CHICAGO FAMILY FATALLY INJURED IN TRACTOR TRAILER CRASH
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that at 3:30 a.m., the morning of February 23, 2011, three members of a Chicago family were killed on Interstate 65 in Kentucky, when a tractor-trailer struck their SUV. This is devastating news to our community. The investigation as to why the truck driver collided into the SUV is on-going.
Trucking safety is a large concern to the motoring public. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has reported that there were approximately 123,000 large trucks and buses involved in fatal and non-fatal crashes in 2009. People injured in trucking accidents can sue the truck driver and the commercial trucking company for damages including pain and suffering, medical costs, loss of income, disability and disfigurement.
One major area of concern when a truck crashes into a car, especially in the early morning hours, is whether the driver suffered from fatigue. Truck driver fatigue, which is typically caused by inadequate daily sleep, working too many hours, or driving while sick, substantially increases the risk of crashes that result in serious injury or death. With the trucking industry's notorious extended hours of operation, driver sleep deprivation has become a major concern in commercial trucking. The U.S. Department of Transportation attempts to regulate the time that commercial drivers spend driving and on-duty. See 49 C.F.R. § 395.3. By law, drivers are limited to 60 hours of compensated work in a seven-day period or 70 hours in an eight-day period. 49 C.F.R. § 395.3(b).
