Some of the more devastating accidents occur when drivers of large commercial trucks are overly fatigued. Many times, these truck drivers are so overworked and over exhausted from driving all night and all day that they cannot concentrate on the road or fall asleep at the wheel. The sheer size of these vehicles alone makes the prospect of a collision horrifying.
This article will address:
- The Reasons Why Truck Driver Fatigue is So Dangerous
- Common Types of Crashes Caused by Truck Driver Fatigue in Maryland
- Settlements and Verdicts Awarded in Cases of Accidents Caused by Truck Driver Fatigue
The Reasons Why Truck Driver Fatigue is So Dangerous
Heavy trucks are more complex and more dangerous than cars, so they have greater driver skill and knowledge requirements for safe operation. They are spending more time on the road than the rest of us. Federal and State governments recognized this and developed a uniform Commercial Driver Licensing system to improve highway safety and a significant regulatory system under the Department of Transportation.
However, drivers are highly overworked, and the restrictions on trucking companies went the wrong way in 2017. On average, truckers clock 12-14 hour days and sometimes may even be behind the wheel for up to 18 hours straight. They only average about 5 hours of sleep per 24 hours, and 1 in 4 truckers admit to falling asleep behind the wheel at least once. These fatigued drivers account for approximately 13% of truck-related crashes, many of which are fatal. These accidents are more dangerous for other motorists than they are for the tired truck driver. Of the approximately 5,000 people who die in accidents involving large trucks every year, only 14 percent of the deaths were occupants of the truck. In contrast, 72 percent of the deaths were occupants in a different vehicle.
In Maryland, Route 95 is the most prolific and most common site of fatal truck crashes. Route 83, Route 70, and Route 97 are also heavily traveled roads that make the list of the 100 most dangerous highways.
A Federal Highway Administration investigation into big rig truckers examined differences between daytime and nighttime driving schedules. The results were as you would expect. Nighttime drivers were the most tired, performed most poorly on tests, and demonstrated the poorer lane-tracking performance, which is a significant cause of trucking accident deaths (we have had two pedestrian cases resolved in the last few years where a fatigued truck driver drifted off the road and killed someone.
The time of day was the most robust and most consistent factor influencing driver fatigue and alertness. Drowsiness is much more of a factor during the evening until early morning. Night driving was also associated with worse performance on four essential criteria: proportion of time when videotaped drivers were noticeably drowsy; average lane tracking deviation; incremental differences in test scores; and average physiologically measured total sleep obtained during the principal sleep period before a trip. The time of day was a much better indicator of decreased driving performance than hours of driving or the cumulative number of trips made.
What can trucking companies do? A lot. These companies must develop programs that emphasize the value of truck driver safety and make drivers aware of how their activities on and off the job can cause a real risk of injury and death to others and themselves. This requires the effort of education, driver work schedules, innovative fatigue management programs, and driver screening. Without direct supervision, carriers establish protocols to ensure driver fitness for duty.
Why Is Fatigue Such a Big Issue with Truckers?
Long Driving Hours and Tight Schedules
The logistics and transportation industry often demands that deliveries be made within strict deadlines. This pressure compels truck drivers to drive for extended periods without sufficient breaks, exacerbating fatigue. Although regulations like Hours of Service (HOS) mandate rest periods and limit driving hours, the urgency to meet delivery targets can lead to non-compliance, where drivers might skip or shorten their breaks. This leads to acute fatigue and can have cumulative effects over time, significantly impairing a driver’s ability to stay alert.
Poor Sleep Quality and Health Conditions
Truck drivers frequently face challenges in maintaining regular sleep patterns, which are crucial for preventing fatigue. Many sleep in their trucks, which aren’t always ideal for rest, with issues such as noise, light pollution, and inadequate temperature control. Furthermore, conditions like sleep apnea, which is prevalent among drivers due to the profession’s higher obesity rates, disrupt sleep and reduce its restorative effects. Other health issues like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases can also contribute to increased fatigue, compounded by medications that may induce drowsiness.
Challenges of Night Driving
Driving at night poses unique challenges, as it conflicts with the body’s natural circadian rhythms that promote sleep during the night. This misalignment causes significant drops in alertness and cognitive function. Additionally, the monotony of less varied visual stimuli at night and reduced visibility can further contribute to a driver’s fatigue, making night driving particularly strenuous and risky.
Lifestyle and Environmental Factors
The trucking lifestyle significantly influences driver fatigue. Limited access to nutritious meals means drivers often rely on fast food, leading to poor diet choices that can spike and crash energy levels. Dehydration is another concern, as drivers may consume less water to manage fewer stops, unknowingly exacerbating fatigue. Moreover, the sedentary nature of driving for long hours with minimal physical activity can decrease overall energy levels. Psychological factors such as stress from job demands, isolation from long periods away from home, and the inherent anxiety of meeting delivery schedules also play critical roles in increasing fatigue.
By addressing these areas through better regulatory enforcement, promoting healthier lifestyles, and making structural changes in scheduling and route planning, the trucking industry can help mitigate fatigue among drivers, enhancing their safety and that of other road users.
Long Driving Hours and Tight Schedules
The logistics and transportation industry often demands that deliveries be made within strict deadlines. This pressure compels truck drivers to drive for extended periods without sufficient breaks, exacerbating fatigue. Although regulations like Hours of Service (HOS) mandate rest periods and limit driving hours, the urgency to meet delivery targets can lead to non-compliance, where drivers might skip or shorten their breaks. This leads to acute fatigue and can have cumulative effects over time, significantly impairing a driver’s ability to stay alert.
Poor Sleep Quality and Health Conditions
Truck drivers frequently face challenges maintaining regular sleep patterns, which is crucial for preventing fatigue. Many sleep in their trucks, which is not ideal rest for anyone, with issues such as noise, light pollution, and inadequate temperature control. Furthermore, conditions like sleep apnea, which is prevalent among drivers due to higher obesity rates in the profession, disrupt sleep and reduce its therapeutic effects. Other health issues like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases – truck drivers often skew older – can also contribute to increased fatigue, compounded by medications that may induce drowsiness.
Challenges of Night Driving
Driving at night poses unique challenges, as it conflicts with the body’s natural circadian rhythms that promote sleep during the night. When it gets dark, the body wants to begin to shut down as it has for thousands and thousands of years. This misalignment causes significant drops in alertness and cognitive function – weapons you need when driving a huge truck. Additionally, the monotony of less varied visual stimuli at night and reduced visibility can further contribute to a driver’s fatigue, making night driving particularly strenuous and risky.
Lifestyle and Environmental Factors
The trucking lifestyle significantly influences driver fatigue. Limited access to nutritious meals means drivers often rely on fast food, leading to poor diet choices that can spike and crash energy levels. Dehydration is another thing that would not come to mind but it really is a thing.
Truck drivers do not want to make a lot of stops because that slows them down. So, they often consume less water to manage fewer stops, unknowingly exacerbating fatigue. Moreover, the sedentary nature of driving for long hours with minimal physical activity can decrease overall energy levels.
Psychological factors such as stress from job demands, isolation from long periods away from home, and the inherent anxiety of meeting delivery schedules also play critical roles in increasing fatigue.
Common Types of Crashes Caused by Truck Driver Fatigue
The following are a few examples of the types of crashes that a fatigued truck driver may cause:
- A truck driver, exhausted after an all-night shift, falls asleep at the wheel and veers into oncoming traffic, initiating a devastating collision.
- An exhausted truck driver fails to see a traffic signal and barrels through the intersection, t-boning a passing vehicle.
- A disabled vehicle on the side of the road is struck by a fatigued truck driver who drifts into the shoulder of the road.
How an Accident Caused by a Tired Truck Driver Might Occur in Real Life
Greg is an extremely hard worker. A top driver at Davidson Trucking in Bowie, Maryland, Greg can drive all night and deliver his cargo to its destination on time or even early. His company has just received word of a massive order that must be shipped and delivered cross-country by the end of the work week. Greg’s boss calls Greg into his office and asks him to complete the delivery. Greg, without hesitation, accepts the request and promptly heads out onto the interstate, cargo in tow.
Greg leaves at 6 p.m. He figures he may as well stay up and drive through the night since traffic will be lighter, and he just drank a cup of coffee. For the first 10 hours of his nightly trip, he is alert, awake, and focused on the road ahead. But at about 4:30 a.m., his eyes start to feel extremely heavy. He knows he should stop to pull over, but he also knows how important it is to his boss to deliver the cargo on time. He decides to push on and continue to drive through the night.
About an hour later, Greg starts to yawn and, just for a second, closes his eyes to rest them. He realizes he has just been in a massive accident when he reopens them. After Greg fell asleep at the wheel, he drifted into an adjacent lane and sideswiped a small Jetta being driven by Meghan. Meghan’s car flips over, and she sustains a severe back injury, which will require surgery and physical therapy. The accident and Meghan’s injuries are the result of Greg’s negligent decision to operate his truck despite his extreme fatigue.
Real Cases: Settlements and Verdicts in Truck Driver Fatigue Claims
- California: $1,587,505 Verdict. This death action was brought by the estate of a 52-year-old man who died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident, allegedly caused by the negligence of a defendant truck driver. The driver stopped his truck in the middle of the highway without activating any warning signals, causing the plaintiff to drive into the back of his truck. The plaintiff was then rear-ended by another truck. The plaintiff contended that the defendant truck driver was negligent for stopping his tractor-trailer in the travel lanes of the freeway under light traffic conditions. The plaintiff successfully theorized that the most likely explanation for the defendant’s conduct was fatigue, as he had driven at least 13.75 hours during the previous 24-hour period without adequate rest despite the state-mandated 12-hour driving limit. This kind of evidence is critical in establishing negligence and bringing a claim against a trucking company for something other than vicarious liability.
- Idaho: $900,000 Settlement. Plaintiff collided with Defendant’s semi-truck at an intersection. The defendant truck driver was cited for failure to yield at a traffic signal. The defense alleged that Plaintiff was speeding and failed to maintain a proper lookout. Defense counsel makes this argument in almost every case. But they can rarely make that claim to the jury because there is so little admissible evidence of speeding. Plaintiff alleged that an examination of Defendant’s driver logs and operational receipts proved driver fatigue and record falsification. There is no doubt this happens all of the time. We have seen this happen in many of these cases.
- Florida: $1,000,000,000 Verdict. This wrongful death and negligence case was initiated by the family of an 18-year-old college freshman who died in a truck accident. The accident was caused by a truck driver who, distracted by his cellphone and lacking a commercial driver’s license, crashed and blocked the highway. This led to a traffic jam where, within 90 minutes, another accident occurred involving a second truck driver who, exhausted from over 25 hours of driving without sufficient breaks and unable to read English road signs, rear-ended the young student’s car. The jury found that the first truck driver’s employer was grossly negligent in hiring him, leading to $900 million in punitive damages, and the second driver’s fatigue was deemed a direct cause of the fatal second crash, adding to the liabilities. The case highlights the critical role of proper hiring practices and the enforcement of driving hour regulations in preventing such tragedies.
- New York: $675,000 Settlement. A 40-year-old female died when a disabled vehicle that was on the side of the road and in which she was seated was struck by a truck. The plaintiff contended that the defendant driver of the truck was driving while fatigued. The parties settled for $675,000 during the trial. Two other plaintiffs were also injured in this accident and received $350,000 plus $30,000 for loss of consortium and $75,000, respectively.
The Attorneys at Miller & Zois Are Equipped to Handle The Most Serious Claims
Truck driver fatigue is a severe problem that can cause devastating consequences for unsuspecting motorists. The attorneys at Miller & Zois are experienced professionals who handle the most severe types of vehicle crashes, including collisions caused by tired truck drivers. Contact us to immediately discuss your claim at 800-553-8082 or get a free case evaluation online.