While truck drivers are marching on Washington seeking to halt or change the current trucking industry ELD regulation imposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), as discussed in our last post, FMCSA marches ahead in its concerns over drowsy truckers and driver fatigue causing fatal truck crashes.
Are Long Commute Times for Commercial Truck Drivers Dangerous?
This year, FMCSA is focusing even more closely on truck drivers who are responsible for those big rigs and semi-trucks moving cargo across the country.
The agency is investigating how much time the commercial truck driver spends in commuting to and from their work in their personal vehicles.
Funding for the study has been approved by Congress, and the researchers begin collecting data in May.
FMCSA wants to know how often commercial truck drivers need 2.5 hours or more in commute time just to get to their trucking job. FMCSA is concerned that truckers with long commutes to work are more likely to be driving drowsy, compromising safety for everyone on the roads.
The agency will be gathering data from 5 large trucking companies and 4 large motorcoach (bus) companies. Each employer will be asked to provide FMCSA with the home addresses of their driver-employees; their corresponding work addresses/work terminal locations; and the methods of transportation used by the driver-employees in their commute. The agency will use this information to estimate commuter distances for each driver; if they have to cross time zones to get to or from work; and how much time the driver needs for his or her work commute.
Commercial drivers will also be asked to complete a survey to give their personal information on their “commuting practices.” Their responses will be a vital part of the agency’s determination of new regulatory action for commercial truck drivers as well as professional bus drivers.
Why do the study? Because FMCSA (as well as trucking safety advocates, truck drivers, and members of the trucking industry) know full well that truck drivers can live hundreds of miles away from where they are needed to drive their big rig.
Long commutes are a part of the standard work week of many long-haul truck drivers.
The public got a glimpse into this truck driver reality several years ago, when Saturday Night Live alum and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan almost died in a truck crash.
Commute Was Factor in Fatal Truck Crash Involving Comedian Tracy Morgan
Across the country, millions were shocked to learn of the June 2014 truck crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, when a Walmart big rig slammed into comedian Tracy Morgan’s limo-van, killing comedian James McNair and seriously injuring Mr. Morgan. See, Tracy Morgan Semi Truck Crash: NTSB Rules Truck Driver Fatigue Caused Fatal Walmart Truck Accident .
Investigations into the Tracy Morgan truck crash revealed that the Walmart trucker not only drove fatigued, having had a mere 4 hours of sleep in the 33 hour time period preceding the crash, but that the truck driver had driven an 800 mile commute from his home in Georgia to Delaware in order to do his job.
In the Tracy Morgan accident, the truck driver had driven 12 hours in order to get to his job. He then hopped into his cab and drove the Walmart rig for another 13 hours, 32 minutes of a 14-hour duty day when the crash happened, as the Walmart tractor-trailer truck rear-ended the limo-van.
Read the National Transportation Safety Board report regarding this June 2014 fatal truck crash, which concludes that the driver’s commute was a key factor in the fatal accident:
“The NTSB concludes that the driver of the Walmart Transportation truck was fatigued due to his failure to obtain sleep before reporting for duty, resulting in acute sleep loss and excessive time awake.”
Congress Recognizes Truck Driver Commutes as a Risk in Drowsy Driver Accidents
The reality that many commercial truck drivers start their job tired and fatigued is not generally recognized by the public. Trucking companies are not freely sharing this information, of course.
However, Congress has been aware of the problem for several years now. In fact, the FMCSA research study into truck driver commutes causing fatal accidents was mandated back in 2015’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act).
Section 5515 of the FAST Act directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to “conduct a study on the safety effects of motor carrier operator commutes exceeding 150 minutes.” The Act also gives FMCSA a deadline to submit its findings to Congress.
Indiana Must Be Alert to Truck Driver Fatigue and Truck Crashes
Here in Indiana, we have a lot of big rig, semi-truck traffic on our roads. Any Hoosier driving our local interstates routinely shares the road with a commercial truck driven by a professional truck driver.
There are a shocking number of serious and fatal truck accidents here. Thirteen (13) counties in Indiana have an individual county fatality rate for fatal truck crashes that exceeds 94.5% of the counties in the entire nation.
This is because Indiana’s economy is highly dependent upon trucking, and that dependence is expected to grow for the next decade. Governor Holcomb promotes Indiana for its ability to provide 14 interstates for commercial truck travel, more than any other state in the country.
Indiana’s transportation and logistics industry accounts for over 4% of jobs in the state, a level of concentration that is 44% above the national average. Over 45% of these jobs are in the truck transportation subsector. Overall, employment in the cluster is projected to grow by 10.3% between 2016 and 2026, surpassing the 9.6% growth in the previous 10-year period.
Seeking Justice for Indiana Fatal Truck Crashes
Federal concern for truck drivers being asked to drive long hours – even before they take the wheel of their rig – is vital to making our roads safer for everyone. History has demonstrated time and again that the trucking industry’s primary motivation is profit, not protection of its drivers.
Legal protections for truckers keep the truck drivers safe and spare their families and loved ones that horrible phone call notifying them of a fatal truck crash.
Mandates that insist that trucking industry pressures be lifted to allow truckers needed time to rest and recuperate before reporting for duty are a good thing. Innocent victims will be spared from death in a commercial truck accident.
However, the current reality is that many truck drivers are commuting amazing distances in order to get to their job. They are starting work tired. Drowsy driving is a very real threat to the safety of everyone on the roads today, especially Hoosiers driving alongside semi-trucks and tractor-trailers here in Indiana.
In a fatal truck crash, many may share in the liability for the crash alongside the driver. Trucking companies may have legal liability for their truck driver falling asleep at the wheel or driving drowsy. State laws exist to protect victims and seek justice for drowsy driving truck crashes.
Understanding that the truck driver employee has a long commute and ignoring how that commute may compromise the driver’s abilities may create legal liability for the driver’s employer in the event of a crash.
It’s important that Hoosiers understand how dangerous it may be to share the roads with a truck driver who is driving drowsy. Let’s be careful out there!
