Given the number of commercial trucks on the roads of Buffalo, it is evitable that some drivers will violate the rules regarding when they can drive. Personal injury accidents caused by fatigued drivers of large trucks could be completely avoided if all drivers would follow federal regulations regarding hours on the road and rest time.
To help address the danger of driver fatigue, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a regulation in 2010 that required all commercial trucks operated by companies with poor work hour compliance records to be fitted with electronic devices that record the hours spent on the road. This device would replace the log book in which driver’s have traditionally recorded their work hours. Log books rely upon drivers honestly recording their information and, as a result, are easily falsified. The new regulation was scheduled to take effect in June of 2012.
Unfortunately, a federal appeals court has determined that the rule as issued is invalid because it does not address the possibility of the devices being used to harass drivers. The decision was a victory for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association – a group of commercial truck drivers who own their own rigs – which had argued that the FMCSA had a legal obligation to address potential harassment of drivers but failed to do so. The regulation had actually been supported by the American Trucking Association, which is the industry’s largest trade association.
In February of this year, the FMCSA proposed a regulation that would require an electronic recorder not just in the trucks of companies with poor compliance records, but in every long-haul commercial truck in the country. As a result, the court’s ruling may not just impact the regulation of companies with low compliance records, but may also delay the implementation of the use of electronic devices to record work hours for all interstate truck drivers while the FMCSA determines if it must revamp its proposed regulation to survive court scrutiny.
If you have been injured in an accident with a commercial truck driver, we would be happy to help you. Please call us at 716-542-5444.
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