NOTE TO TRUCK DRIVERS: Our law practice focuses on representation of people who are seriously injured, and families of those killed, in crashes with large commercial vehicles. While those are often truck drivers, we do not handle truckers’ employment law matters. For legal advice on issues with your employer, see…
The health of truck drivers operating 80,000 pound vehicles on the highways for long hours is a matter of great concern for safety of both the truckers and others on the road. The lifestyle of long-haul truckers is hardly conducive to maintaining good habits of diet and exercise. Obesity, sleep…
Effective 12/19/08, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rescinded a 1997 policy in order to permit motor carriers to use electronic systems in lieu of paper logs. The change of policy recognizes the reality that most motor carriers now use some sort of technology to trace, route and manage their…
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, at 49 CFR 391.11, requires that in order to get a Commercial Driver’s License, an applicant must be able to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to…
Ray LaHood, the new US Secretary of Transportation, is apparently focused on infrastructure and air traffic control, but not so much on trucking safety. According to an Associated Press article by Michael Tarm, LaHood is preparing to meet with the state DOT chiefs from all 50 states about plans for…
On inauguration day, President Obama’s office issued a directive to agency heads directing a 60 day hold on newly issued regulations that had not yet become final. Regarding the trucking industry, three new regulations were published in the Federal Register during the last days of the Bush administration but had…
One of the first official acts of the new Obama administration was to put a hold on newly proposed or recently adopted federal regulations until the new team can review them. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s controversial hours of service regulations, which became final the day before the…
A tractor trailer accident on an icy interstate highway in Indiana underscores the importance of the rule requiring drivers of commercial vehicles to exercise “extreme caution” in hazardous weather conditions. On I-74 in Indiana, a firefighter was suffered a crushed pelvis, broken leg, and multiple internal injuries when he was…
Truck driver fatigue as a cause of major tractor trailer accidents is an old story. As a trucking trial lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, I have seen it too many times. In today’s Baltimore Sun, there is an editorial, “Yawning Danger,” urging the incoming Obama administration to overturn the hours of…
Trucking safety lawyers as well as everyone else concerned about transportation issues needs to pay attention to personnel choices in the US Department of Transportation. You remember the old cliche that “personnel is policy.” Even an humble personal injury trial attorney handling trucking accident cases in Atlanta should be attentive.…