According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, every year more than 4,000 people are killed in accidents involving trucks. Nearly 40% of these fatalities are due to driver fatigue. This equates to over 1500 lives that could have easily been saved if truck drivers and their companies were more stringent on rest requirements. Fifty-six percent of drivers say that their last instance of falling asleep while driving occurred on a multi-lane divided highway. With millions of cars traveling major highways around the country, the dangers of accidents related to fatigue are high. Truck accident settlements can help ease the financial burden, but no one wants to be faced with injuries, lost wages, mental anguish, and additional hardship to their families.

Everybody wants to go after the trucking company for how they hire, how they train, and how they supervise their drivers. Companies think this is pure selfishness on the part of the victims and fail to fully realize the role they play in the actions of their drivers. The average workweek in the U.S. is under 40 hours, but the average workweek for truckers is over 60 hours. In a field where fatigue is an on-going problem, truck drivers should face better regulation of on- and off-road periods. Long-haul truckers depend on their deliveries to make a living, but at what cost? With the cost of medical care rising, truck accident settlements are on the rise as well.

The proposed rule of decreasing the current 11-hour driving day limit to 10 hours has drawn heavy criticism in the trucking world. Maritime and intermodal industry officials are raising alarms that the proposed federal hours-of-service rules for domestic U.S. truck drivers could complicate movement of international maritime freight through U.S. ports, rail yards and terminals. Shortening the hours U.S. truckers may drive each day and lengthening their weekends would put more trucks on the road around ports during congested daytime hours, bringing more pollution and higher costs to these agencies. With all of this discussion, industry officials pay little mention to the safety of other motorists who share the roads with these overworked truckers.

According to recent data analysis, for every fatal accident, there are 10 serious accidents, 100 reportable accidents, and 1000 unreported accidents. Truck accident settlements are escalating in the U.S. and Canada. A critical trucking accident can lead to high claims costs. Millions of dollars in bodily injury payouts (namely, a traumatic brain injury) can easily cost several million dollars in the U.S. Knowing the facts can help keep victims from losing out on these settlements. Many companies attempt to get the victims to agree to truck accident settlements before lawyers can get involved, drastically lowering financial awards to victims.  They prey on the vulnerability of the injured and care little about their ultimate well-being.