Trucking Rules That Can Win Your Car Accident Case
If you were in a car accident where you were hit by a truck, here are some of the rules your car accident lawyer should check to see if the trucker was following.
Hours Limits
Truck drivers have very strict limits on the number of hours they can drive and the amount of rest they need to get in between. The purpose of these rules is to keep fatigued truck drivers off the road.
Truck drivers are required to keep logs of their driving time and rest hours. If they don't, it can often be presumed that they were breaking the rules.
If a truck driver violated any of the hours limits, it can be used as evidence that the truck driver was fatigued at the time of the crash and therefore responsible.
Maintenance Records
Many car accidents caused by trucks are the result of equipment failures caused by a lack of maintenance. One frequent example is brake failure.
Trucks and other commercial vehicles are required to regularly undergo routine maintenance. Routine maintenance includes inspections as well as preemptively replacing certain parts to maximize safety.
Many trucking companies don't keep up with maintenance because they're trying to cut costs or because they're simply not very well organized. However, this doesn't change their legal obligation to keep up with maintenance.
A truck's maintenance schedule can give key evidence regarding possible equipment failures that may have led to a crash.
Trucking Routes
Trucks have designated routes for a number of reasons. Sometimes, it's to reduce noise or wear on certain roads. Other times, it's because a road might not be safe for truck travel.
Examples of when a road isn't safe for trucks include having tight turns or frequent changes in elevation that reduce visibility and increase the risk of accidents. If you weren't aware that the road was off-limits to trucks, you might even think that the truck driver had no way to avoid the crash.
However, trucks are responsible for following posted truck routes precisely because those routes are often created for safety reasons. If a truck gets in an accident on a road it shouldn't have been on, the truck driver is often liable for the accident. At that point, the negligence is being on that road to begin with, not necessarily that the driver was engaged in unsafe driving.
To get help figuring out if a truck driver broke the rules before your accident, talk to a local truck accident lawyer.
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