Florida Injury Attorney Blog

How many hours a semi truck driver has been driving and otherwise working and how fatigued he/she is as a result is a major safety issue in the trucking industry and one that is seriously regulated to try and reduce the number of serious accidents involving semi trucks that cause serious injuries and deaths.  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the governmental agency charged with regulating truck drivers and companies to make sure they are operating as safely as possible and minimizing serious accidents. 

In order to address the problem with fatigued semi truck drivers causing accidents, the FMCSA has issued various rules mandating the number of hours a semi truck driver can drive and otherwise be on duty before he/she has to take a break.  These are referred to as hours of service regulations.  The FMCSA recently issued a final rule addressing hours of service.  It was discussed on this blog here.  One aspect of the rule provides that a semi truck driver can drive for 11 straight hours before he/she must take a break for at least 10 hours.  

Eleven consecutive hours is a long time to be driving while constantly staying alert and maintaining the ability to make quick reactions, particularly when truck drivers are often driving late at night, coming down from a caffeine rush or are in less than ideal health.  Several safety groups have petitioned the government to change this rule because they consider these hours of service too burdensome on drivers which is likely to result in unsafe semi truck drivers and more serious injury and fatal traffic accidents.  The safety groups have threatened to sue the government to change the hours of service regulations to make them more consistent with the eight hour workdays that are characteristic of many other industries' job requirements, particularly those with such safety-sensitive functions. 

A semi truck driver who was driving a gasoline truck that rolled over and exploded killing four people was cahrged with four counts of vehicular manslaughter in September of 2005, according to an article at SunSentinel.com.  Earlier this week, he was sentenced to 36 years in prison.  The vehciular manslaughter criminal charges were based on the allegations that the driver, Flavio Santisteban, was speeding and cutting off other vehicles while driving around a curve and transporting 9,000 gallons of gasoline on I-595 (the Florida Turnpike).  Additionally, he had a significant record of driving vilations prior to the accident.

Although the article does not discuss the wrongful death lawsuit resulting from this crash, it is certain that the surviving members of the victims' family brought a lawsuit for damages against the driver and the trucking company who employed him to drive a semi truck.  Considering the bad driving record of the semi truck driver along with the reckless driving casuing this particular crash, one issue that the plaintiffs' attorneys likely explored is whether the trucking company was negligent for hiring someone to drive a semi truck who was not qualified to safely do so.  If the trucking company should have known that this driver4 was unsafe and unqualified based on his driving history and lack of driving ability, the trucking company would likely be additionally liable to the plaintiffs for the irrresponsible decision to hire the driuver and entrust him with a semi truck.  Depending on how obvious it was that this driver was unqualified and unsafe, the trucking company could be liable for punitive damages as a result of this tragic crash.  Punitive damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases are assessed as punishment and meant to deter a defendant and others from committing similar miscounduct (as opposed to compensatory damages which are meant to compensate plaintiffs for their losses).

Serious injury and fatal accidents involving semi trucks are commonly caused by truck drivers who are not following the safety regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).  Examples of these regulations which were designed to regulate the trucking industry and reduce the number of serious accidents involving semi trucks include the regulation limiting the number of hours a person can drive a semi truck before he/she must take a break and the regulations requiring trucking companies to require that drivers submit to alcohol and/or drug tests before starting work as a driver and after certain motor vehicle accidents.

The FMCSA has recently identified 16 particular safety regulations that new semi truck drivers and trucking companies must follow or risk losing their authority to operate a semi truck or a trucking company.  Examples of violations of these key safety regulations include: failure to implement a drug and alcohol testing program for drivers and others performing safety-sensitive functions, allowing a driver to drive a semi truck who has refused a required drug or alcohol test, allowing a driver to drive a semi truck who has tested positive on a drug test, allowing a driver to drive a semi truck who does not have a commercial driver's license (CDL) or has a suspended CDL, failing to have the minimum level of insurance for a semi truck and driver and failing to require a semi truck driver to accurately record his/her hours of service (i.e. hours spent driving, on-duty and off-duty). 

Many of these safety regulations cover common sense issues that are clearly necessary to maintain a safe and responsible trucking company that does its best to avoid fatal and serious injury accidents.  However, there are a number of semi truck drivers and trucking companies that do not comply with these regulations, hence the need for the FMCSA to specifically highlight these 16 regulations and threaten sanctions for noncompliance. 

The remaining 16 key safety regulations can be found here.

Back in 2006, a Yellow Transportation semi truck slammed into the back of a Swift Transportation semi truck in the early morning hours causing the death of the driver of the Yellow Transportation semi truck and serious spinal injuries to his passenger who was sleeping in the sleeper berth.  According to the article, the driver of the Swift Transportation semi truck said that she was pulling into a rest stop at the time of the crash.  However, accident reconstruction analysis showed that she had actually miscalculated the turn into the rest stop and was trying to back out onto the highway in the darkness to correct her mistake. 

In addition to the apparent negligent driving that caused the accident, lawyers for the plaintiffs (in this particular lawsuit, the injured passenger and his wife based on her loss of consortium claim) uncovered several facts that indicated that Swift Transportation never should have hired their driver and allowed her onto the roads operating a potentially dangerous tractor-trailer.  The plaintiffs' lawyers learned that the driver was a new driver who had limited experience and had failed her commercial driver's license test several times.  She also had a history of drug abuse and tested positive for methamphetamine in a post-accident drug test.

In order to avoid serious semi truck accidents such as this one, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issues regulations to try to ensure that semi truck drivers are qualified to safely operate semi trucks.  For instance, each semi truck driver is required to pass an exam that tests whether that driver has the skills to safely operate a semi truck.  If so, that driver is issued a commercial driver's license, or CDL.  Additionally, semi truck drivers are supposed to have periodic training and road tests to make sure they continue to maintain the skills necessary to safely drive semi trucks. 

What also made this crash avoidable is that trucking companies are supposed to check the backgrounds of their applicant drivers to make sure there are no glaring issues in a person's driving history, employment history or criminal history that would make it unreasonably unsafe to hire the person to drive a semi truck.  For instance, if a person has a history of drug abuse or has failed alcohol and/or drug tests in the past, that should raise a red flag and prevent a trucking company from hiring that person.

Apparently, based on the jury's verdict finding that Swift Transportation negligently hired and retained its driver, there were issues in the driver's past that should have been uncovered by the trucking company and caused them to refrain from hiring this driver.

In order to ensure that semi truck drivers are physically fit and able to safely operate semi trucks and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents caused by semi truck drivers who are not physically capable of handling the rigorous duties of an interstate semi truck driver, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a new regulation requiring semi truck drivers to have their medical certification cards stamped by a state agency and entered into an electronic database that can be accessed by inspectors.

The federal regulations that are designed to promote safety in the trucking industry and reduce serious motor vehicle accidents require that a semi truck driver be physically fit to operate a semi truck.  There are certain medical conditions, such as epilepsy and insulin dependent diabetes, that disqualify a semi truck driver from obtaining the commercial driver's license (CDL) needed to professionally drive a semi truck.  Before a semi truck driver obtains a CDL and starts driving, he/she needs to be examined by an appropriate medical professional and have his/her physical fitness certified.  When semi truck drivers are stopped for a DOT inspection or are investigated after an injury accident, they are supposed to show proof of a valid medical certificate.  However, it is not uncommon for semi truck drivers to avoid this requirement by either using out of date medical certificates, getting certified by doctors they know will rubber stamp the certification, using forged medical certificates or ignoring the requirement altogether.  Hopefully, with this new regulation, it will be easier for DOT inspectors and trucking companies to enforce the requirement that semi truck drivers are medically approved and certified before driving.