Trucking Accidents: Common Causes

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The cause of deadly truck crashes often can be traced to greedy trucking companies that skirt safety rules and force drivers to meet unreasonable delivery deadlines.

Analysis by the American Association for Justice of previously-unavailable data confirms that “commuters are sharing roads with trucks that have incurred thousands of safety violations, such as defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceeded weight limits, and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependence.” While the problem is nationwide, the AAJ report notes five states that have the highest rate of companies violating Federal safety standards: West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, and Iowa.

Why are these chilling statistics mounting? Primarily because trucking companies are cutting corners in order to maximize profits.  Statistics show that the profit margin for trucking companies is often very low; in fact, 90% of new trucking companies are out of business by the end of their first year. So the most aggressive and unscrupulous companies stay in business by putting their profit before public safety.

(To read the AAJ report, click on “Warning! Safety Violations Ahead: Motor Carrier Companies Keep Unsafe Trucks on the U.S. Roads”.)

One of the reasons that large tractor trailers cause death and destruction is sheer size and weight. This is not only a matter of crash impact, but of damage to roads and bridges, making them hazardous for all drivers. However, there are numerous other elements of danger that may be lurking in these 80,000 pound vehicles or their equipment:

• Overweight trucks - especially when the load is not balanced or has shifted - take longer to brake than cars, and are more likely to rear-end another vehicle or roll over. A March 2006 report to Congress on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Large Truck Crash Causation Study indicates that in almost one-fourth of truck crashes, the truck rear-ended a car. Nearly 9% of trucks in the study were involved in rollovers.
  
  
• Jackknifing occurs when the trailer attached to a semi truck speeds up, or skids in icy or rainy weather. In the FMCSA study, when investigation determined that the truck itself was the critical reason for a crash, 32.1% of tractor trailers had run off the road or crossed out of their lane. Another 28.6% in this group were traveling too fast for road conditions. In only 2% of the cases investigated was the critical reason determined to be the environment: traffic flow interruption, roadway-related factors, or weather-related factors.
  
  
• The FMCSA reports that truck brake problems were found in 30% of the 967 truck crashes investigated in the agency’s nationwide study. Problems included outright brake failure, or brakes that were out of adjustment.
  
  
• This study and other credible reports indicate that most mechanical or equipment failures occur because trucking companies failed to follow safety procedures or ignored necessary repairs and maintenance schedules.

In a majority of large truck crash cases, however, the truck driver’s condition is responsible for the death and destruction. Among the most dangerous driver factors are driver distraction, prescription drug use, speeding, and fatigue.

One threat to motorists and pedestrians is potentially distracting behavior that truck drivers have in common with all drivers. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey of more than 4,000 drivers indicates that the common distracting behaviors include talking to passengers, changing radio stations or searching for CDs, eating or drinking, making or receiving cell phone calls, and reading a map or directions. Another NHTSA survey of crashes where distractions were blamed shows that more than a third of the time, an outside source such as a street sign or other motorist diverted the driver’s attention.

In the FMCSA’s July 2007 report on its Large Truck Crash Causation Study, the responsibility was assigned to the truck driver in a majority of cases where a truck was judged at fault for the accident. Driver errors were coded into four types: Non-performance (such as falling asleep or physical impairment), recognition (distracted, or not paying adequate attention), decision (driving too fast or misjudging other vehicles), and performance (overcompensation or poor directional control).

The following truck driver factors were cited by the 2007 FMCSA report in situations where drivers were determined to be the critical reason for a crash:

A subsequent FMCSA study of driver distraction has produced startling results about the risks of texting and cell phone use in commercial vehicle operations.

In September 2009, the FMCSA released results of a study of Driver Distraction in Commercial Vehicle Operations, conducted by the Center for Truck and Bus Safety at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The purpose of this study, commissioned by the FMCSA, was to further characterize “driver inattention” and determine the relative risk of driving while distracted.

Among key findings of this study were that drivers were engaged in non-driver tasks in 71% of crashes, 46% of near-crashes, and 60% of events deemed “safety critical.” Not surprisingly, eye glance analyses demonstrated a distinct correlation between increased risk and high “eyes off the forward road.”

As a result of this alarming evidence, in January 2010 U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced new federal guidelines forbidding texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. Commercial drivers may be subject to civil or criminal penalties and fined up to $2,750 for texting while driving.

Fatigue as a factor in driver liability warrants serious discussion as trucking industry groups and truck safety advocates battle over hours of service (HOS) rules.

There is no question that driver fatigue is a major contributor to large truck crashes; this has been documented in major studies by, among others, the Transportation Research Board, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety.  A new FMCSA analysis identified fatigue as a direct contributor to about 15% of fatal truck crash deaths and injuries.

Public opinion polls conducted in the last decade indicate that Americans are seriously concerned about driver fatigue, and support shorter, rather than longer, hours of service. Truck drivers themselves admit that the fatigue factor – long hours on the road combined with insufficient rest or sleep – may be more pervasive than either government or industry studies indicate.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration governs the hours of service (HOS) of interstate truck drivers, as well as drivers of commercial vehicles that transport hazardous materials within a state. (Intrastate commercial vehicles are covered by state laws that, in many states, are identical or similar to the federal regulations.)

In recent years, under the Bush Administration, hours of service rules have become a source of controversy and concern.

HOS regulations currently in effect were promulgated initially by the FMCSA in 2003, but were rejected by Appeals Court decisions in 2004, 2005, and again in 2007. Undaunted by the courts, FMCSA bureaucrats managed to file final rules nearly identical to the 2003 version. Effective January 19, 2009, the HOS rules were among the so-called “midnight regulations” issued by the Bush Administration before the Obama Administration took charge.

Outraged truck safety advocates – including the Teamsters Union, Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and the Truck Safety Coalition – have responded by re-filing with the FMCSA a petition for reconsideration of the final rules. A December 2008 petition had been turned down, but the coalition hopes that, with a new Secretary of Transportation at the helm, the new petition will receive the attention it deserves.

Here is a synopsis of the hours of service rules currently in place. For a more detailed explanation, see the FMCSA’s “Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service.”

Property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers:

• May drive no more than 11 hours during a 14-hour on-duty work period before taking at least 10 consecutive hours off duty for rest or sleep. This 10 hours of rest or sleep time may be split into two periods if the trucker is using a sleeper berth.
  
  
• May be on duty a maximum of 14 hours altogether, no more than 10 hours of which may be spent driving. Time off for lunch and other breaks does not count toward the maximum duty or driving time.
  
  
• May not drive more than 60 hours in any 7-day consecutive period, or 70 hours in any 8-day consecutive period, depending upon whether or not the carrier operates every day. These cycles are calculated on a rolling basis, dropping a day each day so as, at any point, to consider the most recent 7-day or 8-day cycle. After reaching the 60-hour or 70-hour limit, truckers cannot drive again until their 7-day or 8-day rolling total is less than the total hourly limit. However, at the end of a 7-day or 8-day maximum, a driver may restart the cycle by taking 34 consecutive hours off duty.
  
  
• If using a sleeper berth, must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus a separate 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.

If the HOS rules appear to be complicated and convoluted, that’s because they are. Big trucking companies seldom miss an opportunity to exploit the contradictions and confusion.

Truck safety advocates argue that while truck drivers are required to keep a log of their on- and off-duty hours, automatic on board recording devices should become mandatory in order to ensure accurate reporting. What’s more, they argue that savvy trucking companies can take advantage of the loopholes in the rules – such as the 34-hour restart provision – to keep their drivers on the road up to 88 driving hours or 98 work hours over eight consecutive days.

There is no question that the current HOS formula not only contributes to fatigue and increases crash exposure, it encourages carriers and shippers to find ways to impose unrealistic delivery schedules. When drivers are forced consistently to drive maximum hours of service with inadequate rest, and/or to violate driving and rest time requirements, they put their lives at risk – and the lives of hundreds of thousands of others on the highways.

Recent research suggests that an element of truck driver fatigue may be sleep apnea, common among the estimated 28% of truck drivers who are classified as clinically obese.

A statement from the Joint Task Force of the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and the National Sleep Foundation offers controversial new evidence about the prevalence of sleep apnea as the cause of large truck crashes.

Drawing upon a study conducted by the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts and a pilot truck driver-testing program in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Task Force suggests that because an estimated 3.9 million truck drivers (about 28%) meet the clinical definition of obese, and obesity is closely connected with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), commercial motor vehicle operators may have a higher prevalence of OSA than the general population. The report says “medical research has shown that OSA is a significant cause of motor vehicle crashes.” It concludes that, given the incidence of OSA among truck drivers, OSA is likely a major factor in truck crashes.

The federal medical reporting form for commercial vehicle operators asks whether or not the driver has a sleep disorder. But the Task Force recommends that FMCSA regulations be amended to deal with sleep apnea specifically, and to provide guidelines for diagnosis and treatment. A successful pilot program undertaken by a Wisconsin trucking company to identify and treat truck drivers with sleep apnea resulted in a significant reduction in crashes, and saved the company $500 a month in health expenses.

Still other dangerous factors have surfaced in large truck accidents where the driver was determined to be at fault.

• Hundreds of thousands of licensed tractor trailer drivers are driving with medical disabilities.  A June 2008 report from the United States Government Accountability Office says that the agency’s analysis of license data from the Department of Transportation, and medical disability data from the Social Security Administration, Office of Personnel Management, and Departments of Veterans Affairs and Labor, found 563,000 commercial driver’s license holders determined eligible for full disability designation. When these drivers suffer seizures, heart attacks, or spells of unconsciousness, innocent motorists are killed or seriously injured.
  
  Review of 7.3 million commercial driver violations compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation for 2006 noted that more than half of medical-related violations occurred in just twelve states: Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Ohio.
  
  
• Despite federal and state efforts to enforce training and licensing requirements for drivers of large trucks and other commercial vehicles, there are an estimated 15,000 untrained truck drivers on the road with fraudulent licenses secured by way of license-for-sale scams.

In addition to requirements for licensing and regulating trucking companies, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires truck drivers to meet standards for training, apprenticeship, and licensing. The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 established minimal national standards that states must meet when licensing drivers of commercial vehicles. Since 1992, drivers in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce must have a commercial driver’s license issued only after passing a test of their skills and knowledge.

Unfortunately, examples of licensing fraud are rampant: one study uncovered fraudulent pay-for-license schemes in 24 states. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Transportation had 21 investigations going on in 13 states. A report from the DOT’s Office of Inspector General warned, “As a result, unskilled drivers could be operating commercial vehicles on the nation’s highways, creating significant risks for death, injury and property damage.”

In its strategic plan for “Traffic Safety in the New Millennium,” the International Association of Police Chiefs places high priority on technology and information-sharing to verify commercial driver’s licenses and halt licensing fraud. The stumbling block, however, is enforcement: few states have the money or personnel – especially in this economy – to chase down truck drivers whose licenses have been obtained fraudulently, have expired or have been suspended. Too often a truck driver’s lack of valid license is not discovered unless – or until – he is involved in a crash that has killed and maimed innocent motorists or pedestrians.

It’s no wonder that when a disastrous truck crash happens, victims and their families don’t know where to begin sorting out who is at fault. Attorneys at Searcy Denney have more than 30 years experience investigating truck crash cases and helping clients understand their options for seeking justice. If a loved one has been killed, or you or a family member has been injured, in a large truck crash, please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange a confidential free consultation.