include Road Safe America, Truck Safety Coalition, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety.
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A deadly Tennessee tractor-trailer accident was reported Wednesday on I-40 in the Mt. Juliet area, the Tennessean reported.

The trucking accident occurred when a semi carrying toxic acid slammed head-on into a pickup truck that was driving the wrong way down the off ramp, Juliet police reported. The drivers of both vehicles were killed and the interstate was closed for hours between mile marker 228 and 225.

The crash scene spanned from the Mt. Juliet Road overpass, back to the beginning of the exit ramp. The vehicles collided with such force that it knocked an axle off the tractor-trailer truck.

Our Tennessee injury lawyers frequently report on the dangers large trucks pose to other motorists on the road. While the pickup truck’s driver was apparently at fault in this case, the extreme weight of tractor-trailers frequently make such accidents fatal to other motorists on the road. The toxic materials involved in this case is also a reminder that trucks often carry hazardous loads.

The acid container was breached in the accident but authorities described the leak as “not to the point of massive” and did not need to evacuate the area.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the collision.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that large trucks are involved in 1 in 9 fatal accidents on the road. In 2008, Tennessee trucking accidents killed 92 motorists. A total of 4,229 motorists were killed and more than 90,000 were injured in accidents involving large trucks. Of those, about 3,500 were occupants of other vehicles or were bicyclists or pedestrians. Fewer than 700 of the fatalities involved tractor-trailer occupants.
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With a final rule banning truckers from texting while driving set to be issued this fall, federal authorities are targeting other in-cab distractions in an effort to reduce the number of serious and fatal tractor-trailer accidents caused by distracted driving.

Our Knoxville, Tennessee accident lawyers know that many accidents are caused by distracted driving and crashes involving semis or other large commercial trucks are no exception. While more than 30 states have some form of a ban on text messaging or cell phone use by drivers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has banned truckers nationwide from text messaging. That ban was first announced last year and expanded at a nationwide distracted driving summit held last month in Washington, D.C.

Truckers News reports that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is looking at CB radios, dispatching systems and other forms of distracted driving.

The FMCSA is the federal agency charged with implementing and enforcing trucking rules aimed at increasing the safety of the motoring public, including hours of service rules and drug testing procedures. Consulting with an experienced Tennessee truck accident attorney is critical when determining whether a driver was in compliance with state and federal regulations at the time of an accident.

Last year, a total of 5,474 motorists were killed and 448,000 were injured in accidents caused by distracted driving. Only speeding and drunk driving are blamed for more fatal accidents on the nation’s roads.

“These numbers show that distracted driving remains an epidemic in America, and they are just the tip of the iceberg,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Nationwide, more than 380,000 large trucks were involved in crashes in 2008 — accidents that accounted for 1 in every 9 of the nation’s traffic fatalities. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that more than 4,000 motorists were killed and 90,000 were injured in accidents involving large commercial trucks.

Trucking accidents in Tennessee claimed 92 lives that year.
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