Alarming Findings Regarding Driver Fatigue and Injury Accidents
The dangers related to driving while impaired from alcohol or drugs are well documented. Driving while sleep deprived or otherwise fatigued can be just as dangerous but is not as well studied, documented or recognized.
Statistics related to injury accidents caused by driver fatigue are difficult to come by since incidents of driver fatigue are under reported and hard to detect. A police officer may be prepared to detect signs of drug or alcohol use but may not be trained or inclined to investigate fatigue to the same extent. The studies that have been done show some alarming results about the dangers of driving while fatigued. A survey by the National Sleep Foundation reported in this article found that two out of five drivers admitted to falling asleep at the wheel within the past year. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study found that over 100,000 fatigue related driving accidents were reported to police each year, although it was widely acknowledged that fatigue as a cause was under detected and under reported.
More recently, the Insurance Bureau of Canada hosted a symposium on driver fatigue and produced a lengthy report. Some of the statistics and results found in that report are as follows:
- 17.9% of all fatal crashes are fatigue related
- 25.5% of all injury crashes are fatigue related
- the risk of a driver being involved in an injury accident is three times greater when driving on less than five hours sleep
- the risk of being involved in an injury accident is eight times greater when drivers report sleepiness
- a sleep deprivation driving test showed that drivers are 8.1 times more likely to cross over the solid lines on the roads when driving while fatigued
The conclusion drawn from the various studies, tests and surveys was that sleep deprivation and fatigue can significantly affect driving and cause serious injuries and damage on the roads.
For drivers of 18 wheelers, semis and tractor trailers, as they are often referred to, in Florida and elsewhere, the correlation between fatigue and injury accidents is even more critical, given the size and weight of those vehicles and the amount of time a tractor trailer driver may be on the road. That is why it is very important for drivers of 18 wheelers to avoid driving while sleep deprived or otherwise fatigued and strictly follow the Federal regulations which prescribe the number of hours a tractor trailer driver can drive and be on duty before he or she has to take a break to rest.
If a tractor trailer driver causes an injury accident, the driver and the truck company can be sure that any attorney bringing a claim or lawsuit will investigate the driver's condition at the time of the crash and the number of hours he or she was driving and on duty prior to the crash.
SafeStat, a Wealth of Information About Trucking Companies
The hundreds of thousands of trucking companies and tractor trailer drivers on the roads in Florida, many of whom travel through the crowded interstate highways in Jacksonville, Florida, are obligated to comply with State of Florida and Federal regulations designed to make sure the trucking companies and drivers are operating as safely as possible.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration developed a system called the Safety Status Measurement System, or SafeStat, which provides a lot of information about tractor trailer companies and helps to identify those companies whose truck drivers pose the greatest risk to other drivers on the road. This information is available free to the public on their website.
To effectively investigate an accident resulting in injuries and/or property damage caused by a tractor trailer driver, it is important to learn as much as possible about the trucking company and driver, including their past safety practices and violations and the results of overall safety assessments. Investigating the trucking company on the SafeStat website is a good way to initiate an investigation after an injury accident. Examples of information that is easily obtainable and may be helpful in making a claim for damages or pursuing a lawsuit include: the name and address of the trucking company, the relative size of the operation, a summary of prior safety evaluations, prior accident statistics and prior inspection statistics.
Additionally, one piece of information any lawyer or injured person often needs to know after an accident with a tractor trailer is the amount of insurance the trucking company and driver have to cover those injuries. Access to important insurance information, including the type of insurance coverage, the name and address of the insurance carrier and the amount of insurance available, can be found by clicking on the Safer website link at the top of the overview page of the SafeStat report for a particular trucking company and following the link for "Licensing & Insurance" on the upper right side of the page.
Insurance requirements for trucking companies
Because of the great potential for injuries and damages that can result from an accident with a tractor trailer, it is important for trucking companies to adequately insure their trucks and the drivers who operate them. The state of Florida and the Federal government have recognized the importance of this issue.
In order for a trucking company to operate as a company that uses trucks, 18 wheelers, semis or tractor trailers, as they are often called, to transport goods to different states, they must be registered as a business in Florida, if they are based here, and all of them must be registered with the Federal government (with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation). As part of the registration process, the trucking company must prove that it has a minimum amount of insurance to cover accidents that are caused by their drivers and result in injuries and/or property damage. For most trucking companies and their drivers, that minimum amount of insurance is $750,000 per accident. Those trucking companies are welcome to insure their tractor trailers and drivers for more than that, but not less.
Of course, this does not guarantee that there will be sufficient insurance to cover an accident if there are many people injured, or if someone is injured very severely, but what it does mean is if a tractor trailer driver causes or contributes to an accident that results in property damage and/or injuries in Florida or any other state, the injured party should not run into a situation where the other vehicle is not insured at all or has minimal insurance, as can occur with regular auto accidents.
The importance of being quick and diligent with your trucking accident case.
In any lawsuit, it is important to be thorough in investigating all aspects of the conduct of the other party that may have caused or contributed to an injury. In cases resulting from accidents with tractor trailers, trucks, semi's or 18 wheelers, as they are often referred to, it may be equally important to begin the investigation quickly. The reason for this is that tractor trailer drivers and the trucking companies that hire them are required to comply with many regulations that are designed to ensure that the tractor trailer driver is a safe and competent driver and the company is adequately hiring and training its drivers.
In order to determine whether or not the trucking company is hiring safe drivers and the particular tractor trailer driver in any accident was qualified to safely operate the tractor trailer, the trucking company and driver are required to maintain certain documents. The existence of these documents can establish anything from proof that the trucking company is complying with all the required regulations to the exact opposite. Examples of such documents that may be important after an accident are: the results of a required post-accident drug and alcohol test, log books which show how much the tractor trailer driver had been driving and working prior to the accident (which can be evidence of driver fatigue), electronic or black box data in the tractor trailer which gives information about the truck's operation leading up to the crash and the driver's driving, criminal and employment histories.
However, the trucking company is not required to maintain all of these documents indefinitely, even if they know one of their drivers was involved in a serious accident. These documents are often thrown away or otherwise destroyed due to a routine records retention policy or because the company is careless in their record keeping. Often, the records are never kept at all.
These documents can tell a lot about a tractor trailer driver and the trucking company for whom he works. They can establish important reasons why an accident occurred and support arguments that both the tractor trailer driver and the trucking company were responsible for the accident. If there has been a crash with a tractor trailer involving injuries that may result in a lawsuit, it is very important to contact an attorney who is knowledgeable about the trucking industry regulations and practices at an early stage so that important evidence can be identified and preserved.
How is the trucking industry regulated?
Tractor trailers, semis, 18 wheelers, big trucks. They are referred to by different names, but they account for a significant portion of accidents, injuries and damage on the roadways. It is estimated that there are over 500,000 accidents involving tractor trailers on the roads in the United States per year. The average tractor trailer weighs over 20,000 pounds, and that does not account for the load it may be carrying which can bring its weight to over 75,000 pounds.
