If you were in an accident with a commercial truck, you need a Houston car accident attorney on your side to fight the trucking company for compensation. One common factor in truck accidents is truck driver fatigue. Fatigued drivers get behind the wheel every day and put everyone at risk. Let’s discuss what to do if you think truck driver fatigue played a role in your truck accident.
Suspect Truck Driver Fatigue Caused Your Accident? Contact a Houston Car Accident Attorney
If you think driver fatigue caused your truck accident, it’s important to tell your Houston car accident attorney. There may be many signs of driver fatigue, like not stopping before the accident, drifting into other lanes, or making poor driving choices. Unfortunately, many commercial truck drivers drive fatigued every day. Showing this kind of negligence may be important for your case.
Fatigue is a Serious Problem for Commercial Trucks
Truck driver fatigue is a serious problem throughout the country. Some estimate that as many as 40% of all truck accidents are caused by commercial truck driver fatigue. There are several reasons for this, like tight delivery deadlines and trucking companies pushing for more driving hours to increase profits.
In fact, it’s such a problem that there are laws on the books to try to prevent fatigued truck driving. These laws include:
- Required 30 minute breaks after 8 hours of driving
- Maximum 70 hour work weeks
- Required 34 hours of time off after 70 hour work week is reached
- Maximum of total daily driving time of 11 hours
- Maximum work day of 14 hours
Nevertheless, fatigue is still a major factor in many truck accidents. Often, trucking companies encourage their drivers to drive fatigued and even violate these important laws. For instance, by directly telling drivers to drive longer or by setting unrealistic deadlines and expectations. Therefore, it’s important to tell your injury attorney if you suspect fatigue was the cause of your truck accident.
How Your Houston Car Accident Attorney Proves Driver Fatigue
While the truck driver might not admit to drowsy driving, there are many ways your Houston car accident attorney can help prove fatigue as a cause for your case. For instance, we can subpoena hours of service records to identify any violations or long driving times that might contribute to fatigue. We can also use accident reconstructions to determine if and when the driver started braking before the accident and other evidence that can indicate the driver was fatigued or even asleep.
With all this evidence, we can fight the trucking company for fair compensation on your behalf. We can do this through an insurance claim or through a lawsuit. If we can show that the trucking company directly encouraged their drivers to drive fatigued or violate hours of service laws or that they helped falsify driver hours records, then we may even be able to seek punitive damages in your case, which are extra damages meant to punish the at-fault party. Make sure you have an experienced Houston car accident attorney on your side to fight large trucking companies after an accident.
The Law Office of Daniel D. Horowitz, III PC – Experienced Injury Attorney in Houston
After a car or truck accident, choose the Law Office of Daniel D. Horowitz, III PC as your personal injury lawyer. Our firm provides experienced legal services for your accident. We go up against even large companies to get you the compensation you deserve. If you were in an accident, we believe you should get fair compensation for your damages and injuries and have a successful track record of recovering damages for our clients. Contact us now to get a free case evaluation with our firm!