Accidents Caused by Commercial Truck Drivers Exceeding the Speed Limit
Last week, we shared a university study examining how effective the federal electronic logging device (ELD) rule has been in decreasing the number of truck accidents in this country. Alex Scott, Andrew Balthrop, and Jason Miller. “Did the Electronic Logging Device Mandate Reduce Accidents?” Available at SSRN 3314308 (2019).
Their research found an increase in truck crashes (Report pages 21-25) while everyone (large and small carriers) reported fewer Hours of Service (HOS) rule violations. From their findings:
- There was an increase of 3.5% in truck crashes involving independent owner-operators.
- Carriers with 101-1,000 trucks had an increase of 50+ more truck accidents each week.
- The number of truck accidents involving smaller carriers (2-6 trucks; 7-20 trucks) rose from 13 to 22 crashes per week.
So why were there more commercial truck crashes after the ELD Rule went into effect, despite fewer reports of HOS violations for both large and small carriers?
[D]rivers … appear to have increased their frequency of unsafe driving (e.g., speeding) in response to the productivity losses caused by the mandate, which could explain why accidents did not decrease.
Temptation to Exceed the Speed Limit in the Trucking Industry
According to the report, trucking is the “dominant mode of transportation” in the United States, moving “roughly 67% of all tonnage nationwide.” (Report, page 5.) There are a lot of trucks on our roads and a variety of owners who are responsible for them, from the independent trucker who drives his own rig, to the large, national trucking carriers with fleets of large trucks carrying cargo across the country.
The report points out that the HOS regulations mean the truck driver has less work hours during the day, since the rules require periodic rest breaks. Less work hours means less pay for the trucker: these are professional drivers paid by their output, not by the hour.
The result? Truckers are tempted to “offset some of the lost output and associated income” by increasing “work intensity per unit time.” Report, page 28.
In other words, a truck driver may comply with the HOS regulations and still keep his income stream steady by driving faster – or speeding.
Which is exactly what truckers across the industry are doing: there are a great many semi-truck drivers exceeding the speed limit to make up time so they can comply with their HOS requirements without a cut in their pay.
“[S]peeding increased by 31.0% for independent owner-operators, 15.9% for two to six truck fleets, 10.6% for six to 20 trucks, and 16.5% for fleets of 21 to 100 trucks … [D]rivers who were most impacted by the ELD Mandate increased their driving intensity (e.g., by driving faster and changing lanes more often) in response to the decrease in output caused by the mandate.”
Speeding Semi-Trucks Create A High Risk for Serious or Fatal Truck Crashes
It seems a matter of common sense that there is an increased danger for a serious large truck accident when the truck driver is driving his rig over the speed limit. Accidents can happen from the increased speed alone, or contribute to causing the crash when other problems occur.
Consider the recent tragedy on a Colorado interstate, where the truck driver of a speeding big rig (80 mph) asserts he suffered brake failure, resulting in 4 deaths in a huge pile-up; the trucker now faces criminal charges. See, “Charges filed against driver of semi that caused deadly, fiery I-70 crash,” published on May 3, 2019, by KDVR.
As for statistics on the danger of speeding, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance shares the following sobering figures:
- According to FMCSA, speeding was the most frequent driver-related crash factor for commercial truck drivers.
- In 2017, NHTSA found speeding was involved in 26% of all traffic fatalities.
- According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute, speeding has been a cause of over 25% of traffic crash deaths since 2008.
We also know from NHTSA that Illinois is known to be one of the top four states in the country with the most speeding-related traffic fatalities (led only by California, Texas, and Pennsylvania).
Severe Commercial Truck Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
For those of us living in Illinois and Indiana, we are accustomed to sharing our roads and traffic lanes with all sorts of large trucks, as this is the “crossroads of America.” It is commonplace to drive along popular routes like the Borman Expressway alongside all sorts of big rigs, semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, and 18-wheelers, each carrying heavy loads and driving at speed limits exceeding 60 mph.
The amount of commercial truck traffic in our part of the country increases our risk of a serious or fatal truck crash, where the truck driver as well as the driver and occupants of other, smaller motor vehicles can be permanently injured or killed in the accident. For details, read our discussion in “Semi Trucks and Big Rigs: High Indiana and Illinois Commercial Truck Traffic Creates Dangerous Conditions.”
Simply put, the danger of a truck crash must be considered higher in Indiana and Illinois than in other parts of the country, where there is less commercial truck traffic on the roads. The risk is exacerbated by the reality of truck drivers speeding in order to comply with HOS regulations.
While negligence, negligent supervision, product liability, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death laws exist in both Indiana and Illinois for those who become victims of a truck crash, the goal of the HOS and ELD Rules – to prevent these crashes from happening – must remain everyone’s focus.
Fatal truck crashes are a very real danger in Indiana and Illinois. Let’s be careful out there!
