Baton Rouge Trucking Accidents Blog

Louisiana drivers should be happy to learn that new research by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association show significant safety benefits from technology that electronically controls the speed of commercial trucks.

For years, the American Trucking Association's (ATA) research has found that speed is a major factor in fatal accidents involving 18-wheelers. According to the ATA, encouraging vehicle drivers to slow down is one of the most effective ways to prevent accidents on the nation's highways. Speed limiter technology may help combat safety problems and reduce the number of truck accidents pointed out by the ATA.

Statistics taken from the National Traffic Safety Administration's website show that tens of thousands of people are killed in motor vehicle accidents every year, while many more are injured. Historically, a small percentage of these accidents involve 18-wheelers, but the consequences to drivers and passengers when involved in an accident with a semi-truck can be severe.

A recent crash in East Baton Rouge County Louisiana highlights these dangers.

A driver from Florida missed his exit and backed up on the freeway in order to take it. When he backed up, an 18-wheeler struck him from behind. The accident shut down a portion of the freeway for several hours. The driver of the big rig, the vehicle driver and his passenger were all injured and taken to an area hospital.

The semi-truck was in route from an Exxon refinery with a trailer full of corrosive chemical waste when the crash occurred. The force of the impact caused the tractor-trailer to spill the contents onto the roadway. Although, the chemical did not pose an inhalation risk, clean-up crews wearing hazmat suits were required to remove the corrosive chemicals seeping from the truck.

The Obama administration ruled that truck drivers cannot work more than 11 hours per day, among other hours-of-service (HOS) changes, in an attempt to improve safety and reduce 18-wheeler accidents. But the revisions could have an adverse effect on truck drivers and passenger vehicles, a concerned American Trucking Association (ATA) reports.

Under the new law, truck drivers are much more restricted in when and how they allocate hours. For instance, drivers must take at least a 30 minute break during an eight hour stretch if they are to continue working up to their 11 hours. Overall, truck drivers are now limited to 70 hour workweeks.

They are the ever-present goliaths hauling cargo and traversing America's highways, semi trucks. While these large trucks play a nearly indispensable role in distributing products, they also pose a safety risk to other, smaller vehicles. And, when 18-wheeler accidents occur - because of the sheer size of the trucks - the consequences for the drivers and passengers of the other vehicles can be devastating.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) studied approximately 1,000 vehicle accidents occurring between spring 2001 and winter 2003 involving large trucks that resulted in injuries and fatalities. Called the Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS), researchers used the considerable amount of data collected to identify the causes and contributing factors to the accidents and then formulate 10 critical safety issues that need to be addressed.