Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

In the event of a truck accident, interstate motor carriers need to have enough insurance to cover the harm that they may have caused. Therefore all such carriers are required by law to be insured to a minimum level. The current minimums, set in 1985, are $750,000 for general freight, $5 million for the most dangerous hazmats and $1 million for other hazmats. Following a recent report to the Congress demonstrating that minimum insurance requirements for interstate truckers were too low, the FMCSA started to work on a new rule.

However yesterday, the U.S. House approved an amendment that would stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from changing insurance minimums. The amendment is a long way from becoming law but it highlights opposition to the agency even considering a change in the minimums.

Read more in Trucking Info

Jose Duran was driving his truck on the Cross Bronx expressway when a manhole cover crashed through his windshield striking him in the head. He lost control of his vehicle and crashed into another tractor trailer. No one else was hurt. Duran was declared dead upon his arrival at the hospital.

Read more in the New York Daily News

After her son Jeff was killed in a truck accident 20 years ago, Daphne Izer started Parents Against Tired Truckers. She dedicated herself to protect others from becoming casualties of fatigued truck drivers and created a national standard for the use of Electronic Logging Devices. A few days ago Daphne was honored as a “Champion of Change” by the White House and the US Department of Transportation.

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Photo: Courtesy FMCSA

Truck accidents are more likely to happen when truck drivers are being harassed or coerced to drive in unsafe conditions. For years, unscrupulous dispatchers have been threatening truck drivers with economic penalties such as the loss of their job for refusing to operate under illegal conditions. Often drivers are being pressured to work past the limits of the hours of service rules or to drive trucks with mechanical problems. The new Coercion Rule proposed by the FMCSA prohibits carriers and others from coercing a driver to violate the commercial regulations. The proposal also includes procedures for drivers to report coercion. The penalty for violating the Rule can go up to $11,000 per occurrence. Carriers and brokers can also have their authorities revoked.

The Rule was posted in the federal register and the public has 90 days to comment on this Rule.

Read more in Go By Truck News

Crashes involving trucks from drilling projects are on the rise. An Associated Press analysis of traffic deaths and U.S. census data in six drilling states shows that in some places, fatalities have more than quadrupled since 2004 – a period when most American roads have become much safer even as the population has grown.

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With the actual growing shortage of qualified truck drivers, trucking companies may be tempted to lower their hiring standards to avoid turning down jobs. These companies should keep in mind that by scarifying safety for profit they put themselves at the mercy of a negligent hiring lawsuit.

Trucks are dangerous vehicles and motor carriers are responsible for any accident caused by their drivers. Therefore if the company was negligent in its hiring process in addition to the usual negligent driving claims it can also be held responsible for the personal injury, the death and the property damage resulting from an accident caused by its driver on a separate cause of action alleging negligent hiring. In some states based upon the driver’s record at the time of hiring punitive damages may be recoverable.

In his article “Negligent Driver Hiring Can Bite You in the Butt” , Don Jerrel, Associate Vice President at HNI, explains how hiring, training and keeping qualified and successful truck drivers will protect commercial carriers from expensive lawsuits and improve safety on the road by reducing truck accidents.