As a trucking accident attorney in Atlanta, I have sometimes wondered how can one predict which truck drivers will be in crashes. Now a study by the American Transportation Research Institute reveals the predictive value of driver records. Drawing on data from 582,772 U.S. truck drivers over a two-year time…
Container freight trucks entering and exiting the Port of Savannah have presented a substantial safety hazard on surface streets near the port. Now Gov. Nathan Deal is supporting a proposal to build a new 3.1 mile highway link between I-95 and the Port of Savannah. It would be used primarily…
In my truck and bus accident law practice in Atlanta, one of the more newsworthy cases in which I have participated arose from the crash of the Bluffton Univeristy tour buss in Atlanta in 2007. In predawn darkness, a bus took a confusingly marked exit ramp and crashed off a…
The Safe Roads Act, proposed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senators Mark Pryor and John Boozman, both of Arkansas, would tighten the handling of truckers‘ drug and alcohol tests. If passed into law, this bill would require medical review officers, employers, and service agents to report to the Federal Motor Carrier…
Federal trucking safety rules continue to expand on commercial truck drivers’ texting or calling while they drive As a trial attorney handling tractor trailer and big rig crash cases throughout Georgia, I see how important this can be in trucking accident cases. The latest Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published…
Monday morning, an unidentified man died when he drove his Honda into the rear of an unoccupied tractor-trailer truck parked on the shoulder of a southbound ramp on to Interstate 85 in DeKalb County., according to a report by Rhonda Cash of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. While strange to the…
The SmartDrive Safety study of commercial drivers observed with in-vehicle recorders that capture video, audio and vehicle data during sudden stops, swerves, collisions and other risky driving maneuvers reached a surprising conclusion. The study showed that the top 5 percent of drivers with the most driving distractions were distracted 67…
Trucking safety practices over the past year and a half have been impacted by adoption of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) program. The CSA has three components that measure safety performance, evaluating high-risk behaviors and crafting appropriate interventions. For commercial motor carriers, the standards significantly alter how truckers and companies…
For nearly as long as I’ve been an attorney representing people hurt in tractor trailer accidents in Georgia, we have seen a running battle over the hours of service rules that are supposed to protect people from the dangers of truck driver fatigue. Without reviewing the whole history (see this,…
For many years, interstate truck drivers have referred to the driver logs required by federal law as “comic books.” Falsification of logs has been so common that many drivers kept two sets of logs, one for their own use and another to show to inspectors. As a trucking accident trial…