New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration held a series of sessions to gather public input on the hours of service rules for truckers that are being revised. The fourth session was held Davenport, Iowa on the 25^th of January. The first 3 had been held in Arlington, Virginia; Dallas, Texas and El Segundo, California. The FMCSA had invited commercial truckers, trucking companies, owners,  operators; truck safety groups, researchers and other people to discuss issues that impact truck safety. These issues include rest time, on duty time, sleeper berth use, loading and unloading times, and others. 

Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reached an agreement with truck safety groups, the Teamsters union and others to revise the Hours of Service rule for truckers. The Bush Administration had set the rules at 11 consecutive hours. The rule had been soundly criticized by truck accident victims and New Jersey truck accident lawyers.  The FMCSA promised that it will revise these rules within a period of 9 months. As part of its efforts to revise the rule, the FMCSA held these four public listening sessions to gather input from the public

Lowering the HOS rules is absolutely necessary, but on its own will not be able to tackle the problem of driver fatigue. The FMCSA has not paid any attention to the problem of sleep apnea, which is another contributor to driver fatigue. The NTSB has recognized the role of sleep apnea in trucker fatigue-related accidents, and has recommended mandatory sleep apnea sleeping for truck drivers. However, the FMCSA has failed to act on these recommendations.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Any time there’s a truck accident in New Jersey, people are typically quick to jump to the assumption that it’s the tractor trailer driver who is at fault. The fact is that many truck accidents are caused by motorists. In fact, according to a New Jersey Department of Transportation study, motorists were at fault in 56 percent of truck-passenger vehicle accidents in 2006.

That situation has law enforcement officials focusing on educating motorists about safe driving around 18 wheelers. In April of this year, New Jersey State Police received a grant from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The $800,000 grant will be used to fund a truck safety public awareness campaign that will focus on educating motorists in order to reduce truck accident rates. The program should launch by December, and will include $300,000 to be spent on radio advertisements, and $500,000 on trooper enforcement efforts. The campaign, which will run through September 2012, will also include distribution of education material and enforcement of safety rules. 

It makes sense to a motorist to be as careful as possible while driving around a massive 80,000 pound vehicle, that can crush your car during impact. As a New Jersey truck accident lawyer, I would encourage motorists to pay extra attention to the road when they are around large trucks.

• Avoid speeding, or racing a truck. It is the most foolish behavior you could indulge in.
• Know that a truck driver sitting in his elevated cab has several blind spots, and if your vehicle is in one of those spots, it’s almost impossible for him to see you.
• Don’t cut off an 18-wheeler, or make a sudden stop when you are in front of one. Remember these trucks are hauling tens of thousands of cargo, and can’t stop suddenly. The outcome of such behavior is not going to be good for you
• Be patient when you are behind a large tractor trailer. These large vehicles are loaded with cargo, and harder to navigate. Impatience on your part can have devastating consequences for you.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey truck accident lawyer representing victims of truck accidents in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean Counties and across the state of New Jersey.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Bowing to pressure from trucking safety groups and labor unions, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken a decision that New Jersey truck accident lawyers have been waiting for.  The agency has agreed to revise the rule that extended the number of hours that a trucker can drive at a stretch, to 11 hours in a shift.

The Bush Administration in its last days, reinstated a rule allowing truckers to drive for 11 consecutive hours, increased from the earlier 10. That rule also cut down the number of rest hours that a trucker could expect, increasing the overall number of hours a trucker could spend driving each week, by 25 percent.

Trucking safety groups had opposed the rule and challenged it, because the administration failed to take into consideration the accident risks from allowing truckers to drive an extra hour per shift.  Earlier this week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration finally reached an agreement with these groups. The agency has agreed to revise the rule within the next 9 months. 

Reducing the number of hours that a trucker can drive is important not just for the health and safety of truckers, but also the safety of motorists who share the highways in New Jersey with these large trucks every day.

Every year, an approximate 5,000 lives are lost in trucking accidents, many of which involve fatigued drivers sleeping at the wheel. Ask trucking unions, and they will tell you how truckers these days are under tremendous pressure to drive more hours, which ultimately increases profits for the employer. A trucker who is tired and drowsy and not at his sharpest and most alert behind the wheel, is a danger not just to himself, but also to other motorists. As a New Jersey truck accident lawyer, I would like to applaud the efforts of Public Citizen, and the Teamsters union that were responsible for getting the FMCSA to agree to revise this dangerous rule.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As a New Jersey truck accident lawyer, I have been very concerned about the high prevalence of sleep apnea in the commercial trucking community, and the lack of serious efforts to screen drivers for the disorder, and treat it. Driver fatigue is one of the leading causes of tractor trailer accidents in New Jersey, and sleep apnea is a major contributing factor to fatigue, drowsiness and listlessness behind the wheel.

Finally, the National Transportation Safety Board has acted to take note of the problem. It has sent a letter to the Federal Carrier Motor Safety Administration, advising that commercial truck and bus drivers be screened for sleep apnea to diagnose the condition. 

Earlier this year, a Harvard University study showed a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea in commercial truck drivers. The study found that a majority of truck drivers, who suffer from the disorder, are not even aware of their condition. Those who are diagnosed for sleep apnea fail to continue with treatment. Federal regulations don’t call for mandatory screenings for sleep apnea, and as a result there could possibly be thousands of truckers operating massive tractor trailer rigs on busy highways suffering from sleep apnea, unaware of the condition, or not being treated for the disorder.

The Harvard study also found that truckers may be at a much higher risk for sleep disorders like apnea, because of their lifestyle. A typical truck driver works long hours. Rest and meal breaks may be irregular, and food available at truck stops may be high-fat and unhealthy. This can contribute to obesity, which is one of the risk factors for sleep apnea.

Mandatory screenings for sleep apnea must be a compulsory part of every truck driver’s medical certification process. As a New Jersey truck accident lawyer, I hope that the NTSB recommendations will lead the way for a federal mandate for sleep apnea screenings.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Last week, President Obama’s choice of nominee for head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration began confirmation hearings, and as a New Jersey trucking accident lawyer, I am concerned about Anne Ferro's past as a trucking industry lobbyist.  Ferro served as a lobbyist for the Maryland trucking industry for six years. Her nomination not surprisingly, has been criticized by trucking advocates, including the Truck Safety Coalition.  

Every year 5,000 people are killed in fatal truck accidents across the US. In New Jersey, 47 people were killed in 2008 in accidents involving large trucks. Last year, Bergen County had three accident fatalities, Monmouth County had six, Ocean County had four and Passaic County had one trucking accident fatality. Salem County had the worst ratio of truck accident fatalities with an average of  3.02 people killed per 100,000 persons. With statistics like these, it becomes imperative that we have an FMCSA head who prioritizes truck safety above all else.

In the last days of the Bush Administration, a new rule increasing the number of consecutive hours that a trucker could drive was passed. That rule had been strongly opposed by New Jersey truck accident lawyers, truck safety advocates, as well as families of victims killed by accidents involving a fatigued trucker, dozing off at the wheel. I had then voiced my strong opposition to the rule. It therefore concerns me that the nominee for head of the agency, which will be responsible for laying down rules that will impact trucker and motorist safety, is a person who came out strongly in support of the extended driving hours. Ferro co-signed a letter to The Baltimore Sun, arguing strongly in support of the rule.

I am also concerned about how willing Ferro will be to initiate the kind of tough safety measures that are needed to save those 5000 lives every year. During the confirmation hearings, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey tried to get Ferro to promise that she would require trucking companies to install safety devices called Electronic On Board Recorders, that can determine and record when the truck is turned on and off, thereby helping to calculate the number of hours the trucker drives. Very often, truckers manipulate log books to be able to drive for more number of hours than the rule stipulates. However, Ferro refused to promise any such thing, and only said that she will conduct a review of the research on these devices.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks