Articles Posted in Trucking Rules

The Georgia DOT is consideirng a proposal for a private consortium to add toll lanes for trucks to portions of I-285 and I-20 in metro Atlanta.   The proposal would have the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, the engineering firm PBS&J and the law firm McGuire Woods to help develop and finance a possible expansion of…

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admininistration, in 2004, 248 people died in accidents involving large trucks in Georgia. Driver fatigue is a major cause of those wrecks, but there are insufficient safe spaces along the highways for tractor trailer drivers to pull over to sleep. The Georgia D.O.T. allows truckers to park in…

A recent decision in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois uses the Regulatory Guidance to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for a construction of the Regs supporting punitive damages. See Trotter v. B & W Cartage Co., Inc., 2006 WL 1004882 (S.D.Ill.,2006). The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful…

I occasionally receive emails from truck drivers who point out that my posts are too hard on members of their profession. To be fair, I recognize that truck drivers work hard under difficult conditions, and most truck drivers are conscientious about safety. I represent some truck drivers too, and recognize that reckless conduct is far…

We reported recently on a suit filed by Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and later the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, challenging the current FMCSA hours of service regulation. The rule allows truckers to drive 11 consecutive hours before taking a mandatory 10-hour off-duty…

Kyoto, Japan, 3/6/06. The Japanese have found an effective deterrent to trucking companies pushing drivers to drive even when severely fatigued. Police arrested the head of a trucking company and one of his deputies Monday on suspicion of ordering an overworked tanker truck driver to continue driving prior to a fatal road accident on Feb.…

U.S. DOT Secretary Mineta has appointed five doctors to serve on the new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) Medical Review Board. FMCSA is planning updates to physical qualification regulations of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The board is supposed to provide science-based guidance to establish realistic and responsible medical standards. Criteria for appointment includes…

A coalition of organizations has filed suit challenging the Hours of Services rules adopted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2005. Like the nearly identical rule issued by FMCSA in April 2003, which the court struck down in 2004, the 2005 rule dramatically increases both the number of hours that truckers may drive…

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…

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…