The Fatigued Driver

Major Element of Truck Accidents

While a number of factors can contribute to truck accidents, studies show fatigue or drowsiness is the number one cause of driver errors leading to serious roadway injury accidents and fatalities. A fatigued driver who speeds, tailgates, fails to signal lane changes, or otherwise violates traffic laws, greatly increases the risk of collision and is negligent in the eyes of the law. This statistic is nonetheless true for drivers of smaller vehicles. Tired car drivers will cause car accidents. Fatigued motorcycle drivers will cause motorcycle accidents. The difference with truck accidents is they tend to be more severe for two reasons - weight and maneuverability. A large truck is defined as one weighing 10,000 lbs. or more, that's twice the weight of an average car. The legal weight of an 18-wheeler is 80,000 lbs. or 40 tons. Both require much longer reaction times than smaller motor vehicles and much more space in which to maneuver lane changes or turns. In an emergency, a fatigued driver's impaired response time, coupled with a truck's limited reaction time and size, spells disaster.

Do you suspect truck driver negligence due to fatigue or other error has caused your injury? If you or someone you love has suffered serious or fatal injury in a large truck accident, you need a Houston truck accident attorney who knows the trucking industry. Our firm has 22 years of experience helping people injured in trucking accidents. Call us for a free case consultation and evaluation.

Truck Accident Lawyer in Houston

Even fully rested, the average driver may experience an hypnotic sleep-inducing effect while driving at night. The same might be said of routes driven every day or long, uninteresting commercial road trips. Studies show that tiredness and fatigue often affect driving ability long before the driver notices. For this reason, a fatigue-related crash is often more severe since a tired, unobservant driver fails to respond in time to avoid a crash.

If you have observed a vehicle drifting over road lines, or one that varies speed for no reason, or a vehicle whose driver follows too closely, you may have suspected a drunk driver. However, according to a study conducted by the Adelaide Center for Sleep Research, drivers who have been awake for 24 hours or more have a driving performance equivalent to that of a person with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.1% . Further, they are 7 times more likely to have an accident than an alert and rested driver.

Consequently, the Federal Carrier Safety Administration (FCSA) has set trucking industry standards or "hours of service" rules to curtail driver fatigue. We understand these rules and their importance to safety on our roadways, and we are here to serve you if you have suffered injuries as a result of a truck driver's negligence.

Contact a Houston truck accident attorney when you or a loved one has suffered injuries in a trucking accident caused by another driver's fatigue or drowsiness.