This Friday, the federal motor carrier safety administration issued a new rule that would apply to truck companies with serious patterns of hours of service violations.
The rule had been proposed a long time ago. Recently however incidents such as the 11 people that were killed in one truck accident, have brought us this new truck safety rule.
Professional truck drivers under the regulations can only drive for 11 hours or less on a shift and cannot be on duty for more than 14 hours. These rules were important to protect the public from accidents caused by tired drivers.
Given the crunch in the economy, high fuel prices and ever increasing fixed costs for truckers many violate the hours of service rules for monetary reasons.
With the price of GPS devices dropping monthly, there is no reason why all trucks could not be equipped with such devices. This rule clearly is a step in the right direction and according to the FMCSA almost 6000 interstate trucking companies will be using GPS recorders after the first year of the regulation.
Using technology for truck accident safety only makes sense. Not only will a trucking company be able to implement a better safety program with these devises and will benefit because the cost of the safety program will drop.
The new rule will go into effect on June 12, 2012. While some criticize the new rule as not strong enough, others are mad about the extra regulation.
There are approximately 750,000 trucking companies in America. Each year thousands of families are torn apart in auto accidents and truck accidents. With the size difference between an 18-wheeler and a passenger vehicle shouldn't we error on the side of safety?
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston truck accident lawyer with a proven track record of success. If you have been injured in a Texas truck accident call the 18-wheeler accident lawyers at the Baumgartner Law Firm.
Similar posts:
