California Injury Blog
In recent months, several horrifying accidents have resulted from fatigued or overworked truck drivers. Recently, a truck driver fell sleep at the wheel causing a truck accident. Peterson, the plaintiff, suffered a herniated disk in the crash, sued the driver and his employer, and was awarded 1.98 million dollars.
Another headline was when a fatigued driver recently re-entered the road from an emergency lane and caused a fatal truck accident. The plaintiff in this case claims the trucker was negligent in driving while tired and had been in violation of the federal hours-of-service regulation. This is a specific law that all drivers in all states must follow laying out minimum rest and maximum work requirements per day and in one work period.
Driver fatigue has become a huge problem in recent years. The rules of truck drivers in California are as follows:
A max of 11 consecutive hours of driving at one time.
A maximum of 14 consecutive on-duty hours A minimum 10 consecutive hours of off-duty between driving shifts
Even with these rules, truckers can still work up to 70 hours a week and many times, the pressure trucking companies place on their drivers forces them to work illegally over these limits to ensure their cargo reaches the destination on time. Unrealistic expectations and unsafe and oversized loads have caused thousands of trucks to lose control and collide, causing the deaths of many innocent people throughout the past decades. Because of this, truck accidents have become a rising epidemic that has to be dealt with.
If you or someone you know was involved in a similar truck accident, contact California truck accident lawyers for help with your case.