Hours Of Service Violations And Truck Accidents

A massive commercial truck is a crucial piece of transportation equipment and does important work in transporting needed cargo across long distances. But our truck accident attorneys know that each commercial truck is, if not operated safely and properly, a serious danger to everyone on the road.

State and federal governments recognize this too, which is why there are strict laws regulating how many consecutive hours truck drivers can work. Driver fatigue is one of the most common causes of accidents involving large commercial trucks, and a tired driver is a dangerous driver.

Unfortunately, many trucking companies are not strict about following these rules, and innocent victims can suffer the consequences of these rules violations. Our truck accident attorneys know how to investigate these accidents and discover and prove violations of federal hours of service regulations.

If you’ve suffered an injury in a truck accident in or around Little Rock, Arkansas, please call the Duncan Firm, P.A today at 877-638-6226 for a free consultation.

Regulations And Potential Consequences For Violating Them

The main federal agency regulating hours of service for commercial truck drivers is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. You can find the full hours of service regulations at the FMCSA website here, but what follows are some of the more important provisions for those operating property-carrying commercial trucks:

• Drivers may work for a maximum of 11 consecutive hours
• Drivers can only drive 11 consecutive hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty
• Drivers may only operate their vehicles if it has been eight hours or less since their last break of at least 30 minutes
• Driver cannot operate their vehicles after 60 (or 70) hours on duty in seven (or eight) consecutive days. The clock re-starts after taking 34 consecutive hours off

There are a range of civil penalties the government can levy on trucking companies if they violate these rules, including fines that can reach up to $11,000. But many companies still push these limits and force their drivers to work grueling, ambitious schedules.

It’s easy to blame truck drivers when they are fatigued, but most of them are desperately pushing through exhaustion to meet an unrealistic schedule set down by their supervisors. And these schedules can have serious consequences if you happen to be on the road with an exhausted truck driver.

Truck accidents almost always result in catastrophic personal injuries, the sorts of injuries that permanently affect your life and result in huge medical bills. In such a situation, you need our experienced attorneys.

Our firm has decades of experience helping the victims of these truck accidents. We know how tragic the consequences of these violations of hours of service regulations can be. And we are prepared to fight for you if you suffered a catastrophic personal injury as the result of an accident caused by a fatigued truck driver.

Contact Our Little Rock Truck Accident Attorneys

If you need an experienced truck accident attorney in or around Little Rock, Arkansas, please call the Duncan Firm, P.A today at 877-638-6226 for a free consultation.