Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

The United States Department of Transportation has reported that 5,300 people died in crashes involving large commercial trucks in 2006. 126,000 more were injured. A leading cause of these crashes were situations where the drivers involved fell asleep, suffered heart attacks or seizures or otherwise were so physically impaired as be unable to safely operate their trucks. Indeed, according to an Article recently issued by the Associated Press, hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailers and bus drivers in the United States are unfit and unqualified to have commercial driver’s licenses. As an example of this problem, in a 30-page study issued by the General Accounting Office, over 1,000 drivers with vision, hearing or seizure disorders had applied for disability benefits with the Veterans Affair Department. And yet, these same drivers were operating commercial tractor-trailers and buses on our highways with medical certificates certifying they were fit to drive. Once again, a lack of regulatory oversight is largely responsible for the problems caused by these unsafe drivers.

In our wrongful death practice, it is not unusual for us to see horrific collisions involving unfit and unsafe drivers. We have had many cases where drivers have been under the influence of stimulants because of fatigue, where other drivers could not pass a fitness test and were driving with licenses without proper medical certifications, and other cases involving drivers with seizure disorders, neuropathy to their legs and feet and other similar health problems that prevented them from safely operating commercial vehicles. In short, our practice experience mirrors the nationwide experience. We believe the drivers involved in our firm’s cases were able to drive and inflict harm on innocent members of the motoring public because of a lack of regulatory oversight.

The United States agency responsible for regulating this area, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has acknowledged that it has not completed any of the 8 recommendations that U.S. Safety Regulators purposed in 2001. One such regulation would set minimum standards for officials who determine whether truck drivers are medically safe to operate commercial vehicles. Another would prevent truck drivers from “doctor shopping” to find doctors who might overlook a risky health situation and nonetheless certify a driver as medically able to operate a commercial vehicle. Most observers do not believe that any of the 8 recommendations will be implemented before President Bush leaves office. This is hardly surprising because his Administration has emphasized deregulation of the trucking industry.

Just as we have seen in the mortgage crisis, if there is lack of federal regulatory oversight, the marketplace alone cannot regulate effectively abuses that will undoubtably arise when there are no regulations. The trucking industry is in serious need of additional regulations from a safety standpoint. We can only hope that future administrations will address the many safety issues involved. Until such time as there is greater regulation, regrettably, we have no doubt but that we will continue to see more and more serious injury claims and wrongful death cases arising from unfit and unsafe truck drivers.