Commercial truck drivers are required to spend long hours on the road to make their deliveries as scheduled. Louisiana truck drivers can grow tired on these long drives and lose focus. A fatigued driver may:
- Drive too slowly
- Fail to stop when necessary
- Swerve into traffic
- Swerve into medians or other stationary structures
The above actions may cause catastrophic car and truck accidents that result in severe injuries and damages. According to the Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS), 13 percent of commercial drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents were fatigued at the time of their accidents.
Truck drivers must follow FMCSA hours-of-service regulations
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers to prevent accidents from happening. A few of the key regulations for property-carrying drivers are:
- No more than 11 hours on the road after 10 consecutive hours off duty
- A 30-minute driving break after eight hours
- No more than 14 consecutive hours on the road after coming on duty
Recovering damages after a truck accident
Large trucks carrying heavy cargo that collide with passenger vehicles can cause serious injuries to drivers and passengers in those passenger vehicles. If you have been severely injured in a trucking accident involving a fatigued driver, you may file a personal injury lawsuit against the truck driver, owner of the truck, and trucking company that employs the truck driver, asserting negligence.
For example, a trucking company may be liable for negligently hiring an unqualified truck driver or failing to ensure that all drivers received the necessary training before getting behind the wheel of a commercial truck.
If your lawsuit is successful, you may recover compensation to cover your medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other economic and non-economic damages.