TRUCK DRIVERS' WORKING HOURS INCREASED
On January 19, 2009, a new regulation went into effect regarding the number of hours that a professional truck driver can work and drive. I agree with the position of the four organizations (Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen, the Truck Safety Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters) who had fought against this regulation. Their petition asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to reconsider the regulation based on findings demonstrating that much longer working and driving hours will inevitably produce severely fatigued drivers who can suffer serious health problems from excessively long working hours. Certainly, fatigued drivers are also a huge danger to other vehicles on the road as well.
Despite their fight and two court decisions against the hours of service regulation, the FMCSA re-issued essentially the same rule.
The regulation allows truckers to drive up to 11 hours in a single shift, while driving 88 hours or working 98 hours over eight consecutive days.
This regulation went into effect before the Obama Administration went into office and was not one of the regulations stayed by the Administration.
If you or a loved one have been injured in a car crash involving a truck, please contact the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll. We have handled many trucking cases and have been successful in obtaining large settlements and verdicts for our clients against trucking defendants and their agents. For example, Jeffrey J. Kroll recently settled a case in Kendall County, Illinois for $2.8 Million involving a 22-year-old girl who was killed when her vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor trailer.
