Florida Injury Attorney Blog

When a trucking company evaluates an applicant for the position of tractor trailer driver, there are many things that company is supposed to do to verify that the truck driver is qualified to safely operate a large tractor trailer. One of the things the trucking company is supposed to do is check that applicants driving and accident history. Obviously, if the applicant has a significant history of traffic tickets or accidents, he/she should not be hired to drive a semi truck.

Unfortunately, many trucking companies fail to do the proper background check and hire truck drivers with poor driving and traffic crash histories. It is only after a serious accident when we, as personal injury and wrongful death lawyers, investigate the trucking company's records and question the truck driver and trucking company employees, when we find out that the trucking company did not perform the proper background check and hired a truck driver that was a dangerous risk to other drivers on the roads.

Other times, the trucking company makes some effort to determine a potential truck driver's driving record and traffic accident history but is unable to get complete and accurate information. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will soon be offering electronic access to a truck driver's crash records and inspection reports. This will allow diligent trucking companies to more easily find out what kind of, and how many, traffic accidents a particular truck driver applicant has had. It will also allow the trucking company to view inspection reports to see if a truck driver has had a large number of safety violations.

Hopefully, with the new system, responsible trucking companies will have better access to the safety information they are looking for and less responsible trucking companies who do not make an effort to obtain that information and hire unsafe truck drivers will be more easily held accountable for serious injury accidents that are caused by truck drivers who should have never been hired.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the government agency charged with reducing the number of traffic accidents that involve semi trucks and result in serious injuries or deaths. There are many regulations designed to serve that purpose and make sure semi truck drivers are properly trained and experienced and safe to operate large vehicles. The agency is supposed to monitor trucking companies and truck drivers to make sure the drivers are not driving over the permitted number of hours. Truck drivers who violate these hours of service rules pose serious safety risks to other drivers because they become fatigued. Studies have shown that fatigued truck drivers can be as likely to cause a serious accident as a driver impaired by alcohol.

The FMCSA is starting a new initiative that will help identify trucking companies and truck drivers that are not complying with the safety regulations and are at greater risk of causing serious accidents. The FMCSA is supposed to audit trucking companies, but rarely do because their resources are limited. Driving over hours and while fatigued is a serious problem among truck drivers. There are rules regarding how many hours a person can drive without taking a break. However, this is largely self-regulated by time logs that the truck drivers fill out themselves. If those logs are not properly audited and compared with other records, a truck driver can falsify his/her hours and drive while fatigued without any recourse. Many truck drivers get paid by the mile and are strongly encouraged to be at their destination on time. These facts provide an incentive for truck drivers to drive as much as possible and ignore hours of service rules and signs of fatigue. The trucking industry could use a more active agency that enforces the regulations to try and avoid serious injury and fatal accidents.

We have written several times about studies and reports indicating that the risk of causing a serious traffic accident goes way up when a driver is sending or receiving text messages while driving. In the past, studies compared the danger of driving while talking on a cell phone to that of driving drunk. More recent studies have found that driving while texting is more dangerous than driving while talking on a cell phone because it is more distracting to the driver and takes his/her eyes off of the road for longer periods of time.

A recent study indicated that one in five drivers has read or sent a text while driving. One would expect this number to go up for at least two reasons. First, the article also indicated that nearly everyone surveyed considered driving while texting inappropriate so some people may not admit to the practice. Secondly, as handheld communication devices get cheaper and more prevalent, more people will have the ability to text while driving.

Because of the studies that indicate how dangerous driving while texting is, the significant majority of people who seem to favor a ban on driving while texting and the large number of people who actually do drive and text, we can expect a law in the future that makes it illegal to drive and send or receive text messages.

Drivers who are distracted because they are talking on their cell phones, sending or receiving text messages or using other cell phone applications have received a lot of publicity. Distracted driving has been found to be the cause of a lot of serious accidents resulting in injuries and death.

In Jacksonville, Florida, it is becoming increasingly common to look over at a driver and see him/her concentrating on a cell phone rather than the road and other vehicles. But many people may not be aware that semi truck drivers may be distracted by something else. Many semi trucks have on-board computers right next to the driver's seat. These computers provide directions for the semi truck drivers and allow them to communicate with dispatchers and others. According to one truck driver interviewed for an article on NYTimes.com, semi truck drivers are told to pull over before using the computer, but they never do. I expect that is true. Most semi truck drivers get paid by the mile, and they often have to meet tight schedules. That kind of compensation structure does not encourage a truck driver to pull over every time he/she wants to use the computer to get directions or send or receive a message.

But the risk of using on-board computers is serious. According to one study, semi truck drivers who use the on-board computers have a 10% greater risk of crashing, nearly crashing or wandering from their lane as opposed to those truck drivers who do not have the computers in their vehicles. The study found that when a truck driver is using the on-board computer, he/she look away from the road for an average of 4 seconds. If that truck driver is driving on the highway, that truck can travel the space of a full football field before the driver's eyes get back to the road.

When you consider the significant potential for damage and injuries when a huge tractor trailer causes an accident on the highway, anything that distracts the driver and increases the risk of an accident must be examined for its legality.

The U.S. Transportation Secretary noted that distracted driving, which refers to people driving while talking on their cell phones, text messaging or using other cell phone applications, is becoming more and more of a danger on the roads, according to an article on News4Jax.com. The government reported that almost 6,000 people were killed and approximately 500,000 were injured in traffic accidents related to distracted driving. As expected, young drivers comprise the bulk of the people who are driving while distracted. The article also notes that when semi truck drivers are sending or receiving text messages, their risk of causing a traffic accident goes up 23%. As a result, we can expect new laws making it illegal to drive using some or all cell phone applications.

Driving around Jacksonville, Florida these days, it is no longer surprising to see people driving who are looking at their cell phones rather than the road. It is not a stretch to conclude that if that driver was faced with an emergency situation, such as another car suddenly stopping or slowing, while looking at his/her cell phone, a serious traffic crash is likely to result.

It is not clear from the article how accurate the government's numbers are here. In other words, how did the government determine with certainty which drivers were using their cell phones when the accidents occurred. As personal injury and wrongful death attorneys, we have ways of determining whether the other, at-fault driver was distracted when he/she caused the accident. That is something we investigate in every case. Cell phone records, police investigative records and witness testimony can often determine whether a person was using his/her cell phone right before the crash.

We have written several times about the dangers of driving while using a text messaging device and other applications on the newer model cell phones. In every personal injury or wrongful death case we handle, we always investigate whether the other driver was talking on his/her cell phone, text messaging or doing one of the hundreds of other things one can now do on a cell phone.

We are also monitoring what Florida and other states are doing as far as making it illegal to drive while talking on a cell phone or text messaging or using a cell phone in any way. More and more, states are making it illegal to use a cell phone for any reason while driving. However, I saw this article on Foxnews.com which illustrates the contradictory position some states are taking in regards to cell phones. As the article indicates, 22 states have banned driving while text messaging but also send out messages to cell phones with updated traffic and emergency information. This is obviously a mixed, and potentially dangerous, message being sent by certain state governments. Government officials say that the messages they send to cell phones should only be read before one starts to drive, but obviously not everyone is so disciplined and sending the traffic-related messages clearly encourages people to read their messages while driving. Florida is not one of the states that send traffic-related messages to cell phones via Twitter or other messaging systems.

I read a post on the Department of Transportation's website that said three out of four children are not properly secured in their seats. A child may not be safe in a vehicle for several reasons including: they are not in a child seat or not in a child seat appropriate for the child's age, weight or height, the child is not tightly secured in the seat, the seat is not properly secured to the vehicle, the child is facing forward when he/she should be facing backwards and other reasons.

If you are unsure of how to properly secure a child or a child seat in a vehicle, there are child seat safety inspection locations in Florida and throughout the country to assist people with child seats. Inspection locations can be found at this website.

One common accident that we see over and over in personal injury and wrongful death cases is the reas end accident. As it sounds, this kind of traffic crash occurs when the lead vehicle stops or slows for any number of reasons and the rear vehicle fails to stop and crashes into the back of the lead vehicle.

In personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits in Florida, the law says that in such an accident, there is a legal presumption that the rear vehuicle was the exclusive cause of the accident. In other words, the law assumes that the rear vehicle completely caused the accident as opposed to anyone else, including the driver of the lead vehicle who was hit. The reason for this presumption is that the rear driver is obviously in a better position to avoid an accident with a vehicle in front of it. Alternatively, when a driver slows or stops his/her vehicle and is looking forward, he/she may not know and have no way to avoid a vehicle behind him/her who does not stop in time.

Sometimes, in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit, the insurance company lawyer for the driver of the rear vehicle will argue that the lead vehicle stopped suddenly and without apparent reason and should share some or all of the blame for the accident. The presumption of negligence by the rear vehicle is a rebuttable presumption. This means that the rear vehicle driver can overcome the presumption of negligence by establishing that the lead driver, or some other driver, was negligent in causing the crash. The insurance company for the rear vehicle usually attempts this by arguing that the lead vehicle stopped quickly without any legitimate reason. However, this is a difficult argument that often fails. It is the obligation of each driver to leave enough distance between his/her vehicle and the one in front of it to safely stop if that driver stops quickly. Additionally, all drivers need to account for the fact that emergencies arise, whatever they may be, that may cause the driver ahead to stop quickly. If that driver can stop for a hazard in front of him/her, other drivers should be able to stop as well.

In rear end accidents that cause injuries or death, the rear driver is likely going to be negligent for causing the accident and the damages according to Florida law. That driver may have excuses for why he/she was not completely at fault, but those excuses are often ineffective.

A tire on an SUV blew resulting in a serious traffic accident that killed one eight year old and injured many other children on I-95 near the county line between Volusia County and Flagler County and Ormond Beach, Florida, according to an article on News4Jax.com. Apparently, the tire blew while the SUV was carrying children on a church trip to Jacksonville, Florida. After the tire blew, the driver of the SUV lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.

When traveling at highway speeds, it is very difficult to maintain control of a vehicle when the tire blows. There may be nothing a driver can do to prevent a vehicle from overturning and/or crashing in that scenario. In the context of a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit resulting from a traffic crash like this, the investigation should point to the companies involved in manufacturing, distributing and selling the tire. Tires can be faulty and tire companies may fail to give adequate safety instructions and warnings. Tires can wear out from use but also just from age, and they should be properly marked so purchasers and users of tires know when a tire is safe to use on a vehicle. An unsuspecting vehicle owner or driver may assume a tire is safe based on the way it looks. However, a tire that appears safe may give no indication that it is a risk of blowing out when the vehicle is in operation. If a tire is faulty for any reason or the tire company did not provide adequate warnings, fault for a serious accident resulting from a blown tire like this one can lie with the companies responsible for making the tire and getting it into the marketplace.

We recently wrote about a new study that found that 10% of people who were considered binge drinkers (5 or more drinks on one occasion at least once a month) drove after getting drunk. The study found that about half of them drove from a restaurant, bar or nightclub. Some of these people are causing serious traffic crashes, and all of them are at increased risk of causing traffic crashes.

Obviously, anyone who causes a traffic accident because he/she was drunk and driving improperly is financially responsible for any injuries or deaths that result in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. However, a restaurant, bar or nightclub may also bear some responsibility for a traffic crash caused by one of its customers. Restaurant, bar and nightclub owners cannot just provide excessive amounts of alcohol to its customers, or additional alcohol after a customer is clearly drunk, and watch them walk out of the door to their vehicles. If a restaurant, bar or club serves alcohol to a customer who is apparently intoxicated and has reason to believe that he/she may be driving from that location, they may be liable for damages that driver causes in a traffic accident after leaving the restaurant, bar or nightclub.

When we handle personal injury and wrongful death cases where a drunk driver caused the accident, important inquiries are made into how and where the at-fault driver became so intoxicated. That investigation may lead to the discovery of another party that could have prevented the traffic crash and is partially responsible for the damages caused by the accident.