Truck accidents can happen for a myriad of reasons, which can be related to truck driver negligence, poor weather, road conditions, and more. But in most truck collisions, it is the trucker’s actions that are the primary cause of the incident. Among the reasons why truck accidents occur, trucker fatigue is the most prominent. In fact, trucker fatigue is a factor in about one in every ten truck accidents. But unfortunately, victims who get hurt in truck collisions may not realize that trucker fatigue is a real thing, and could be the reason they were seriously injured. Unfair fault tactics may be placed on victims when trucker fatigue is the actual culprit.
The trucking industry delivers goods all across the nation, and their focus is getting to their destination as fast as possible. There are regulations that oversee how many hours a trucker is permitted to drive within a set period. Truckers can operate their vehicle up to 60 hours within a 7-day period, or 70 hours in an 8-day duration, and still are not violating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules. Truckers may be under an immense amount of pressure to get where they need to be timely, so they may falsify log books or skip out on rest breaks to meet the deadlines expected of them.
Due to the pressure of delivering cargo as soon as possible, it is not surprising that truckers are users of stimulants to keep themselves awake for extended periods of time. Stimulants can increase fatigue instead of relieving it, as they mask tired symptoms for a while, but then wear off, leaving the brain and body to not get the rest they need. When these stimulants are no longer effective, the driver may suddenly be overcome with mental and physical fatigue. The stimulant may be active in the body, but it may not have the effect the driver hopes for, resulting in a blurry alertness and tendency to be inattentive to the road ahead.
As a truck accident lawyer victims trust from the Law Office of Daniel E. Stuart, P.A. has investigated in past cases, there may be proof of stimulant use from reviewing the truck driver’s logs. Or, there may be signs that the truck driver purposefully lied on the log books as a way to avoid responsibility if a truck accident happened because of fatigue. The trucking company’s insurance may claim that the driver of the passenger car was reckless or negligent, with the intention to unfairly place blame on them for what happened. However, this is often just a tactic to avoid liability so the trucking company doesn’t have to pay out the victim in restitution for the property damage and injury that ensued.
Even if the passenger driver had contributed to the truck accident in some way, the compensation amount may be reduced by their percentage of fault. Victims of truck accidents must be transparent with the team at their chosen law firm, similar to the Law Office of Daniel E. Stuart, P.A., so that the best strategy can be developed when pursuing fair restitution for all they have been through.