Many of us share the road with tractor trailers every day. There are many types of tractor trailers on the road. Some are brand new with shiny paint and advanced safety features. Others are in good condition, even though they are a few years old.  Other trucks are poorly maintained, with defects which make them unsafe to drive. All tractor trailers have one thing in common – they have human drivers. Truck drivers spend many hours of their life on the road, and many of them are professionals with years of experience and impeccable driving records. Unfortunately, some truckers drive when they are too tired to do so safely. Driver fatigue has historically been a leading cause of tractor trailer accidents, and it continues to be a problem despite the fairly recent passage of new hours of service regulations which affect the trucking industry.

When people get even an hour or two less than the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep per night on a regular basis, they become chronically overtired. When a person is overtired, their attention span is shortened, their reaction times are slower, and they do not process information quickly. The effects of being overtired are dangerous for any driver, but even more so for the drivers of enormous tractor trailers. Last year, federal regulations were passed which allow truckers to be behind the wheel for eleven hours out of each fourteen hour work day, with a limit of seventy hours of driving per work week. The new hours of service rules also require truck drivers to have a thirty four hour rest period in between the end of one work week and the beginning of the next. Since the period between work weeks is intended to ensure that drivers get enough rest, they must sleep between one and five in the morning during two of the nights that they are off.

Many people were pleased when the new hours of service regulations were passed, but the trucking industry has pushed back hard. The United States Senate has responded by passing an amendment which would remove the requirement for a thirty four hour restart period in between work weeks. Fortunately, the amendment has not passed the entire Senate yet, and will also have to be reconciled with appropriations legislation in the House.

Unfortunately, trucking accidents resulting from drowsy driving continue to be a problem despite the new regulations. One particular drowsy driving accident has gotten a lot of recent press because it involved comic Tracy Morgan. On June 7^th, Morgan was seriously injured and James McNair (Jimmy Mack) was killed in a collision between a Wal Mart truck and their limo bus on the New Jersey Turnpike. The driver of the truck is reported to have not slept for twenty four hours prior to the crash. It is possible that accidents like this continue to occur because the new hours of service regulations have only been in effect for about a year so far, and because some companies essentially force drivers to spend too many hours on the road by assigning drivers to schedules which are not in compliance with the new rules.

If you have been injured or someone that you love has been killed in an accident involving an eighteen wheeler, it is important that you seek the aid of an attorney right away. The knowledgeable Kansas City Trucking Accident Attorneys at Hubbard & Kurtz, L.L.P. help clients from throughout the region, including St. Joseph, Independence, Lees Summit, Columbia, Warrensburg, Overland Park, Olathe, Atchison, Lawrence, Topeka, and many other Kansas and Missouri communities. Please call us today, at (816) 472- 4673 to arrange for an initial consultation.