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Understanding Regulations Involving Major Truck Accidents

Written by: Robert B. Crary

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Posted about 3 years ago. Applies to Washington, 1 helpful vote, 0 comments

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Trucking companies are required to follow Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations concerning their equipment and their driver's hours of service.

For instance these regulations require that a vehicle owner maintain service records and maintenance records for the vehicles they operate on the public highways. In addition they are required to maintain higher levels of insurance coverage on the vehicles they use in their employ. The drivers they employ are required to maintain clean driving records and to remain drug free. Any violations of these rules can not only render the driver liable for damages but they cause but can also expose the trucking company to damages caused by the driver. In 2005, Large trucks accounted for 8 percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and 4 percent of all vehicles involved in injury and property damages only crashes. Large trucks were much more likely to be involved in a fatal multiple-vehicle crashes- as opposed to a fatal single-vehicle crash - than were passenger vehicles. Most fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural areas, during the daylight hours.

In Washington, the Utilities and Transportation Commission is charged with the task of adopting regulations regarding the safety of motor carriers.

Washington State Law regulates certain aspects of the trucking industry. For instance, driver fatigue is a common problem, as hours of service regulations are routinely violated. Careful examination of records after an accident often shows serious and even fraudulent violations of those regulations. However, trucking companies are only required to maintain many of those records for six months. Without obtaining those records before they are destroyed, the injured person or survivors of a person killed in a truck wreck has a much more difficult time proving the trucking company's negligence. In truck accidents cases it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence, investigate the accident in question, and to enable physicians or other expert witnesses to thoroughly evaluate the cause of the collision and the nature of the injuries.