Fatigued Truck Driver Accident Lawyers in Atlanta
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has a "10 Most Wanted" list of safety improvements the agency would like to see to decrease trucking accidents and deaths. No. 1 on its list is safety-enhancing technologies to address the problem of driver fatigue.
Fatigue is a driver-related factor in more than 10 percent of trucking accidents.
According to the NTSB website: "Human fatigue is subtle. At any given point, the traveling public could be at risk because the … truck drivers with whom, or near whom, they are traveling … do not realize until it is too late that they cannot safely complete their duties because of fatigue. To make matters worse, people frequently are not aware of, or may deny, ability impairments caused by fatigue."
If you were hurt or a family member was killed when a Georgia driver fell asleep, attorneys at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP, can help. Contact an Atlanta truck driver attorney online or call 800-233-4086 for a free case evaluation.
Our personal injury lawyers have extensive experience holding negligent drivers accountable for the harm they've caused, as well as holding companies accountable for management practices that put profits before safety. We have a proven record of success, securing top-dollar verdicts in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits for those whose lives have been changed in trucking accidents.
The Business of Trucking and the Fatigued Truck Driver Accident
Lawyers who handle trucking accident cases regularly know that there are several factors at work that make it difficult to fight truck driver fatigue. Drivers work for employers that want cargo delivered as fast as possible. They work on roads that are increasingly congested and often lack safe rest stops. Many drivers make runs through the middle of the night and do not adhere to a normal sleeping pattern. And drivers themselves fail to take fatigue seriously.
"Powering through fatigue is simply not an acceptable option," says the NTSB. Its report included several things employers could do to decrease truck driver fatigue, including:
- Hours-of-service limits that are not arbitrary
- Medical oversight to identify sleep-related medical problems
- Employee monitoring systems to detect fatigue before it becomes a problem
Truck drivers and trucking companies could start with enforcing existing driving hour limits. It's not unusual to find that a driver's logbook has been tampered with to hide evidence of violations. That's one thing our investigators look at closely.
Our firm achieved a significant settlement in a personal injury and wrongful death claim when we proved that a tractor-trailer driver had driven more hours than allowed and was on numerous medications when he lost control of his truck on an Atlanta highway.
Contact a Columbus Tired Driver Accident Lawyer
After you've been injured in a serious truck accident or a loved one has been killed in a fatal truck crash, contact the Atlanta injury lawyers at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP, or call 800-233-4086 to schedule a free case evaluation.
