Tired and Fatigued Truck Drivers
A Major Cause of Missouri Truck Accidents
Joshua P. Myers is a Missouri truck accident lawyer who specializes in recovering truck accident settlements for individuals who have been seriously injured in a Missouri semi-truck accident. Truck accidents can cause serious injuries and damage because of a semi-truck's massive size and power. A tractor-trailer driver has to be more careful on the road than other drivers because his or her truck is so powerful.
Trucking Industry Regulations
Tractor-trailers make up 3% of registered vehicles and yet statistics show that semi-truck accidents make up almost 12% of traffic accident fatalities. Trucking companies and drivers are governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMSCA) that regulate special laws. The Missouri tractor-trailer attorneys at Myers Injury Law believe that a truck accident case generally has two truths:
- Truck drivers do not properly log his or her resting and driving hours
- Trucking companies push the driver to log more hours than permitted by law
Truck drivers that do not properly log his or her hours are violating federal regulations created to decrease the number of trucking accidents that are caused by truck driver fatigue. Trucking companies that push their truck drivers to log more hours than permitted are in violation of the safety laws because they are creating the situation of a fatigued truck driver. When an accident is caused by a semi-truck driver that is in violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR), we will fight for punitive damages and seek a higher truck accident settlement.
Violation of Hours of Service Rules Results in Fatigue
Our Missouri truck accident attorneys know the regulations the FMCSR sets forth in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (24 CFR) Part 395. The regulations control the amount of hours a tractor-trailer driver can be on the road during a 24-hour period to reduce the risk of accidents caused by fatigued drivers. The federal regulations state:
- Interstate tractor-trailer drivers are only allowed to drive for 11 hours in a 24-hour period,
- Tractor-trailer drivers are prohibited from driving after 14-hours consecutive on-duty hours, and
- Tractor-Trailer drivers must remain off duty for 10 straight hours after a 14-hour shift to qualify for another shift.
Our Missouri truck accident lawyers
know that trucking companies' revenue is directly linked to the number of hours their drivers are on the road. The desire of trucking companies to make a profit overshadows the need to follow federal trucking regulations and people are seriously injured because of this negligence. An ongoing problem in the trucking industry is the falsification of a driver's log book, but that is generally not discovered without a truck accident lawyer aggressively fighting to make the truck company turn over the documents. There are many factors that influence a truck driver to falsify their logbooks:
- Truck drivers have to fight traffic and weather that put him or her behind schedule;
- Truck companies offer a bonus to a driver who can make an extra stop while staying on schedule; and
- Trucking companies enforce strict arrival deadlines and dock pay if the driver does not arrive on time
Driver Fatigue Can Lead to Serious Injury
Truck driver fatigue is an extreme danger for others on the road and one of the leading causes of truck accidents. Our Missouri Semi-Truck Accident Lawyers have worked on many truck accident cases that involve a fatigued driver. In many cases, the truck driver's hours were falsified or clearly showed the driver was in violation of federal law. Our experienced truck accident attorneys know how and what internal documents to obtain from the trucking company after a tractor-trailer accident. Failure to obtain these documents could jeopardize a truck accident settlement, which is why an inexperienced tractor-trailer accident attorney could prevent you from receiving a full settlement.
The Importance of an Experienced Truck Accident Attorney
After a truck accident, the trucking company's insurance company sends its investigators to gather evidence. Insurance companies have unlimited resources and specialists to fight against a lawsuit, which is why you need an attorney that specializes in truck accidents on your side. Our experienced Missouri semi-truck accident attorneys maximizes your truck accident settlement
after a truck accident by:
- Immediately sending a team of experienced trucking professionals to investigate the truck and scene of the accident;
- Immediately sending a team of investigators to obtain witness statements;
- Immediately requesting the Federal Government's file regarding the trucking company's safety rating; and
- Immediately sending a certified letter to the trucking company to demand that they preserve evidence for our investigation.
Fees for a Trucking Accident Lawsuit
One of the first questions the truck accident attorneys receive is about the legal costs of a tractor-trailer accident. At our firm, we work on a contingency fee basis. If Myers Injury Law gets involved with your case, you do not have to pay anything up front for us to get started. Rather, our fee is taken as a percentage of the recovery. Thus, you can be confident that we will never:
- Require a retainer,
- Send you a monthly bill, or
- Bill you by the hour
It will not cost you anything to team up with one of our experienced Missouri tractor-trailer attorneys
. They will help you get the compensation you deserve for your injuries sustained from the negligence of a tired truck driver.