As any trucking accident attorney can tell you, one of the biggest threats on the road is a weary truck driver.  The vast majority of the trucking accidents we see are caused by tired truckers.  There are actually laws which regulate how long truckers may drive during a given time period.  For approximately 60 years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) stated that truckers could not drive for more than 10 hours at a time.  However, approximately one year ago, they changed that regulation so that truckers could drive up to 11 hours at one time.  

We recently passed the one year anniversary of a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court in which they threw out that rule.  In doing so, they indicated that the FMSCA had to adequately explain their decision to add the additional hour.  Not only were they unable to do so, they freely admitted that "studies show that performance begins to degrade after the 8th hour on duty, and the degradation increases geometrically during the 10th and 11th hours."  Essentially, the FMCSA candidly admitted that their new rule would lead to further performance degradation, which means more crashes.  

I am not sure what motivated the FMCSA to increase driving hours.  However, there is no question that the roads are going to be safer due to the overturning of this rule.  I have handled a number of semi-truck collision cases.  In every case, we get not only the driver's logs, but also the bills of lading, fuel receipts, and GPS tracking information.  Basically, we get every piece of paper that can help us document how long the trucker had been driving.  All too frequently, we find that the truckers have been forging their logs, and have been driving in excess of these regulations.  If you have been involved in a trucking accident and need to speak to a Missouri or Illinois trucking attorney, feel free to contact Josh Myers.