Trucking Safety: Electronic On-Board Recorders for Hours-of-Service Violations

Good news for all those concerned with making the trucking industry safer: According to a press release from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (part of the United States Department of Transportation), an important regulation affecting interstate commercial truck and bus companies goes into effect June 1st, 2012. This regulation will require that those agencies having significant patterns of hours-of-service (HOS) violations must install electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) in their vehicles.

How will this impact trucking safety?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a person is killed or injured in a truck accident every sixteen minutes in the United States. Truck driver fatigue is often a contributing factor in many of these accidents.

Memphis truck accident lawyers know that truck drivers, by law, can only work for a certain number of hours before they must take rest breaks. Drivers must also record the hours that they work in log books, and those books may be used as evidence in the event of a lawsuit.

However, it has long been believed that truck drivers and their agencies often falsely record such hours of work, stating that the drivers drove fewer hours than they actually did. This allows assigned routes to be completed faster, resulting in less time lost to the driver, and more money for the trucking industry.

Such practices result in more fatigue-related trucking accidents. The new rule requiring that EOBRs be attached to certain commercial vehicles means the number of hours drivers spend operating their vehicles will be automatically recorded. As a result, truck operators and their companies will no longer be able to falsely record hours in their logbooks. It is hoped that this regulation will encourage drivers to take the required number of rest breaks for an appropriate duration, thereby reducing the number of fatigue-related accidents.

The Memphis truck accident lawyers at Gilreath & Associates want to help resolve your legal issues. You can count on our compassion, experience and skill to pursue a positive outcome for your case. Contact our accident and injury attorneys today.