Texas Truck Driver Fatigue and the Deadly Risk of a Fatal Crash
Trucks are heavy vehicles with immense power and momentum. Truck drivers and even ordinary passenger car drivers tend to experience a phenomenon sometimes called “highway hypnosis” after long hours behind the wheel. Drivers will fall into a trance-like state from their long periods of relative immobility and lack of real stimuli on long drives. It’s a short step from highway hypnosis to briefly dozing off at the wheel and causing a serious injury accident requiring long hospitalization. Our Alvin, TX truck accident attorneys realize that you might have experienced the phenomenon yourself. Texas highway journeys are often quite long.
Even the briefest doze can cause a fatal truck wreck when the truck drifts off course. Fortunately, most dozing truck drivers snap back to wakefulness before any real harm is done. But occasionally a brief doze behind the wheel could lead to a serious or even a fatal truck wreck.
Our Alvin, TX truck accident attorneys note that driver fatigue is an especial problem for long haul truckers. They spend long hours behind the wheel day in and day out. Even the liveliest banter on a CB radio can’t necessarily deflect the danger of accumulated fatigue and keep the truck driver alert. A poll of long haul truckers found that within the 30 days preceding the survey, 20% of the drivers admitted to dozing off at least once behind the wheel.
Federal officials recognize the danger of fatal truck wrecks caused by driver fatigue. The government has issued regulations limiting the number of hours that long haul truckers may drive in a single day. The regulations prescribe scheduled rest breaks in an effort to limit the effects of truck driver fatigue. Truckers are also supposed to keep accurate logbooks noting their hours driven, rest breaks taken, and other information showing their compliance with the federal regulations.
The Alvin, TX truck accident attorneys at Denena Points, PC understand that there’s probably nothing that the ordinary driver can do to prevent truck driver fatigue or the fatal truck wrecks in Texas that result from it. But when you’ve been injured in a truck wreck caused by truck driver fatigue, you should make every effort to hold those who caused it legally accountable for their actions. Only then will long haul truckers and the trucking companies that employ them have real incentive to abide by the laws regulating the numbers of hours that they can drive and their rest breaks.
The trucking companies themselves are often to blame for truck driver fatigue problems. These companies may set unrealistic delivery deadlines. And their truck drivers might have to drive long hours to meet their goals. The trucking companies might offer incentive rewards for early deliveries that tempt their truck drivers to skip needed rest breaks.
Our Alvin, TX truck accident attorneys emphasize that trucking companies and their insurers do know how frequently trucking accidents occur. So they maintain aggressive teams of highly trained accident investigators, manipulative insurance adjusters, and clever defense attorneys always at the ready to defend truck accident claims.
Continue to Part 2 to learn what to do after a serious truck wreck from driver fatigue harms you.