Last month there was a news story about the New Jersey Committee on Attorney Advertising, a panel appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruling that attorney advertisements that tout listings such as the “Super Lawyers” listings violate professional responsibility rules against ads that compare lawyers’ services or create an “unjustified expectation about results.” …
Continue reading ›The Large Truck Crash Causation Study announced by U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration this past spring is now available to the public. LTCCS is the first-ever national study to attempt to determine the critical events and associated factors that contribute to serious large truck crashes allowing the DOT and others to implement effective countermeasures…
Continue reading ›A Nashville reporter did an analysis of truck wreck data and found that truck drivers who violated hours of service rules, fell asleep and caused wrecks were seldom ticketed and fined. Out of 64 truckers who were reported as “apparently asleep” and either injured or killed someone, 70% did not even get a ticket. Of…
Continue reading ›What should a victim — or more likely family members and friends — do immediately after a catastrophic truck wreck? In many types of personal injury or wrongful death cases, it doesn’t matter a great deal if one waits several months to even think about talking to a lawyer. So long as evidence is preserved…
Continue reading ›Sometimes I get comments from truck drivers who say the items I post are too one-sided. Sorry about that. I certainly recognize that a majority of truck drivers are hard-working, reasonably safety conscious folks, and not all truck wrecks are the fault of the truckers. That doesn’t meen I accept at face value the trucking…
Continue reading ›Today’s New York Times reports that a growing shortage of qualified over the road truck drivers is leading cokmpanies to offer generous 401(k), stock option and health care packages to new recruits and cash bonuses and prizes to drivers who refer viable candidates. To compete with other companies for experienced drivers, some are outfitting more…
Continue reading ›The Birmingham News reports today that tired truck drivers have killed 104 people on Alabama roads in the past three years. As we have frequently noted here, this is part of a national problem. From 2002 through 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available, there were 10,797 Alabama accidents in which the truck…
Continue reading ›A study of truck crashes conducted by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that 31% of fatal-to-the-driver commercial truck crashes were caused by driver fatigue. That problem is worldwide. New studies in Canada, Australia and South Africa report a significant percentage of long-haul truck drivers average 4 hours sleep our of 24. (13% in…
Continue reading ›A U.S. District Court judge in Colorado has ruled that violation of the FMCSR driver log rule is negligence of a matter of law, but that the plaintiff must present evidence of a causal relationship between the violation and the wreck. In Hill v. Western Door, 2005 WL 2991589 (D.Colo.,2005), the court ruled: [T]he requirement…
Continue reading ›Three headline-making fatal truck accidents occurred in a 15-hour period this week, killing 19 people. A truck wreck Jan. 25 killed seven children in Florida. A few hours later in Illinois, a wreck killed two adults and three children, plus the driver of the big rig. The next morning, a wreck killed six people in…
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