How Poor Truck Driver Health Can Lead to Fatal Trucking Accidents

The life of a Trucker – It’s Hard To Stay Healthy

To state the obvious, truck driving involves long periods of sitting still in a truck. This inactivity can lead to health problems that can impact their ability to drive. Poor food choices to select from while over the road, going for long periods of time with no sleep, and having to deal with the stress of maneuvering the highways, are all a recipe for bad health and can lead to a trucking accident.

What is even more distressing is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has found in a 2007 study that 12 percent of trucking accidents are directly related to the health of the driver. Accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel, heart attacks and other health related issues were all counted in these statistics.

New Safety Regulations For Truck Drivers

In an effort to reduce trucking accidents and improve the health standards of those who actively work in this profession, the FMCSA now requires that all people operating a commercial vehicle that possess a CDL must undergo a physical examination every 24 months to retain their driving privileges. A medical certificate must be issued for the driver to keep with them at all times. This law went into effect in 2013 and has been strictly enforced.

In addition to the medical requirements, these new laws have also designated how many hours a driver can operate a commercial vehicle in a day, how many hours they must rest between shifts, and how many overall hours they can work in any given 7 day period. The law further states that there must be at least a 34 hour rest period in between each work week.

Commercial drivers are required to log all of their hours that they are behind the wheel. This has always been a law and was meant to keep drivers safe and not working too many hours. Log books were also implemented as a way to keep drivers obeying speed limit laws. However, in the past, many drivers kept 2 or 3 sets of logs so that they could drive further each day without getting into trouble.

New laws have addressed this issue. All log entries must be completed electronically now. This ensures that only one log book with accurate entries is kept at all times.

Getting Help With Your Florida Trucking Accident Case

Although these regulations have been put in place, trucking accidents still occur. If you have been a victim of a trucking accident, you should contact the Orlando truck accident lawyers at David & Philpot, P.L. today. We have been helping semi-truck accident victims for over 20 years and have helped them recover millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for their losses and suffering. Call us today at 800.360.7015 for a free, no obligation consultation about your case.