Florida Injury Attorney Blog

A semi truck crashed into the back of a school bus that was stopped at a bus stop and unloading children in Wisconsin, according to a local news station.  Police investigating the crash determined that the semi truck driver only hit his brakes at the last second based on the short skid marks in the road.  Witnesses indicated the semi truck crashed into the bus at full speed.  The accident occurred during the day in good weather, and the bus had its flashing red lights on.  It appears that the semi truck driver failed to see and ultimately stop for the school bus because he was preoccupied drinking a soda and coughing at the time.  Several children were injured in the crash, but none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.  

Semi truck drivers are permitted to eat and drink in their vehicles while driving only, of course, if eating or drinking does not interfere with their ability to safely drive their semi truck.  If a semi driver is unable to drink a soda and recognize a big, yellow school bus dropping off kids with flashing lights stopped on the road, that is obviously a problem.  The video with the news story indicates that the road on which this accident occurred is fairly straight.  In the lawsuit that will likely follow based on the serious injuries suffered by several of the kids, the semi truck driver will likely be questioned as to when he first saw the bus, why he did not see the bus sooner, why he did not hit his brakes until the last second, why he decided to take a drink of his soda when he was behind a bus in the afternoon when they make frequent stops and whether his speed was safe given the fact that he was driving a fully loaded semi truck and trailer behind a school bus. 

Tractor trailer, semi or 18 wheeler drivers, as they are often called, and the trucking industry are asking Congress for authorization to drive bigger, heavier trucks on the roads in the United States.  Congress is working on a Congressional highway reauthorization bill as the current law expires in September of next year.  Supporters of the proposed bill argue that bigger, heavier trucks will allow big trucks to ship more cargo, making them more efficient.  They point to similar laws in Canada and Mexico and say that U.S. big truck drivers are at an economic disadvantage when competing with those foreign trucking companies that can haul more cargo per shipment, particularly in border states. 

However, from a safety standpoint, critics argue that it is too dangerous to increase the size limit of tractor trailers/semi trucks/18 wheelers as the potential to cause serious injuries and death as a result of an accident will be greater than it currently is.  A recent survey by the Truck Safety Coalition found that most people in the US who were polled are overwhelmingly against bigger, heavier trucks on the roads.  The article from the Truck Safety Coalition's website also points out that each year, about 5,000 people are killed and more than 100,000 people are injured in crashes involving these big trucks. 

Safety experts also note that the bigger and heavier trucks get, the more difficult they are to control, steer and stop.  As a result, the extra weight may likely increase the number of injury accidents as well as the potential for damage, injuries and death once an accident does occur. 

Additionally, critics argue that the roads and bridges in the US are already over-stressed and increasing the size of big trucks on the road will only cause more damage to the country's infrastructure.  The article about the survey notes that one tractor trailer/semi truck (which often weighs in the 80,000 pound range) does as much damage to roads and bridges as 9,600 cars.

Allstate Insurance Company is the second biggest insurance company in Florida in terms of writing insurance policies for motor vehicle coverage.  When you get in an injury accident with another person who has an Allstate liability insurance policy, you would make a claim against Allstate for your damages from the accident, typically for some amount less than or equal to the dollar amount of the insurance coverage.

Recently, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) decided to sanction Allstate by preventing the insurance company from issuing new insurance policies in Florida.  This decision was upheld by a Florida appellate court.  The decision banning Allstate from writing new policies was based on the fact that Allstate had failed to produce documents that had been subpoenaed pursuant to an investigation by the OIR into how Allstate sets its insurance rates and whether Allstate's customers were being defrauded. The ban against Allstate was lifted after a short period of time when Allstate filed a sworn affidavit indicating it had complied with the subpoena and produced the required documents.

According to the Florida appellate court, Allstate intentionally failed to disclose the required documents which obstructed the investigation into allegations that Allstate was defrauding its customers with its excessive insurance rates.  Florida Governor Crist described Allstate's practices as "horrific."  Apparently, Allstate made $1.8 billion in insurance premiums in Florida in 2007.  Allstate also sought to increase their insurance premiums by 42% when recent Florida legislation was passed in 2007 to get insurance companies to reduce insurance premiums. 

Jacksonville, Florida's Channel 4 website News4Jax.com reported that a semi truck (aka 18 wheeler or tractor trailer) was involved in an accident in South Florida when it overturned and spilled Gatorade and orange juice all over the road.  Apparently, the semi truck driver drifted off of the highway, drove onto the shoulder, realized the mistake and tried to get back on the highway but over-corrected and overturned his vehicle.  This is not an uncommon tractor trailer accident scenario.  Although it appears that there were no serious injuries from this crash, semi truck rollovers can be very serious accidents that result in significant injuries. 

Tractor trailer drivers are supposed to be trained to avoid drifting off of the road.  If they do drive off of the road, they are supposed to be trained in how to safely get back on the road.  When a driver of a tractor trailer or other vehicle drives off of the road, the initial instinct may be to sharply turn the wheel back towards the road.  However, this can be counterproductive and dangerous depending on several factors including the speed of the vehicle, the composition of the shoulder beside the road and any dropoff from the road to the shoulder.  Quickly turning back towards the road often translates into an over-correction scenario where the vehicle driver loses control and either overturns the vehicle or drives all of the way into the opposite lane and into oncoming traffic.

Interestingly, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) just conducted a study dealing with crashes when vehicles drift from the road.  According to the AASHTO study, approximately 42,000 people die each year in crashes caused by their vehicles leaving the road.  Because of the problems with semi trucks and other vehicles crashing when they drive off of the road, some states are placing barriers, lane markings and rumble stripes along each side of the travel lanes on the road to keep these vehicles safely on the road.  The states that have enacted such lane departure prevention mechanisms have reported decreases in the number of death and injury accidents caused by lane departures.

Semi truck/tractor trailer accidents and related issues in Florida are normally the focus of this blog.  However, an alarming report about the death rate for teenagers from motor vehicle crashes is worth noting.  According to a study on motor vehicle crash statistics by Allstate Insurance Company, Florida is number one in the country in terms of death rates among teenagers from vehicle accidents. 

The three areas within Florida with the highest teenage death rates from vehicle accidents from 2000 to 2006 were Tampa/St. Petersburg, Orlando and Jacksonville.  According to a Businessweek article, speeding was a factor in 27% of the teen deaths in the Tampa area, alcohol was a factor in 7% and drugs were a factor in 4%.  However, not surprisingly, the biggest recurring factor in the teen deaths from vehicle crashes was the failure to wear a seat belt.  Surely, cell phone use and text messaging were factors in causing motor vehicle accidents among teens, but it was unclear how often those dangerous activities contributed to accidents involving teenagers.

What can be done to reduce the number and severity of vehicle crashes involving teenagers?   Some suggestions: more education and training before and while teens are able to drive on their own, particularly regarding seat belt use, as part of the regular school curriculum; stricter standards for obtaining a driver's license for young people; more driver training and discussion by parents; stricter penalties for teenagers who violate traffic laws and laws reducing the hours teenagers can drive

Driving while overly tired is a potentially dangerous problem that the federal government is continuing to address. Electronic onboard recording devices can be used to record the number of hours the tractor trailer is operating. This is important to make sure truck drivers are complying with the federally mandated hours of service rules which prevent a commercial truck driver from driving too many hours without taking a break. Driving over hours has been found to cause fatigue which can lead to serious injury accidents.

Electronic onboard recording devices are not yet required on all tractor trailers in Florida or the U.S., but some trucking companies have voluntarily installed electronic onboard recorders onto their tractor trailers, 18 wheelers and semi trucks, as they are often called. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (which regulates commercial truck drivers and the trucking industry) is considering a proposal that would require the devices either for all tractor trailers covered by the federal regulations or at least trucking companies that have been found in violation of the hours of service rule at least 10% of the time after at least two compliance reviews. A copy of the proposed rule can be found here. Companies will be periodically audited by government transportation officials to make sure they are in compliance with the hours of service rules and other regulations designed to govern the trucking industry. Tractor trailer drivers are required to maintain log books which specifically document when they are driving or otherwise on-duty and when they are off-duty. However, these documents are prepared by the drivers themselves and are subject to their inclination to tell the truth.

Tractor trailer drivers are often asked to drive long hours to get cargo to its destination. This can result in overly tired drivers who are impaired to the extent that they can no longer safely driver their tractor trailers. Serious accidents involving significant injuries or death have been documented to occur as a result of driver fatigue. That issue has been discussed previously on this blog. Where trucking companies and tractor trailer drivers have been found in violation of the hours of service requirements in the past, a rule requiring them to have an electronic onboard recording device installed in their trucks would be a more objective way to ensure they are following the rules and help to prevent truck drivers from driving while overly tired.

The demand for drivers of semi trucks, tractor trailers and 18 wheelers, as they are often called, in Florida and throughout the United States has been increasing, and will continue to increase, according to a recent article at USAToday.com.  The article notes that using these big trucks to transport cargo across the United States is expected to increase by 31% between 2005 and 2017.  However, the trucking industry is not seeing a corresponding increase in qualified drivers to fill their driving jobs.  As a result, trucking companies are experiencing delays in shipping their loads and often have loads sitting around with no driver to take them

This is not a scenario that trucking companies will likely allow to remain as they make money by shipping loads and lose money when loads are sitting at their facility.  According to the article, the trucking companies are looking for new ways to find truck drivers.  This may be a troubling development from a safety standpoint as there are certain safety and training requirements that must be met before a trucking company can put a driver out on the roads.  For instance, trucking companies are not permitted to put a truck driver on the road unless he or she is specifically qualified to drive a tractor trailer, is physically fit to drive a tractor trailer and has an understanding of the rules governing tractor trailer drivers such as the rule limiting the number of hours a tractor trailer driver can drive and be on duty before he or she needs to go off-duty.

The trucking industry already experiences a high turnover rate with its drivers.  Trucking company executives in litigation often admit how difficult it is to find and keep qualified and safe drivers.  They often admit this during a lawsuit involving a truck driver who caused an injury accident but was in no way qualified to be hired as a tractor trailer driver.  If some of the trucking companies were having a difficult time hiring and keeping safe, responsible and qualified drivers when the demand for truck shipments was not as high as it is now and will be in the future, one wonders whether the standards for hiring safe and qualified drivers may be lowered to meet the increasing demand.  Maybe that will not be the case, but it is something to keep an eye on.

A tractor trailer accident that caused the death of another driver was caused by faulty equipment in Kentucky.  According to the police investigation, the tractor trailer driver was unable to stop his truck for a red light and drove onto the shoulder crashing into a person driving a motorcycle.  The subsequent investigation of the truck accident revealed that the tractor trailer's brakes were not working properly.  The investigation also revealed that the tractor trailer driver knew that his tractor trailer had a brake problem.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require each tractor trailer driver to perform what is called a pretrip inspection before each trip he or she takes.  There are many aspects of the tractor and trailer that need to be inspected for safety purposes before the driver is authorized to start the trip and take the tractor trailer out on the roads.  Of course, the brakes are a safety feature that need to be inspected before the tractor trailer can be driven.  The driver is supposed to fill out a form before each trip documenting the fact that he or she verified that the brakes, and other tractor trailer components, are in working order.

In this case, it appears that the truck driver took his truck out on the road with knowledge that the brakes were not working properly.  As a result, he was unable to stop for a red light and another motorist died.  The tractor trailer driver was also charged with second degree manslaughter.  More than likely, the driver and his employer will also be sued for the death and damages that were accused by the negligent driving of the tractor trailer driver.

In Florida, Georgia and twelve other Southeastern states, traffic enforcement officials and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (which was created to regulate commercial truck drivers and the trucking industry) conducted what was referred to as an enforcement blitz that focused on unsafe drivers of commercial and passenger vehicles a few weeks ago according to a post on www.carbuyersnotebook.com.

Semi trucks, 18 wheelers and tractor trailers, as commercial vehicles are often called, were part of the focus of the traffic officials. Some of the poor driving the traffic officials looked for included speeding, tailgating and cutting off other drivers. For tractor trailer drivers driving vehicles that weigh many tens of thousands of pounds, these unsafe driving tactics can result in serious accidents that cause catastrophic injuries or death.

The traffic enforcement blitz resulted in 15% of the commercial truck drivers being placed out of service. The phrase "out of service" is commonly used to describe a scenario where a tractor trailer and driver are routinely inspected by a Department of Transportation official and found to have a violation serious enough for the official to take the driver and/or the tractor trailer off of the road until the violation is corrected. Out of service violations can apply to a truck driver, the tractor or the trailer.

Out of over 4000 contacts between the tractor trailer drivers and the law enforcement officials, there were 0.23 moving violatiions per contact. Common traffic violations were speeding, tailgating and failing to wear a seat belt. The passenger vehicle drivers had a higher number of traffic violations per contact. The enforcement blitz makes it clear that while unsafe driving certainly is not unique to commercial drivers of tractor trailers, it is still a major problem that can have serious ramifications if not properly dealt with.

Florida and other states are starting to look into fining drivers who are sending text messages or emails while driving.  According to a recent survey by Nationwide Insurance, one in five drivers text message while driving.  That ratio increases to about one in three drivers for drivers between the ages of 18 and 34.  The danger to the public of drivers using a text message or email device while driving are obvious.  They require a driver to look at the device instead of the road and take one hand, or often both hands, off of the steering wheel to use the device.  It is not uncommon to see another driver looking down at Blackberry or similar device that the driver is holding while he or she uses his or her knees to steer the vehicle.  Of course, sending a text message or email often elicits a response that quickly takes the driver's focus back off of the road.

Florida laws banning driving while talking on a cell phone have been proposed to the Florida Legislature, but they have not passed.  The 2008 Florida Legislature will be considering a law that would ban drivers from sending or receiving text messages while on the road.  However, it seems like the Florida Legislature is more focused on passing laws affecting only drivers under the age of 18, according to this article from the TCPalm.com.

According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 20 to 30 percent of all motor vehicle accidents are caused by distractions from cell phone use.  It is unclear if those numbers include text messaging or sending emails or just relate to talking on a cell phone.  However, with the increasing use of mobile devices that can send text messages and emails, the dangers of driving while distracted and causing an injury accident are sure to increase.