As a trucking safety trial lawyer, I’ve been bemused at the reluctance to fully utilize widely available GPS technology for trucking regulatory enforcement. Under a policy issued in 1997, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration limited the use of technology data and electronically produced records, such as GPS, during reviews…
Seldom does my trucking litigation practice as an attorney in Atlanta overlap with my semi-regular reading of Investors Business Daily. However, the issue for Monday, 12/22/08, includes an insightful article by J. Bonasia titled “Trucking Firms Shift Gears.” Some key points: * “A central part of the industry’s cost structure…
As a trucking trial attorney, I see case after case of fatigued truck drivers, either near the end of their legal hours of service, or pushing beyond those hours, causing crashes due to impaired perception, reaction and judgment. For the past several years there has been a battle over extension…
As a trucking trial lawyer in Georgia, I often encounter defendants seeking to exclude evidence of corporate misconduct by just admitting that that they are responsible for the driver. Rather than letting into evidence the whole story of the corporation’s systemic disregard for safety for years, they try to focus…
Even I as a trucking accident trial lawyer can’t figure a way to blame this one on the trucking company. According to a report by Kevin Valentine on Wearecentralpa.com, Friday on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a small airplane rearended a tractor trailer and bounced over the guardrail before coming to rest.…
As a trucking trial attorney occasionally representing truck drivers who are injured as well as others who are injured by by truckers, I have been fascinated by the stories I hear from HazMat drivers about the dangers they face every day. Those folks ought to qualify for combat pay. Lisa…
In my trucking litigation practice, I have found that one of the weak links in truck transportation is the quality of equipment used in transporting freight containers from ports to ultimate destinations. Too many of the truck chassis used are apparently old trailers spray painted to look sharp but with…
As a trucking accident trial lawyer in Atlanta, I am no longer surprised at the failure of some trucking companies to do pretty basic stuff related to safety. Of course, I am looking at those companies whose drivers get into serious crashes. Now the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has…
Setting the direction of trucking safety will be a small part of the job of the new Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, named yesterday by President-elect Obama. He was not on the short list of candidates about whom there had been a lot of speculation. John McCain has praised the…
As a trucking accident trial lawyer in Georgia, I find myself spending a lot of time in conference rooms for the depositions of truck drivers and trucking company owners. Since I sometimes represent truck drivers who are injured by the negligence of other truck drivers, it is not uncommon to…