FMCA: electronic recording devices help prevent truck accidents

According to a recent study by the Federal Motor Carrier Administration—the agency responsible for regulating the trucking industry—trucks equipped with electronic hours-or-service recorders may be a way for trucking companies to prevent crashes and contribute to greater roadway safety.

Hours-of-service refers to regulations covering truck companies and drivers and aimed at ensuring truck drivers are adequately rested when they get behind the wheel. The current regulations involve multiple rules regarding how long truckers can remain behind the wheel on any given day, as well as the required frequency of breaks. The current regulations were not exactly welcomed by the trucking industry as a whole, however, as they reduced the amount of time truckers can remain behind the wheel and hence the amount of work that can legally be done in a work week.

Truckers are required to keep a log of their compliance with hours-of-service rules, and electronic devices seem to be an effective way to ensure compliance and reduce accidents. After all, it is often easy for truckers to tamper with records after the fact, without having really followed them to begin with.

When a trucker causes an accident due to a failure to abide by federal safety regulations, victims of the accident deserve to be compensated. Failure to abide by safety regulations is an obvious way to demonstrate negligence in personal injury litigation, but it is important to work with an experienced attorney throughout the process. This ensures that the best outcome in the case will result.

Source: Fleet Owner, “Trucks with electronic logs have fewer crashes, study finds,” Avery Vise, May 12, 2014.