Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

Truck Accidents have been linked to driver fatigue. There have been studies that demonstrate that the number of accidents involving trucks increase dramatically between the !0th and 11th hour of the truck driver's shift. The Federal Court of Appeals used these studies to invalidate the The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") regulations allowing truck drivers to drive those extra hours.

The FMCSA has now submitted an interim final rule on hours of service to the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, Nov. 27. This will replace the one invalidated by the Court of Appeals. The OMB notice, however, did not include a date when the review will be complete.

On July 24, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tossed the provision that increased driving time to 11 hours from 10 hours and the 34-hour restart provision. In that same decision, the court denied a petition by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association asking the court to consider the impact of changes to the sleeper-berth provision.

Once OMB approves the interim final rule, it will be published in the Federal Register. Hopefully the FMCSA will err on the side of safety and not bend to the pressures of the trucking industry to allow drivers to drive longer with less rest so they can make more money. With the make of the FMCSA and its past actions I think that is doubtful. The current administration sides with big business as well as the agencies it controls through appointments and the FMCSA is no exception. Hopefully I will be proven wrong when the interim rule is make public but I doubt it.

A Chicago Illinois truck driver on October 1, 2003 crashed into a small tour bus killing eight woman all from the Chicago area. Accident reconstructionists estimated that the truck driver was traveling more than 60 mph in a 45 mph constructions zone. In addition, to the speed limit violation, he was charged with failing to inspect his vehicle as required by Federal Regulations, failing to secure his load and failure to properly keep his log book.

The driver of the tour bus involved in the crash at a tollway that killed eight passengers testified Monday that he had little time to react before a truck slammed into the rear of his vehicle."For a split second, I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the truck moving extremely fast," "All of a sudden we were hit from behind. I was thrown against the steering wheel."

The truck driver blamed for the crash was charged last year with eight counts of reckless homicide and other offenses. He was returning from Rockford Illinois at the time after picking up a load of cardboard. As traffic slowed for a toll plaza his tractor-trailer truck hit the rear of the tour bus that was carrying members of International Women Associates, a Chicago-based organization.

A National Transportation Safety Board report concluded that the crash might have been prevented if the old-style toll plaza had been replaced by safer open-road tolling. The older plazas increased the incidence of rear-end collisions, the board concluded.

The tour bus driver testified that he began slowing in a construction zone from the posted 45 m.p.h. speed limit about a mile before the crash to about 15 m.p.h. "It was a clear day," he said. "I could easily see traffic was moving to the right to get into the manual [toll] lanes."The collision triggered a chain-reaction crash that also involved a pickup truck and tanker truck. There were 15 injuries.

A westbound motorist, testified that he stopped and rushed to the median where the 25-passenger bus had come to rest. "It was the worst thing I'd ever seen," he said. "Just, people needing help. People were hurt, injured, hysterically out of control. Bleeding all over."

This accident shows the dangers of trucks driving too fast and failing to follow federal regulations. Trucks weigh so much and can't stop nearly as fast as cars and need to follow all speed limits and safety regulations. When they don't, the consequences for innocent motorists and passengers can be deadly like this crash. I have seen this happen too many times in my job in representing people who are injured in truck crashes. Most truck drivers are responsible, but the few dangerous ones gives truck drivers a bad name.

In all accidents involving trucks, the truck driver is required to submit to an alcohol and drug test. In my experience, truck drivers have been driving under the influence of stimulants like methamphetamine, Benzedrine, adderall, cocaine, and some are driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Federal Motor Safety Carrier Administration sometimes has random drug test. Truckers, however, can easily cheat on drug tests, according to a U.S. subcommittee investigation. The
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data indicate that 1.3 to 2.8 percent of commercial drivers randomly tested between 1994 and 2005 tested positive for illegal drugs. However, recently Oregon roadside inspectors collected 500 urine samples from commercial drivers — mostly heavy-truck drivers – and found that approximately 9 to 10% tested positive for illegal drugs.

In February, the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit asked the Government Accountability Office, to conduct an undercover investigation. The investigators invented two trucking companies, produced bogus driver’s licenses and then posed as truckers to test 24 collection sites nationwide. The GAO also interviewed all parties involved in testing, from carrier representatives to federal officials, and analyzed regulations and data.

Investigators used bogus driver’s licenses to gain access to all 24 sites investigated, showing that a drug user could send someone else to take a drug test using fake identification. Twenty-two of the 24 selected sites did not adequately follow the remaining protocols. For example, 75 percent of sites tested didn’t restrict access to items that could be used to change the specimen, such as running water, soap or air freshener.

The GAO found a significant compliance lack among carriers, particularly small carriers and self-employed truckers. More than half of carriers with operating authority are single-truck owner-operators. While they still have to implement a drug and alcohol testing program, they usually use a third-party administrator. That administrator doesn’t have the authority to enforce regulations if drug use is indicated.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, owner-operators “are in the precarious position of overseeing their own substance abuse program.” Drug testing protocol violations are noted in more than 40 percent of FMCSA’s safety audits conducted since 2003 of carriers that have recently started operations and more than 70 percent of the compliance reviews conducted on carriers in the industry since 2001.

FMCSA’s oversight activities are limited in quantity and scope. Safety audits targeted at new entrants began in 2003 and do not affect carriers in business before then. Such companies can be covered in compliance reviews, but these reviews occur at only about 2 percent of carriers a year, according to FMCSA. In addition, the agency’s oversight does not address compliance by service agents unless there are allegations or complaints.

Even when FMCSA is able to ensure that carriers and others are in compliance with drug testing requirements, the urine test can be subverted. Drug masking products such as adulterants work well and destroy the evidence of their presence. Investigators demonstrated that such products could easily be brought to the sites undetected.

In 2005, the GAO testified that 400 products were marketed to mislead drug tests. Furthermore, the required test covers only five drug categories and it may provide a clean result if a person has not used any of these drugs recently. The GAO will continue examining these recommendations, some of which were proposed by carriers and industry representatives.

This shows the need for the government to be more proactive in enforcing its rights to test truckers for illegal drugs before they cause a serious or fatal accident. It is not hard to design a protocol to prevent a trucker from cheating on a drug test. It just requires simple procedures that are followed with precautions designed to catch truckers intent of avoiding the test. Lax enforcement is the problem and truckers who drive under the influence who admittedly are in the vast minority of truckers must know there is a significant chance they will get caught and lose their livelihood for the regulations to the force and effect that they should.

http://www.jefflowepc.com/lawyer-attorney-1182209.html Truck drivers, are required to undergo drug testing, however, the Government Accountability Office discovered rampant problems in drug testing for commercial truck drivers. The investigators found that the testing was avoided so easily that officials were surprised that anyone would ever fail a test.

The GAO found that drug users could easily beat urine tests with widely available drug-masking products. In addition, the GAO found that 21 of 24 sites that collect drug samples failed to follow Department of Transportation guidelines. The GAO reported that only 1.7 percent of tested drivers failed the federally mandated tests and were surprised that the numbers was that high..

Lawmakers, though, said with so many loopholes there is no way to determine just how many impaired truck drivers are on the roads today. Illegal drug use has been cited as a factor in 2 percent of all truck crashes government requires drug and alcohol testing for nearly all mass transportation workers, including commercial truck drivers.

The investigation of the private collection sites that offer drug testing found that 75 percent failed to secure their facilities from substances that could alter or dilute urine samples. Almost half failed to ask employees to empty their pockets, which could hide substances used to defeat the drug tests.

Such products with names like "Urineluck" and "The Whizzinator" are available over the Internet. Drug-free human urine can also be purchased in many locations and smuggled into testing sites. Also, those who are not drug users may use fake driver's licenses and take the tests for others, investigators found.

At all 24 sites surveyed, government investigators used bogus drivers licenses. Committee members said it was easy to see that drug users are consistently using products from the Internet to skirt the law.

"It's one thing to go to a pop concert and use these drugs," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn. "It's another thing to get behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle."

With no centralized federal database of drivers who have failed drug tests, lawmakers and trucking industry officials said drug users can easily apply for a new job if a driver fails another company's drug test. The "job hopping" can be fixed with congressional action, said Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, a member of the subcommittee. "We really do need a system where employers can very readily look and see where somebody's been fired four times for drugs," Boozman said. "I think that's where Congress comes in. I think that would be very doable."

An Arkansas law that takes effect Jan. 1 creates a statewide database that indicates positive drug and alcohol tests for holders of commercial driver's licenses. Six other states have similar laws.

The American Trucking Association supports a national clearinghouse for test results, said Greer Woodruff, a member of the association's safety policy committee and a senior vice president at Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. Woodruff said he was convinced J.B. Hunt and other carriers are following federal regulations. He blamed "holes in the system" for drug users that go undetected."The ATA recommended Congress consider a ban on the sale of substances that dilute or adulterate urine. With more than 12 million people subject to mandatory drug testing, each one using the products poses a serious safety concern, Woodruff said. The industry also called for more government oversight of collection sites and for rules that allow alternative drug testing methods, such as by hair or saliva.

As you drive down I-70 through Missouri and Illinois through St. Louis, Kansas City, and other cities along the way, if you think I-70 is too congested with Trucks and Tractor Trailers you're not alone. That stretch of I-70, averages daily traffic for cars and trucks ranges from 45,000 to 250,000 vehicles. Average daily truck traffic ranges from 11,000 to more than 26,000. By 2035, the average daily traffic will increase to more than 100,000, including an average of 25,000 trucks.

Increasing safety for cars basically boils down to trying to separate as much as possible trucks from cars. Congestion, is a major issue for cars and trucks because cars can stop more quickly than trucks. The money it will take, however, to make something like that happen is enormous.

Here is a list of what some other states are doing to ease truck congestion on interstate highways:

• Florida: Banning big trucks from the far left lane of I-4 on a 60-mile stretch between Tampa and Orlando. Stretches of I-75 and I-95 elsewhere in the state have similar restrictions.

• Georgia: Considering truck-only toll lanes on parts of I-75 northwest of Atlanta and on a 20-mile stretch of the I-285 beltway that surrounds the city.

• Arizona, California, Texas and the Gulf Coast states: Using a grant to study segregating truck and automobile traffic on stretches of I-10.

The Federal Government is weighing private industry proposals to move some truck cargo to ships along the Atlantic Coast, potentially freeing up lanes on interstates. The study is one of six funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation to find ways to reduce congestion and improve freight delivery across the nation. A feasibility study typically is the beginning of a long process that can take years for a highway project to become a reality.

I doubt any of these projects will become reality soon because of the cost. We are more interested in reducing the budgets for highways and other traffic related projects then making major expansions, even if it is in the name of safety. I hope i am pleasantly surprised, but i doubt a truck only lane on Interstate 70 will become a reality any time soon.