Preventing Truck Driver Fatigue Reduces Accident Frequency
One of the significant factors in many truck accidents is driver fatigue. Operating a truck — whether by an independent-owned truck driver or by a driver employed by a trucking carrier — is a business. The truck only makes money while it’s moving. Or rather, it only makes money when it completes the delivery of a load, and the sooner that happens, the sooner the truck is available to start another money-earning trip, and so forth. Likewise, drivers are making money when they’re driving, not when they’re sleeping, eating, or taking other necessary breaks required by daily life. It has long been recognized that these pressures to keep drivers and trucks moving will lead some truckers and some trucking companies to push the levels of driver fatigue that can be safely sustained. When truck driver fatigue may be a cause of injuries that result from a truck accident, an experienced personal injury attorney will focus on investigating whether that driver has violated strict service hours limitations and whether the driver’s employer has improperly pushed its employees to do so.