How Compensation Works if You Were Injured by a Sleeping Truck Driver
Key Points:
- While truck drivers may fall asleep at the wheel simply because they had a bad night’s rest, there may be other factors at play.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations require truckers and their companies to adhere to numerous safety standards to help ensure the safety of other drivers. These regulations include how many hours in a day a trucker can operate a vehicle and for how long they must break.
- Some truck drivers or companies may keep false records or unplug GPS devices to cover up driving time that exceeds state and federal regulations.
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Injured by a sleepy, tired or exhausted tractor-trailer driver? If you have suffered in such a collision, or a loved-one has been hurt or killed, you may still be wondering what to do about it and which law firm to hire and investigate your case.
The Millar Law Firm specializes in catastrophic injury and death caused by the negligence of trucking companies and truck drivers. One of the most common causes of trucking accidents is driver fatigue. Here are answers to some questions we are often asked:
- Who is responsible if a tired trucker harms me or my family?
- State and Federal Governments are looking out for my safety, aren’t they?
- Truck drivers have rules about how long they can drive in a day, don’t they?
- Why would a trucker be reckless enough to drive when he’s sleepy?
- How can I prove that the trucker who hit me was asleep at the wheel?
- Legal Resources, Definitions, and FAQ for Tired Truck Driving Cases
In order to enforce the Hours of Service Regulations in Georgia, federal and State-level agencies cooperate closely. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA) and Georgia’s Department of Transportation and public Safety work together to monitor and enforce compliance using a number of tools including audits, roadside inspections and the review of logbooks. They now rely significantly upon the mandatory use of Electronic Logging Devices, ELDS.
ELD devices automatically document the hours driven which serves to curtail falsification of logbooks, thus ensuring compliance with the HOS rules. This cooperation helps to minimize fatigue-related accidents on Georgias highways and promotes safety for all motorists.
There Are Specific Laws In Georgia That Address Or Prohibit Driving While Falling Asleep At The Wheel? (For all Drivers)
Under Georgia law, driving in a condition that impairs one’s ability to operate a vehicle safely, such as being excessively fatigued or asleep, could be considered a form of reckless or negligent driving. Specifically, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-390 (Reckless Driving) prohibits driving any vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property, which can include
Legal Resources, Definitions, and FAQ for Tired Truck Driving Cases
Is a Truck Driver Liable for an Accident Caused by Falling Asleep at the Wheel and Colliding with Another Vehicle?
When a truck driver falls asleep while driving and causes an accident, he or she is responsible. Other factors can also play a role in determining fault including the possibility of multiple claims. This is why thorough investigation of why the driver was fatigued in the first place. Factors such as excessively long shifts in violation of FMCSA regulations, untreated medical conditions such as Narcolepsy or Apnea can also be linked to the accident.
In investigating the facts around an accident, log books should be checked for signs of inaccuracies or falsification. Additionally, reviewing the driver’s employment records and medical history as well as his/her driving record for previous safety violations may indicate that the employer was lax in its duty of care.
Reviewing the trucking company’s logs, employment files and electronic device data is key to uncovering the facts pertinent to the accident. Usually this thorough investigation is undertaken by your legal team who can uncover precisely how the accident happened and who can be held liable. Because we have decades of experience in uncovering these facts, the team at The Millar Law Firm is particularly adept at guiding our clients through the process of holding those responsible accountable for their negligence.
What Federal and State Regulations Exist to Prevent Truck Drivers from Falling Asleep at the Wheel?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is responsible for the oversight of truck and bus safety issues. Their goal is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities in commercial vehicles. This agency also relies upon state regulations to help protect the motoring public by thoroughly investigating accidents involving commercial vehicles. The agency uses both paper and electronic records, as well as GPS data to ensure that the vehicle involved was in compliance with the regulations.
Unfortunately, even with these regulations in place, violations of the regulations are still far too common. Hours of Service violations seem to be a factor in accidents.
The FMCSA limits drivers transporting freight or other property to 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive off-duty hours. These drivers may not exceed 14 on-duty hours in a day. Drivers responsible forthe safety of passengers have a 10-hour driving limit.
What Federal Regulations are in Place to Prevent Truck drivers from Falling Asleep While Driving?
As mentioned above one key component of these Hours of Service regulations is the 11-hour driving limit, which is found under 49 CFR § 395.3(a)(3). This rule is meant to prevent driver fatigue through limiting the number of hours a driver may operate a commercial vehicle. By mandating a full 10 consecutive hours of off-duty time, the regulations aim to ensure that drivers of commercial vehicles are properly rested and unlikely to be fatigued.
The 14-hour “window” rule, found within 49 CFR § 395.3(a)(2) restricts drivers from driving after 14 consecutive hours on duty after the 10-hour mandatory off-duty period. This rule mitigates the risk of drivers’ extending their work periods, giving them a finite window during which they can complete their driving duties.
In Georgia, the Federal Hours-of-Service regulations are enforced by the State’s Department of Public Safety. This State Department also enforces their own set of rules to ensure that accidents involving commercial vehicles are less likely to fall asleep at the wheel, thus reducing the number of accidents.
How is the Hours of Service Regulation Managed or Regulated?
of reckless or negligent driving. Specifically, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-390 (Reckless Driving) prohibits driving any vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property, which can include situations where a driver knowingly operates a vehicle while too fatigued to drive safely. This applies to all driver, including truck driver.
Does Compensation Increase if The Cause of the Accident Was a Sleeping Driver?
Falling asleep at the wheel is regarded as reckless driving since it almost always leads to loss of control of the vehicle. By choosing to drive even though he or she is exhausted, the driver is guilty of knowingly behaving in a reckless and negligent way. Therefore, in the event of an accident, the possibility for additional compensation in the form of Punitive Damages is increased.
When applied to the circumstances of a truck accident and its injury claims, punitve damages go beyond compensating victims for their medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Punitive damages are meant to punish the at-fault driver for his/her reckless behavior and thereby discourage such choices in the future.
Proving that the driver of the commercial vehicle was asleep can improve your lawyer’s odds of increasing your compensation.
How Does A Truck Accident Lawyer Establish That An Accident Was Caused By A Semi-Truck Driver Falling Asleep?
The key is to demonstrate that the driver was unfit to operate the vehicle at the time of the accident. For instance, if the driver was operating beyond the legally permitted hours, this is akin to driving with a suspended license ᅳ they are not legally authorized to drive such a large and potentially hazardous vehicle.
To establish the driver’s unfitness, a truck accident lawyer can gather crucial evidence through various means. Subpoenaing log books, the truck’s electronic control module (often referred to as the “black box”), GPS data transmitted to the trucking company or a third party, and other relevant documentation can decisively demonstrate the driver’s inability to drive safely. Even in cases where the data might have been tampered with or destroyed by the driver or their employer, analyzing delivery schedules, along with the dates and times of pickups and deliveries, can reveal the unrealistic speeds, progress, and hours the driver would have needed to maintain to adhere to the schedule, further supporting the claim of driver fatigue or unfitness.
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Yes. Because there is no direct evidence that the driver was asleep when the accident happened, it can be very difficult to establish that fact. In the absence of direct evidence, the challenge becomes gathering sufficient indirect evidence through devices such as an electronic loggings device. The ELD can demonstrate Hours-of-Service violations and indicate fatigue, but cannot prove it conclusively.
Insights can be found through the testimony of eyewitnesses and reports made by accident reconstruction experts. Nevertheless, without clear evidence that the driver was sleeping, these accounts and findings can suggest but not prove conclusively, that the driver was asleep.
It is likely that the defense will propose alternative explanations for the accident such as mechanical failures or the actions taken by other drivers. This can muddy the waters sufficiently to make the task of proving the driver to be negligent even more difficult.
An experienced lawyer who is familiar with commercial accidents knows how to use the available evidence including electronic data, witness statements and expert opinions to construct a solid case that fatigue and sleep were, indeed, significant factors in causing the accident.
Yes, an accident happening in the middle of the night can indeed make the claim stronger that the truck driver might have fallen asleep. During late hours, people are naturally more tired, and this includes truck drivers despite their schedules. If a lawyer can show that the accident happened when most people are usually sleeping, it can help argue that the driver was likely fatigued or asleep. However, it’s still important to have more evidence because the time of the accident alone might not be enough to prove the driver was sleeping.
Lawyers face several significant challenges when attempting to prove that a driver was asleep at the time of an accident. One of the main difficulties is the lack of direct evidence; it’s rare to have clear, conclusive proof, such as video footage, showing that the driver was asleep just before the incident. Instead, lawyers often rely on indirect evidence, like data from electronic logging devices (ELDs) that track driving hours, which can suggest fatigue but not directly prove sleep. Additionally, eyewitness testimonies might not always be reliable or specific enough to confirm that the driver was asleep.
Another obstacle is the complexity of gathering and interpreting evidence that can suggest sleepiness, such as erratic driving patterns or the absence of skid marks, which indicate a lack of reaction before the crash. Lawyers also have to overcome defense strategies that might suggest other causes for the accident, such as mechanical failures or actions by other drivers. Even when there’s strong evidence of fatigue, linking it definitively to the driver being asleep at the wheel requires a sophisticated argument and often the support of expert testimony, making these cases particularly challenging to prove.
Truck drivers are permitted to drive for a maximum of 11 hours following a rest period of 10 consecutive hours off duty. Additionally, they are not allowed to drive after reaching the 14th consecutive hour of being on duty, which comes after the same mandatory 10 hours off duty. Furthermore, they are required to take a 30-minute break if they have been driving for a total of 8 hours without any interruption of at least 30 minutes.
The FMCSA’s regulations do not allow truck drivers to extend their consecutive driving hours simply because they have a passenger assisting them. The HOS rules, which limit driving hours to prevent fatigue-related accidents, apply to all commercial truck drivers equally, regardless of whether they are driving solo or with a passenger. However, team driving situations, where two drivers take turns driving and resting, can maximize the use of allowable driving hours under FMCSA regulations, ensuring continuous operation while adhering to legal HOS limits.
Legal Resources, Definitions, and FAQ for Tired Truck Driving Cases
Definition: Adverse driving conditions
Truck drivers must take special precautions when driving in adverse conditions, which are defined under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations as meaning fog, snow, sleet, or unusual traffic or road conditions that were unknown at the time of dispatch. 49 C.F.R. 395.2.
“Driving Time” – defined
Under the FMCSA regulations, driving time is defined as the actual amount of time spent at the controls of a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) while it is in operation. 49 C.F.R. 395.2.
“On Duty” Time – defined
On-Duty means all of the time from when a driver is required to be ready to work, his time working, and until he is finished working and relieved from responsibility. Under the Regulations this means all time spent at a terminal or plant, a customer location and time spent waiting to be dispatched for a run. This also includes time inspecting or servicing a CMV. It does, however, exclude time spent resting in a parked vehicle or sleeper berth or up to two hours spent riding as a passenger before or after driving. 49 C.F.R. 395.2(1)-(9).
Supporting Documents for Duty Status and Driving Time Compliance
Under 49 C.F.R. 395.11 drivers and their companies must maintain and retain supporting documents that include: bills of lading, schedules, dispatch records, receipts for expenses, electronic communication logs for fleet management systems, and payroll records, among other things. 395.11(c)(1)-(2). The failure to maintain and retain these records can be used as evidence against the driver or trucking company of failures to comply with trucking regulations, or in some instances, evidence of tired driving or false record keeping.
Supporting Documents at Roadside Inspections, Stops and Accident Scenes
Truck drivers must be able to produce supporting documents to law enforcement and inspectors if and when they are stopped at the roadside. The failure to have supporting documentation is a violation of the FMCSA. 49 C.F.R. 395.11(g). In the event of a trucking accident, it is important to investigate what supporting documentation the driver had at the time of the crash. The failure to have supporting documentation may be evidence of negligence, or even fraud, as a proximate cause of the incident.
