Truck Drivers Continue to Fight Drowsy Driving Accident Prevention
In an effort to reduce the number of serious truck accidents that occur each year due to fatigued driving, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) enacted new Hours-of-Service rules for truck drivers in July 2013. The new rule reduced the number of hours a trucker may spend on the road in a single week from 82 hours to 70, with a mandatory 34 hours of rest before beginning a new workweek.
Driving while drowsy is a great risk for any driver, but when an individual is operating a semi-truck that can easily weigh 80,000 pounds, the potential for causing catastrophic or fatal damage is all the more real. According to National Transportation Safety Board, nearly half of all fatal truck accidents are the result of a fatigued truck driver.
Unfortunately, in an industry in which truckers earn more money the quicker a delivery is completed, forcing drivers to spend less time on the road, especially between the low-traffic hours of 1am and 5am, is not a welcomed change.