› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered U & D Service, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana, to immediately cease all transportation operations involving interstate commerce, declaring the commercial truck company an “imminent hazard” to public safety.
As of January 30, 2012, a new federal mandate requires all commercial driver’s license holders to provide information to their state driver licensing agency regarding the type of commercial vehicle operations they work for or expect to work for. The new federal requirement is intended to make U.S. highways and roads safer by restricting certain drivers who may be considered medically unsafe.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced its final rule on hours-of-service (HOS) regulations that govern work and rest periods for commercial truck drivers. Trucking companies and drivers have until July 1, 2013, to comply with the rule changes, which Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said “will help prevent fatigue-related truck crashes and save lives.”
The first lawsuit against a commercial carrier blaming sleep apnea for contributing to a fatal highway crash was settled earlier this month in Texas. Wanda Lindsay, who became an activist against sleep apnea in the trucking industry after her husband was killed in a May 2010 crash, settled with Celadon for $3 million.
The debate over whether to raise the weight limits for commercial trucks on federal interstate highways is heating up after Maine and Vermont passed legislation last week allowing trucks exceeding the 40-ton limit on its interstates for the next 20 years.
A report in Monday’s Baltimore Sun exposes how easy it is for some motor carriers with a long history of safety violations and crashes to reincarnate under a new name and business license after authorities shut them down. These are the companies that repeatedly demonstrate a blaring disregard for the law, take advantage of regulatory loopholes, and give the trucking industry an undeservedly bad reputation.
Considering all the efforts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is giving to restricting hours-of-service rules and drivers with sleep apnea in the name of safety, the loopholes in federal laws that allow unsafe commercial drivers with a history of violations to stay behind the wheel seem all the more outrageous.
Throughout the Midwest, farmers are harvesting their final crops of the season, which means more large farm trucks laden with grain are out on the roads, hauling their produce to suppliers. Here in the Deep South, the story is much the same; big rigs carrying tons of cotton and other harvests to market share the roads with other motorists.
Low-cost, discount buses that pick passengers up from street curbs are seven times more likely to become involved in a fatal crash than buses operated by traditional motor coach companies that depart and arrive at a central terminal, according to a newly released report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The driver of a fuel tanker told police that he heard a loud pop as he traveled along U.S. 59 in Sugar Land, Texas, Thursday night. He exited the freeway about 11:30 p.m. to investigate and found that the back wheels of his truck, which was laden with 9,000 gallons of diesel, were on fire. The flames quickly engulfed the truck and the vehicle exploded, creating a fire so intense that it burned nearby utility poles and knocked out power to homes and businesses in the area. No injuries were reported.
