Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

When investigating a truck accident, the first issue that an attorney should address is whether the truck was equipped with an Electronic Control Module ("ECM") device or Global Position System ('GPS"), and if so, what kind. There are a variety of ECM modules that provide and record different types of information, and finding out what system a truck had, if any, and making sure the trucking company preserves that data, is important if a lawsuit is filed regrading the truck accident and the casue of the truck accident is disputed.

The precursors of the modern ECMS and GPS were on-board diagnostic systems that were installed in trucks in the 1980's. A truck's on-board diagnostic system is basically computer software that had been installed into the on-board computer in order to monitor and control the truck's engines and emissions. With these on-board diagnostic systems, also known as electronic control modules or ECMs, various information can be monitored including:

1. Starting air pressure
2. Filtered/unfiltered engine oil pressure
3. Oil temperature
4. Coolant level/temperature
5. Crank case pressure
6. Fuel temperature
7. Inlet air temperature
8. Engine speed
9. Cylinder exhaust temperature
10. Exhaust stack temperature, and
11. Ignition timing

This information not only helps mechanics to repair the engines, but provides for advanced data recovery technology that can be essential in accident reconstruction. The increased ability for additional information to be recorded and the data collected can be considerable importance for trucking companies to monitor the performance and compliance of their employees, the truck driver, with safety regulations. As the early computer systems became more sophisticated, they came with the ability to monitor both the behavior of the truck as well as the driver's habits, and essentially have become the truck's "flight recorder" when doing accident reconstruction.

There are currently many different ECM software systems.

For example, a software system called GlobalTracs transmits equipment engine hours and location data at regular user defined intervals or on demand. The data can be accessed via the Internet or the system can be integrated into existing business systems.

A software called FleetAdvisor supports full function on-board computing, electronic department of transportation logs, state line crossing, vehicle tracking, and real time wireless communication.

TruckMAIL was designed for smaller trucking fleets. It provides two way communication and satellite tracking. Drivers can read and send text messages from the display unit in the cab and dispatchers monitor vehicle location and send and receive messages.

All of these systems, and there are many more, have the same basic features and just different varieties of services. Typically a vehicle using one of these types of software would be fitted with a monitoring system responsible for gathering information from various monitors placed on the tractor, trailer, and cargo. The monitoring system's exact location is made possible for using a global positioning system receiver. Some of these systems automatically download data from trucks returning to a terminal.

Under current trucking hours service regulations by the FMCSA, a truck driver can work 12 hours straight, including 8 hours of driving non-stop. In the Missouri truck accident, Doris Edwards slowed for traffic near Kingdom City, Missouri on her way home from a Thanksgiving trip in 2004 when a tractor trailer slammed into her Jeep Cherokee, crushed her vehicle, and sent it down the embankment off Interstate 70, killing her. While the truck driver accepted blame for the accident, he acknowledged the fact that he had been at work in his truck cab for nearly 12 hours and he had been driving non-stop. He did not have any violation of hours of service. In fact, government officials have repeatedly turned down requests by consumer and safety organizations seeking restrictions on the hours of service that truck drivers can perform while driving cross country. In support of the regulations, the Bush administration says that the efforts to deregulate the industry have produced huge savings for businesses and consumers because it has been made faster and cheaper for goods to move across the country. They also claim with little support that without longer work hours, the industry would be forced to put more drivers with little experience behind the wheel.

Advocates of tighter rules say that the administration's record of loosening standards endangers motorists. The fatality rate for truck related accidents remains double those involving only cars. The same advocates note that the weakening rules reversed the course sent by the Clinton administration and has resulted in the federal government missing its own targets for reducing death rates. In implementing this deregulation, the FMCSA has eased rules on truckers' work hours, rejected proposals for electronic monitoring to combat wide-spread cheating on driver's logs, and resisted calls for more rigorous driver training. While many in the trucking industry have applauded this deregulation, the courts have vowed that the deregulation ignores government safety studies and puts the industry's economic interests ahead of public safety.

To advance its agenda of deregulation, the Bush administration has installed industry officials in influential posts. To lead the agency that administers regulations of the trucking industry, President Bush picked Joseph M. Clapp, a former chairman of roadway, a trucking company, to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Bush also appointed Michael P. Jackson, a former top official at trucking associations, as deputy secretary of transportation. In addition, Duane Wacklie, a leading political fundraiser and chairman of the American Trucking Association and Walter B. McCormick, Jr., the American Trucking Association's president, served on the Bush-Cheney transition team on transportation matters.

While it is not unusual for administrations to have people familiar with industries they regulate on the boards governing them, it is clear from these appointments, as loosening regulations, that fly in the face of the safety studies that the current administration is more intent on supporting the trucking companies making more money than the safety of individuals on the highways.

The only way this can change is for the public to make their voices known to the FMCSA, as well as their representatives. Once elected politicians and representatives know that this is an issue that is important that their constituents care about, can something can be done to rectify this threat to everyone safety on our nation's highways.

According to a 2006 Federal Motor Carry Safety Administration report, there are approximately 141,000 truck crashes every year and 77,000 of those, or over 50%, are the direct fault of the truck driver. The FMCA also reported that this amounts to 1 in 20 truck drivers will be involved in a truck accident. For years, many people have focused on driver fatigue as playing a major role in truck accidents, however, while fatigue is in the top 10, it is down at number 7 as being the cause of approximately 13% of the truck accidents.

According to the FMCA 2006 report, the top 10 causes of truck accidents are:

1. Prescription drug use - 26%
2. Traveling too fast - 23%
3. Unfamiliar with the roadway - 22%
4. Over the counter drug use - 18%
5. Inadequate surveillance - 14%
6. Fatigue - 13%
7. Illegal maneuver - 9%
8. Exterior distraction - 9%
9. Inadequate evasive action - 7%
10. Aggressive driving - 7%
Many people knowledgeable in the trucking industry believe there should be additional and more detailed training as well as continued education regarding how truck drivers can avoid truck accidents. While many truck drivers or people in the industry would have guessed that traveling too fast is a major contributor to truck accidents, I doubt that most people surveyed would have thought that 26% of truck accidents are caused by prescription drug use with another 18% caused by over the counter drug use, meaning that 44% of all truck accidents are caused in some part by over the counter or prescription drugs.

I believe that this statistic demonstrates that there must be increased training as well as continued education regarding medications that can contribute to truck accidents. It is reported in truck driving schools and many trucking companies use a three minute video during classes showing the dangers of drugs and driving. Many drivers do not fully understand the consequences that simple over the counter drugs can have when driving an 80,000 pound truck down the highway.

As our Interstates and highways become more congested, the number of motor vehicle accidents is going to rise. New statistics show an alarming increase in the rate of truck crashes, many of them preventable. I believe that simple education along with increased surveillance through automated log books coupled with GPS systems can dramatically decrease the number of truck accidents because while 44% of truck accidents can be attributed to prescription drug use or over the counter drug use, an additional 23% are attributed to traveling too fast, 14% to inadequate surveillance, and 13% to fatigue. All of those factors are preventable and by using modern technology, coupled with education regarding drug use, these preventable truck accidents can be drastically reduced.

While the current administration at the FMCA has made steps concerning monitoring companies with poor track records, those monitoring systems should be extended to all truck companies just like the airline industry is required to maintain black box and voice data recorders. Given the number of truck accidents and deaths compared to airplane crashes and deaths, it certainly would be cost effective to implement across the board these new technologies that can save lives.

The Bush administration, ignoring statistics demonstrating that a high percentage of truck accidents are caused by tired truck drivers, put new regulations in effect that increase the allowable maximum driving hours from 60 to 77 over 7 consecutive days and 70 to 88 over 8 consecutive days, decreasing the time off required from 10 hours to 8. This increase is the first increase in the number of hours drivers are permitted to work in 60 years. Regulators and the Bush administration also declined to require new drivers to undergo additional training as has been suggested by safety groups.

It is not surprising that these changes in regulations to allow drivers to drive more hours will make more money for trucking companies. The Bush administration has put people in charge of the Department of Transportation who had previous experience in the trucking industry, an industry which has donated $14 million in campaigns to Republicans between 2000 and 2006. The administration justifies these new regulations because they save money for businesses and consumers by making it cheaper to transport goods across the country.

This relaxing of safety regulations in the tortured logic of the Bush administration actually improved safety because by lengthening the number of hours experienced drivers are permitted to work even though they are tired, fewer new and inexperienced drivers are needed. This claim, however, of course is made without any empirical evidence to support it and flies in the face of the fact that tired drivers, whether they are truck or automobile drivers, are more likely to be involved in accidents than drivers who are not tired.

Luckily, safety conscious groups sued to overturn the regulations and succeeded when a three judge panel from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals criticized the FMSCA for ignoring its own evidence that fatigue causes many truck accidents. The opinion stated that "the agency admits that studies show that crash risk increases in the agency words, geometrically after the 8th hour on duty." The court said the new rules are arbitrary and capricious and threw them out.

Not to be thwarted by the courts, one year after the rules were overturned, the FMSCA re-issued them in what is described as almost identical forum. A suit to overthrow these has been brought by public citizen, citizens for reliable and safe highways, teamsters, and other groups. The court heard arguments in early December 2006 and we have yet to hear the results of that lawsuit.

Let's hope that with Democrats taking over the House and Senate, that more consumer oriented safety conscious regulators will enact new regulations, putting the old regulations back in place if the court does not throw out the new regulations.

Truck accidents and auto accidents as well as other deaths dropped substantially in Missouri, Illinois and 14 other states last year. Many states with the reduction in truck accident and auto accident deaths credit stepped up enforcement and education campaigns. Illinois truck accident and automobile accident deaths fell below 1,300, the lowest total since 1924. Road deaths in Illinois have been dropping every year since 2003, when Illinois enacted a law that allowed police to stop motorists solely for not wearing seat belts. According to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the drop in trucking accident and automobile accident deaths represented clear and convincing evidence that the law is working and seat belts really do save lives.

In Missouri, truck accident and automobile accident fatalities in 2005/2006 dropped 14.6 percent. Law enforcement officials credit the decline with education efforts and new research initiatives that enable state troopers to focus on areas where crashes most likely occur. Some states that had drops in traffic fatalities cited stiffer drunk driving laws, police checkpoints aimed at aggressive driving, improved highway design, and safety efforts targeting young drivers.

When I see drivers driving without their seat belts, I am amazed at their ignorance of what can happen to them in an automobile accident whether or not it involves a truck. If a car crashes into another vehicle, the deacceleration forces can force a non-belted passenger out through the windshield or the side windows of the vehicle. In addition, if the vehicle rolls over, frequently the passengers are ejected, resulting in severe permanent injuries or death. Also, safety restraints such as shoulder belts, airbags, side curtain airbags, roof pillars to prevent roof crush, all become useless if the passenger is not belted because they are not in the proper position to take advantage of the safety devices built into modern day automobiles. I applaud Illinois in allowing troopers to stop people and give them tickets if they are not wearing their seat belts. The simple clicking of a seat belts with a shoulder harness can prevent severe permanent injuries, death, as well as the social costs of extensive medical bills and the heartbreak of people losing a loved one or having to watch them suffer through extreme pain. My advice is make it automatic when you get in your automobile to put your seat belt on, and set a good example for your children by always making sure they wear their seatbelts and you wear yours.