Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has spent two years considering modifications to hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers, but any proposed increase in regulation could inspire opposition in Congress. The agency has delayed the release of new rules until October, requesting further comment during the summer of 2011. While the agency cites its own research to argue that revisions to the existing regulations are needed to improve safety, members of Congress have vowed to fight any changes.

Four Republican Representatives led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) wrote to President Obama regarding the proposed changes, stating that “we are very concerned the proposed changes will result in additional trucks and drivers on the road to deliver the same amount of freight, adding to the final product costs and increasing congestion on our already overburdened roads.” Industry groups have expressed similar concerns about new regulations. Since the FMCSA has not released new rules, the situation is still simmering. It pits concerns over driver safety against concerns over the impact of new rules on the trucking industry.

Under current rules, commercial truck drivers who do not carry passengers can drive for a maximum of 11 consecutive hours after at least 10 consecutive hours off duty, and they can be on duty for a maximum of 14 consecutive hours. Drivers are also limited to 60 to 70 hours total driving in a 7- to 8-day time period. Proposed new regulations would limit the total number of 14-hour shifts to two per week, with driving time limited to 10 or 11 hours. The FMCSA issued the current rules in 2003, in the first major revision of hours-of-service rules since 1939.

As an agency of the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulates the U.S. trucking industry, enacting and enforcing safety regulations covering commercial motor vehicles and drivers. It is tasked with monitoring highway safety data, researching existing safety concerns, promulgating rules and regulations enforcing safety policies, and developing technological solutions supporting safety. The agency was established January 1, 2000.

The FMCSA issued a report in May 2011 analyzing driving performance of commercial truck drivers and considering all activities expected of drivers in addition to driving. Aside from driving, drivers may spend time during shifts performing “heavy work” like loading and unloading their trailers and “light work” like paperwork and other administrative tasks. Drivers also take breaks during shifts to eat, sleep, and relax. The report identified driver drowsiness as a major concern, but also the variety and range of tasks performed by drivers during a shift. All of these factors can negatively affect driver safety.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has formally recommended a ban on the use of cell phones and other mobile electronic devices by commercial truck drivers while driving. While this does not have the force of law, the recommendation follows on a prior recommendation to ban text messaging by truck drivers. The Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog previously reported on how this led to a formal ban by the federal government on texting by commercial truckers. Nineteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia already ban all drivers from texting while driving. The federal texting rule for truckers, set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, carries fines of up to $2,750 per incident. The NTSB recommendation on cell phone use is likely to lead to similar rules regarding cell phone use.

The NTSB recommendation resulted from its investigation into a tragic crash on Interstate 65 in Kentucky last year in which a commercial truck driver veered across the median of the highway into oncoming traffic and struck a van carrying a total of 12 people. The crash killed the truck driver, the van driver, and nine of the van’s occupants. Two children in the van were reported to have been saved by their child-restraint systems. The investigation concluded that the truck driver’s distraction from use of a cell phone, combined with fatigue, caused the crash. Investigators found that the truck driver had used his phone for calls and text messages while driving 69 times during the previous 24-hour period. Road conditions, weather, and driver health issues did not play any role in the accident, according to investigators.

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent agency of the United States government, formed in 1967 and tasked with investigating accidents in the civil transportation system. It investigates certain types of car and truck accidents. Since the accident in Kentucky occurred on an interstate highway, which is partly administered by the federal government, it came under the NTSB’s jurisdiction. The NTSB also investigates aviation, marine, shipping, pipeline, and railroad accidents. The agency lacks the legal authority by itself to create laws or rules, but its system of recommendations frequently leads to the adoption of new safety regulations. In it 44-year history, it has issued over 13,000 recommendations.

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A bike ride on the San Francisco peninsula during the 4th of July weekend turned disastrous for New York Times writer John Markoff when he crashed on a downhill at over 30 miles per hour. Paramedics took him to the hospital, where he found that he had a 20-minute gap in his memory surrounding the crash. He could not remember the circumstances of the crash at all, despite physical evidence such as road rash on his hands and a deep skid mark on his helmet.

Markoff relates the story of Ryan Sabga, a bike racer, who was hit by a car in Denver in 2010. The driver of the car claimed she did not think she had hit him, and police concluded that there was not enough evidence to issue a citation to the driver. Sabga was able to use data from the GPS device to establish where he was at the time of the accident, and to demonstrate exactly how the car hit him (including a spike in his heart rate at the moment of impact). Although police still did not want to pursue the case, this evidence was enough to get the driver’s insurance company to accept responsibility.

Markoff similarly used his GPS device to reconstruct his bike ride and figure out what had happened to him. Both Sabga and Markoff used a Garmin GPS device that recorded location, speed, and other information, and allowed the option of uploading data to a web service where it could be shared with other users.

Forbes columnist Kashmir Hill notes that an increasing number of people use devices like a Garmin GPS to record data about their daily lives and often share that information through social media. Widespread use of such technology is often known as “the Quantified Self” or “self-tracking.” While such recording and sharing can serve any number of useful purposes such as allowing support for fitness plans or tracking health conditions, it can also be useful for accident victims. This applies to accident victims who may use their own data, much like Markoff and Sabga, to determine what happened, or to those who may obtain data from another party to establish liability or challenge a conflicting description of an accident.

Social media information is the subject of a growing number of discovery requests in litigation. Courts, while often slow to adapt to new and quickly-changing technologies, are beginning to understand the importance and ubiquity of social media, and are allowing discovery of personal social media information that is relevant to the case at hand. Data collected by “self-tracking” technologies, particularly those shared on popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, are undoubtedly relevant in establishing the circumstances of an accident. This information can cut both ways. Information that could prove liability in a personal injury matter could also disprove a claimant’s account and clear a defendant of liability. Either way, this segment of social media technology, when used by people involved in accidents, is an invaluable fact-finding tool.

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Recalls have been issued in the Washington, DC area for recreational vehicles from four different manufacturers: Spartan Chassis, Navistar, Dutchmen Manufacturing, and Winnebago Industries. The reasons for the recalls include problems with the exhaust system, defective headlight fuses, faulty ventilation, and possible fuel or propane leaks. Any of these conditions could severely impact the operation of the RV and threaten the safety, or even the lives, of drivers, passengers, and others on the road. Dangers include electrical failures, fires, and even carbon monoxide poisoning. RV owners should review the recall information carefully to see if their vehicles are affected.

An RV can be a great source of adventure and recreation, but RV's also carry their own unique risks. RV's are different from other automobiles: obviously they are larger and heavier, and they handle differently than other vehicles on the road. Automatic transmission and power steering may be standard features of today's RV's, but they require care and attention. An inexperienced driver should take care when operating an RV and take the time to learn how to operate the vehicle safely.

AllState recently ranked America's 200 largest cities based on frequency of car collisions, ranking Washington, DC 193rd out of 200. Auto accidents are a serious problem. Numerous accidents in the Washington, DC area and elsewhere have involved RV's. The past month has been an unusually dangerous one on DC-area roads, with multiple serious accidents and fatalities, so the news of the RV recalls is critical for driving safety.

If an RV is involved in an accident due to a defect in the vehicle's design, construction, or marketing, the manufacturer may be liable for damages caused by the defect under the theory of products liability. A design defect is one where the product may work, but is dangerous to use because of an error or omission that occurred before the product was ever built. A construction or manufacturing defect most likely happened when the product was assembled or produced, and may cause the product not to function correctly. A marketing defect involves incorrect or insufficient instructions or guidance on how to use the product safely, or a failure to warn consumers about some dangerous characteristic of the product. The defects noted in the RV recall appear to be design or manufacturing defects.

An injured person making a claim of products liability may recover damages due to product defects for property damage, medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Products liability is often a matter of strict liability, meaning that a manufacturer may be liable for damages even if it did not know of the defect. In claiming products liability, an injured person should look at the manufacturer of the product as well as any distributors and retailers responsible for marketing the product.

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