Texas Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

The U.S. Transportation Department has just revised the hours-of-service requirements to cut down on fatigued 18 wheeler truck drivers.

The new rule reduces by 12 hours the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work within a week. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a seven-day period.

In addition, truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without first taking a break of at least 30 minutes. .

The regulation retains the current 11-hour daily driving limit.

Truck drivers who maximize their weekly work hours must now take at least two nights' rest when their 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most - from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Companies and drivers that commit egregious violations of the rule could face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by 3 or more hours could be fined $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense.

Commercial truck drivers and companies must comply with the rule by July 1, 2013.

Here's the math:

(11 hours) Monday 12a-11a

(11 hours) Monday to Tuesday 9p-8a

(11 hours) Tuesday to Wednesday 6p-5a

(11 hours) Wednesday to Thursday 3p-2a

(34 hour reset) Thursday 2a to Friday 12p

(11 hours) Friday 12p to 11p

(11 hours) Saturday 9a to 10p

(11 hours) Sunday 8a to 9p

(11 hours) Monday 7a to 6p

Here is an excellent column in today's Dallas Morning News that I wanted to share. Congratulations to my friend, Dallas lawyer Todd Clement, for his hard work fighting to stop truckers from driving while using cell phones and texting.

I just settled a large case where an 18 wheeler crashed into my client's vehicle which was at a complete stop on an interstate, because the trucker was on his cell phone and not paying attention to the road conditions ahead of him. This is a picture of her SUV.

by Steve Blow

It was more like an explosion than a collision. The work truck's cruise control was set at 71 miles an hour and the driver never touched the brake.

A car ahead of him was stopped in the highway, waiting to make a left turn. A 30-year-old woman and her 82-year-old grandmother were killed in an instant.

"The driver said, 'I never saw them.' And though he would dispute it later, in the aftermath of the accident, he told an EMS driver that he was texting prior to the wreck," said Dallas lawyer Todd Clement.

Clement represented the family of the women killed last year outside Sherman. He won a confidential settlement for them from the other driver's company. And Clement has been on a national campaign ever since to ban cellphone use in moving vehicles.

"This case affected me more than any other in my life," the 49-year-old lawyer said. "A 3-year-old and a 9-year-old lost their mom. A husband lost his wife of 62 years and had to go into a nursing home immediately after the accident."

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board unanimously recommended that states outlaw cellphone use while driving. And Clement supports that move. But he travels the country urging a step that would have a huge and much more immediate impact.

"Businesses have to ban this activity. That's the only way they can protect themselves," he said.

That goes against the tide, of course. More and more of us use our vehicles as mobile offices. The driver who hit Clement's clients worked for Cable ONE, a major provider of cable, phone and Internet service. He drove a pickup owned by the company.

But whether involving a company vehicle or not, the law is clear that a business is liable when an employee on the job causes an accident, Clement said. And cellphone use not only makes a crash far more likely, it also increases the likelihood of being found at fault, he said.

And this is an area where juries seem especially eager to issue "send-a-message verdicts," he said -- turning their displeasure over cellphones into huge monetary awards.

A 2009 Virginia Tech study concluded that cellphone users are at least six times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.

A Texas Transportation Institute study released in October found that texting drivers were 11 times more likely to miss visual cues.

Whenever I get hired on a case involving a commercial vehicle, I send a spoliation letter to the defendant immediately. A spoliation letter is a letter telling the trucking company to save evidence so I can be sure that all investigation that needs to be done can be done without the truck, documents and other materials being tampered with.

On a recent case, I was able to prove that a defendant driver was not only speeding, but speeding with cruise control on while driving through a construction zone when he rear ended my client.

By law, once a spoliation letter is received, none of the evidence discussed in the letter may be destroyed or changed without approval of the plaintiff and the plaintiff's attorney. Valuable evidence such as maintenance records, driving logs, the contents of the vehicles, and even items such as beer bottles or cell phones with may have contributed to cause the wreck are often cleaned before the attorney can properly investigate. If any evidence is destroyed after a spoliation letter is received, the defendant can face huge penalties if the evidence tampering is discovered.

A copy of my most recent spoliation letter, with personal information removed, is available for download by clicking here.

If you have been hurt in a crash with an 18-wheeler, you need a lawyer who will immediately begin working for you and perform all necessary investigation. Please call me today at 817-885-8000 for a free case evaluation.

Many semi trucks now come equipped with what is know as the "black box." The black box is essentially an electronic data recorder that monitors and reports information when certain things happen.

Typically, in the event of a sudden change in velocity or impact a black box will record some or all of the following information: brake application, RPM, truck speed, gear, and other important accident reconstruction information.
Not all trucks are equipped with a black box. An experienced truck accident lawyer will know which 18-wheelers have the event recorders and which do not.

It takes a special technician to download the crash data from the black box or event recorder. It's important to hire an experienced truck accident lawyer soon after your accident because the trucking company may try and delete the material before you can gain access to it. The data in the black box can help explain what happened in the accident and give us concrete data to show the insurance company.

If you or a family member has been seriously injured in an 18-wheeler accident, obtaining the black box information can be critical to the success of your case. The driver of the 18-wheeler may try and lie about the wreck, but the black box data will help us recreate the accident and prove what really happened.

Call me at (817) 885-8000 and I will further explain the ways in which we can help you recover the maximum amount for your injuries.