Trucking Accidents - Federal Moter Carrier Safety Regulations

Trucking companies must teach trucking regulations to truck drivers.  Of course, trucking companies must know the trucking regulations themselves.

Trucking companies routinely try to claim that the truck driver was not their employee but an independent contractor.  The trucking company does this because they want to avoid being responsible for the truck driver's wreck.  This regulation states that an "employee" of a trucking company includes independent contractors and drivers who lease their trucks.  Therefore, a truck driver could be an employee of several different companies.

This regulation lists some of the requirements for a truck driver such as: the ability to read and speak English, a truck driver must be over twenty-one years old, a truck driver must pass tests regarding truck driving safety and a truck driver must submit to a medical examination and be able to pass it to ensure he can drive an 18 wheeler safely on the road.

This regulation deals with trucking companies and their responsibility to check an employee's driving record and references on their resume.  This is important as we have seen many cases where this was not done and the truck driver should not have been driving.

This regulation deals with truck drivers who drink and drive or take drugs and drive.  Truck drivers cannot drive while doing this and simply cannot drink any alcohol for four hours before driving.  In addition, if the driver does drink or do drugs and then drives, he is "disqualified" from driving, with as little as .04% of alochol in his bloodstream.

49 CFR 391.25

Any trucking company in the United States must check the truck driver's driving records at least once a year.  If they fail to do this, the trucking company may be penalized.

This regulation deals with trucking companies who violate the regulates or participate in helping or requiring their truck drivers to violate the regulations.  We routinely see trucking companies either directly or implicitly require their trucking driving employees to violate the regulations.  This includes, but is not limited to the following: refusing to pay for trucking inspections, refusing to allow a truck driver to sleep or rest the required amount of time,  paying a truck driver by mileage, and violating the regulations by ignoring the "out of service" requirements.

This regulations deals with trucking companies who either directly or implicitly require truck drivers to violate the amount of time they are allowed to drive.  We see this quite frequently as the trucking companies sometimes force truck drivers to do this and either directly or implicitly threaten them with their jobs if they refuse to drive over the alloted time allowed.  Of course, this is also connected to the trucking companies duties to audit the driver logs which contain the amount of time a driver has slept and driven while on any trucking driving trip.  The trucking company is responsible for any falsification of a truck driver's records by intentionally lying about the time the truck driver was driving or the amount of time a truck driver was sleeping or falsification of inspection records.

This regulation deals with truck drivers who drive across different states.  Simply put, a truck driver must obey the law of every state where they drive.

This regulation deals with a truck driver's impairment whether it is do to sleepiness, a medical condition or any other reason.  A truck driver and the company must not allow a truck driver to drive when he or she is in this condition as it makes it unsafe to drive and this is one of the primary causes of truck driving wrecks.

This regulation deals with a truck driver and drugs.  A truck driver cannot use amphetamines.

This regulation deals with a truck driver and alcohol while driving.  A truck driver cannot drink alcohol while driving.

This is an important regulation as it deals with the amount of time a truck driver is allowed to load, etc.  Trucking companies routinely do not give truck drivers enough time to allow for safe delivery so truck drivers sometimes feel forced to skirt the law and violate it.

This regulation deals with pre-trip inspection reports and what a truck driver and company and required to make sure works.  Of course, the truck's brakes must be serviced which is not limited to the rig but include the trailer.  The truck driver must also make sure the parking brake works, the steering works, the lights work, the reflectors work, the tires are not worn, the horn works, etc.  See also 49 CFR 396.13.

A truck driver and trucking company are required to make sure emergency equipment functions.

This regulation deals with a truck driver's responsibility to make sure the truck is loaded properly when the trip starts.  The truck driver must check it again within twenty-five miles.  The truck driver must also check the load again every three hours or every 150 miles thereafter, unless the truck driver is driving a sealed trailer.

This regulation deals with the requirement to for the driver to make sure warning devices such as reflective devices, etc., be put out ten minutes after the truck does not work.

A truck driver must use extra care when driving a truck in dangerous conditions such as rain, snow, etc.  The truck driver must slow down if he or she is driving in these types of conditions.  If the weather or driving condition gets bad enough, the driver may be required to stop driving.

This regulation delas with radar detectors.  A truck driver and company are prohibited from ever using radar detectors at any time.

This regulation deals with a truck driver and inspection reports.  The truck driver is required to inspect the truck.