Trucking Accident Attorney Blog

Trucking regulations are an important part of my job as a St. Louis semi truck accident attorney. Trucking companies and truckers are required to follow certain safety rules, but after many accidents, an investigation shows that they outright ignored or bent those rules. That’s why I was pleased to see an Oct. 23 article from TheTrucker.com announcing that a “strike force” from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken action against 84 trucking and bus companies for violations of drug and alcohol safety rules, including failure to test drivers and employing drivers who failed a drug test. The sweep also took away the commercial drivers’ licenses of 77 drivers. The FMCSA regulates interstate trucking as well as interstate bus and school bus companies.

According to the article, FMCSA regulators spent ten days in September examining the drivers’ drug and alcohol safety records. One goal of the program was to find drivers who simply jump from company to company to avoid taking drug and alcohol tests or federal reporting requirements. The drivers caught in the sweep lost their commercial licenses right away and will probably be fined, TheTrucker.com said; they may also face other civil penalties. The trucking and busing companies face enforcement actions that could include fines or even a shutdown notice. Both the companies and the drivers will have a chance to contest the violations and the amounts of any fines assessed.

As a Missouri tractor-trailer accident attorney, I am delighted to see federal regulators taking action against companies and drivers who are in flagrant violation of drug and alcohol safety laws. As I wrote here in August, a government study found that more than 1,000 trucking companies ordered by the FMCSA to shut down for safety violations simply changed their names and kept operating, suggesting that the FMCSA has a lot of work to do to clean house. Skipping drug and alcohol testing -- or intentionally employing drivers with records that should make them unemployable -- may be attractive to trucking companies that want to save a few bucks, but those laws are in place to protect the public. Nobody should control a ten-ton, 65-mph vehicle while drunk or high. When a substance-abusing driver hits a smaller vehicle, the result is likely to be a highly preventable tragedy.

Continue reading "Sweep Takes 77 Commercial Truck Drivers Off the Road for Drug and Alcohol Violations" »

Because I am a Missouri trucking accident attorney, I keep an eye on any safety changes that come out of the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency that regulates interstate trucking. That’s how I came across an article on Today’sTrucking.com Oct. 20 saying that federal safety regulators are considering a new rule intended to prevent accidents caused by truck drivers hitting the accelerator when they are trying to hit the brakes. According to the article, the NTSB’s decision comes after studying five accidents believed to have been caused by “pedal misapplication,” including a 2005 school bus crash in Liberty, Missouri.

To address this concern, the NTSB has asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to consider a rule that all new heavy vehicles -- mainly semi trucks and school buses -- must come with a brake transmission shift interlock device installed. These devices, which are already standard on lighter passenger vehicles, require drivers to depress the brakes in order to shift a vehicle with an automatic transmission out of Park. The NTSB hopes this requirement will cut down on incidents of unexpected acceleration caused by drivers’ mistakes. It also asked the NHTSA to analyze the pedal configurations in heavy vehicles to see if design defects can affect accidents, and provide pedal design guidelines to manufacturers.

As a St. Louis big rig accident lawyer, I’m always pleased to see regulatory action directed at preventing the deaths and serious injuries a semi truck crash can cause. In the Liberty bus accident the NTSB examined, the driver allegedly accelerated when she meant to brake, killing two people in other vehicles and injuring 23 of the children on board, two critically. In another Missouri crash the agency studied, a transit bus in Normandy, Missouri accidentally accelerated right after letting passengers off, killing four pedestrians. When heavy vehicles -- officially defined as vehicles over 10,000 pounds -- accelerate out of control, they have the power to crush everything in their path, including pedestrians and other motorists. Pedal misapplication may not be common, but when the results are this serious, it’s worth tweaking the design of heavy trucks to prevent them.

Continue reading "Federal Regulators May Require Device Requiring Truckers to Apply Brakes During Ignition" »