Trucking Accidents: Who's Trying to Protect Us?

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Truck safety regulation assumes even greater importance in the 21st century, with nearly 11 million licensed large commercial trucks on American roads and a 20% increase predicted by 2012.

The US Congress, in tandem with the Department of Transportation, has the authority to protect us from truck crashes that kill or injure thousands each year. Each year, several bills related to truck safety are introduced in the US Senate and House of Representatives. Yet, each year, many of them fall prey to partisan bickering and the influence of powerful truck lobbyists.

Undaunted, responsible politicians continue to propose legislation that could reduce truck crash injuries and fatalities. Bills before the 112th Congress (2011-2012) include a tax credit for development of advanced safety systems for commercial motor vehicles; new limits on Hours of Service (HOS), the number of hours a driver may drive each day; a requirement for on-board electronic monitoring of truck drivers’ compliance with HOS rules; length and width restrictions for commercial vehicles on federal-aid highways; national standards for state safety inspections of commercial trucks; and consolidation of records of alcohol and controlled substance testing of commercial motor vehicle operators. (See Trucking Accidents: Resources for House and Senate bill numbers and links to text and summaries.)

Interstate trucking is regulated by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), through two of its agencies, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

In the 45 years since Congress first empowered NHTSA to set minimum traffic safety standards, substantial progress has been made in promulgating and enforcing regulations that apply to large trucks. Here are just a few examples of recent actions by NHTSA and FMCSA to enhance the safety of passenger car drivers and occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and truck drivers.

• In May 2011, FMCSA celebrated the one-year anniversary of a truck driver Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) that enabled trucking companies to access a national database of drivers’ inspection and crash records as part of their hiring process.


• NHTSA announced in 2011 plans for a rulemaking procedure to limit the top speeds of heavy trucks, perhaps mandating devices that could ensure that heavy trucks could not drive more than 68 miles per hour.


• A proposal advanced by FMCSA in December 2010 would reduce HOS limits from 11 to 10 hours per day, as well as change the ratio of off-duty rest to driving hours. Hearings and other input into these rules began in March 2011.


• In January 2010, US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced a federal ban on texting by commercial truck drivers, resulting from a nationwide study that correlated accident rates with commercial truck drivers taking their eyes off the road to text. The texting ban was followed shortly by state prohibitions of hands-on cell phone use by drivers of all motor vehicles.


• In 2009, NHTSA introduced tougher braking rules for large trucks, which will be phased in over four years beginning in 2012. New standards mandate that a tractor trailer traveling at 60 miles an hour must be able to stop completely within 250 feet, improving stopping distance by 30%. The new requirement is estimated to save 227 lives each year, prevent 300 injuries, and reduce property damage costs by more than $169 million annually.

As sister agencies of the Department of Transportation, both the NHTSA and the FMCSA contribute to the cause of truck safety. However, each agency has its own marching orders and its own regulatory responsibility.

Since passage in 1966 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the NHTSA has been responsible for assessing the incidence and causes of injuries and fatalities on US roadways, setting consequent appropriate safety standards, recommending legislative action by Congress when needed, and educating the public about traffic safety.

While NHTSA has a broad mandate concerned with all motor vehicles, a majority of which are non-commercial, the FMCSA, is charged with focusing solely on commercial vehicles and drivers who are interstate carriers. Intrastate carriers of hazardous materials are subject to these regulations, as well.

Three of the most important responsibilities of the FMCSA are:

• Developing and implementing uniform commercial driver’s license (CDL) requirements.

  Before 1986, licensing of truck drivers across the country was a hodge-podge process that, in some states, did not have requirements beyond those for driving an automobile – much less skills testing to determine if an applicant was qualified to drive a truck. By obtaining CDLs in several states, many drivers were able to hide traffic violations that could keep them from operating their trucks.

  The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act, approved by Congress in 1986, retained each state’s right to issue commercial driver’s licenses, but mandated standard minimum requirements and outlawed licensing from more than one state. The Act also required states to adopt testing to make sure applicants were qualified to drive the vehicle for which he or she would be licensed.

  Since 1992, drivers of commercial motor vehicles are required by federal law to have a CDL, whether participating in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce. States develop their own tests –which must be at least as strict as federal standards and include assessment of both knowledge and kills. The FMCSA mandates stiff penalties for truck drivers who violate CDL standards, which include a .04% blood alcohol concentration level to define driving under the influence. This is lower than the .08% to .10% BAC standard applied by most states for determining DUI for drivers of non-commercial vehicles.

• Spelling out and monitoring regulations covering suspension, revocation and cancelation of CDL licenses, as well as prohibitions against trucking companies continuing to use drivers who have lost their licenses.

  Among the disqualifying circumstances for truck drivers are two or more serious traffic convictions within a three-year period. Serious traffic convictions are defined as, for example, excessive speeding, reckless driving, improper or erratic lane changes, following too closely, or offenses in connection with fatal accidents. The most serious offenses – driving under the influence of a controlled substance or alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, or using a commercial vehicle to commit a felony – mandate a three-year disqualification. Out-of-state violations are treated the same as in-state violations, but drivers who have become disqualified from driving a commercial vehicle may, at a state’s discretion, be licensed to operate a non-commercial vehicle.

• Promulgating regulations for truck driver Hours of Service (HOS), which place limits on how long the drivers of trucks and other commercial vehicles may drive.

  Based on long-term studies of the relationship between adequate rest and truck drivers’ ability to perform safe operations, the FMCSA has established limits on how many hours interstate truck drivers may drive, and minimums for sleep and rest. These are found in Part 395 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and are identical or similar to what many states require for intrastate trucking.

  As mentioned above, reduced HOS limits have been proposed by FMCSA, pending public hearings and discussion. In the meantime, HOS rules specify that property-carrying commercial vehicle drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off; may not drive more than 14 hours after coming off duty following 10 consecutive hours on duty; may not drive more than 60 hours total in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours total in 8 consecutive days; and must take 34 or more consecutive hours off before starting a new 7 or 8 consecutive day period.

State governments, too, play a role in protecting us from the devastation of large truck crashes. Unfortunately, some states do a better job than others in protecting their citizens.

While each state is charged with following and enforcing federal testing and licensing regulations, in many states this has proved to be a widespread and potentially dangerous problem. In 2007, The Chicago Tribune newspaper exposed a pattern of laxity at the state level in testing and tracking licensed drivers, as well as license-for-sale scams operating unabated – a problem that the FMCSA hopes to alleviate somewhat with its Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) database. (The FMCSA has no direct control over states’ inability or unwillingness to identify drivers with suspicious licenses.) DOT officials conducting 21 investigations in 13 states cited one state where they were told there were “too many suspect drivers to list,” and noted jurisdictions where states were unable to provide investigators with lists of licenses obtained by fraudulent means.

Another challenge to enforcement of safe driving standards to prevent truck crashes is the number of truck drivers who have circumvented or ignored state medical certification requirements. One recommendation that the FMCSA has never implemented is a proposal to set standards for state determination of whether truckers are medically safe to drive. FMCSA’s chief safety officer blames the agency’s lack of action on budget constraints and difficulty coordinating with the 50 states. Analysis of 2006 commercial driver violations indicates that just 12 states are responsible for more than half of drivers sanctioned for violating medical rules.

Some independent federal watchdog agencies and consumer safety organizations question whether DOT agencies are doing their job, and have advanced several proposals that they hope will be adopted in the future.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining causes of transportation accidents and promoting transportation safety. NTSB has been critical of the pace at which FMCSA achieves important safety objectives, warning that FMCSA’s system for assessing how safely a motor carrier operates “does not place sufficient emphasis on driver or vehicle qualifications.” Responding to this criticism, in March 2007 the FMCSA created a Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee consisting of representatives from the motor carrier industry, safety advocates, and safety enforcement officials.

Another government arm, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), has been openly critical of the certification process for drivers with serious medical conditions. A June 2008 GAO report says that more than half a million licensed truck drivers were found on the disability benefit rolls of the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, or the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Labor. Examples in this report include a licensed Florida truck driver receiving disability benefits for multiple sclerosis, which causes fatigue; and a truck driver on full disability in Maryland who, despite being profoundly deaf, received medical certification to support his license.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent non-governmental organization that researches and educates the public about motor vehicle safety, regularly advances new proposals and advocates for their adoption through Congressional legislation or DOT regulations. For example, in March 2011 IIHS petitioned the federal government for new standards mandating under-ride guards on more large trucks, and requiring stronger guards capable of withstanding crashes. “Under-ride” occurs when an automobile collides with the rear end of a large truck and the upper part of the passenger vehicle is crushed as the truck body moves over it. NHTSA estimates that more than 400 automobiles drivers or passengers die each year in car-truck crashes where a car’s front end slides beneath a truck.

For more information, or to join the fight for truck safety, see the list of truck safety advocacy organizations under Resources on this website. If you would like to contact your U.S. Senator or Member of Congress to weigh in on issues related to truck safety, click here to identify your representatives and send an email.

If a loved one has been killed, or you or a family member has been seriously injured in a large truck crash, the attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley are prepared to investigate your potential claim and help you establish your rights to seek justice. Please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange for a confidential free consultation.