When Safety Records go Unchecked
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has specific rules for those operating commercial vehicles. These rules define everything from truck maintenance to driver training, and even how many hours a driver can operate the truck in any given day or week.
When the rules are broken, ignored, or otherwise falsified, the ripple effect can be devastating. The Car Crash Captain takes a look at what these safety regulations are all about, and what happens when a commercial trucking company has a bad safety record, but continues to operate.
What Happens when a Trucking Company Breaks the Rules?
Depending on the severity of the rules broken, and the frequency of broken rules, the FMCSA can impose penalties and fines to the trucking company. If things don’t change, or the violations are severe, the company can be ordered to cease operations completely. This happened to Ekam Truck Lines in 2017 due to an unsatisfactory rating – they were given the opportunity to improve, but failed to comply and were ordered to shut down operations.
All commercial trucking companies have to follow a standard list of rules to stay in good standing and be able to continue operating. Some of those rules include:
- Hours of Service: Drivers are limited to how many hours per day and per week they can drive. These hours are logged digitally in most cases and it’s harder to break this rule than it used to be. Learn more about the hours of service limits on our previous blog.
- Cargo Weight Limits: You’ve seen the trucking weigh stations on the highway, these are to ensure that a fully loaded semi-truck stays under the 80,000-pound limit. This helps keep the road from wearing down too fast, and to diminish severity of accidents if they do occur.
- Maintenance and Equipment Inspections: Trucks have to be maintained and inspected regularly. Just as it’s illegal for you to drive your car with tail lights that don’t work, so it is for trucks. Their inspections and maintenance go much further than lights though, and inspections are required before each trip.
- Drugs and Alcohol: Truck drivers cannot take drugs (even prescription drugs must have a statement by a doctor saying they won’t affect their ability to operate the truck) or alcohol within 4 hours of the beginning of their drive.
There are far more regulations that help to ensure truck drivers operate on the road safely with the rest of the motorists out there.
What are the Consequences of Ignoring Safety Records?
Just like in life, consequences range depending on the severity of the infraction.
Warnings – For those first offenses that aren’t serious or egregious, the FMCSA may file a written warning. If the infraction is corrected, there aren’t longer lasting consequences.
Fines – If it is determined that the company failed to follow guidelines, they may be fined. If the problems aren’t corrected, the fines can pile up and become quite extensive.
Drivers Removed – Sometimes the driver is the problem. In these cases, the company and the individual can face penalties including individual fines, loss of license, or retraining.
Company Penalties – In the most severe cases, the company can face fines that cause them to go out of business. If the fines have reached this point, the FMCSA may have already ordered them to shut down operations.
All of these penalties imposed by the FMCSA have one goal: to ensure that accidents don’t happen. Every rule and regulation is there to help keep people safe on the road. Each rule is carefully devised because it was seen that falling outside of those regulations caused injury.
The consequences of ignoring the safety records and violations can mean innocent lives are lost or permanently changed.
How Does Herbert Law Group Help Truck Accident Victims?
Because these issues aren’t as straightforward as they seem, you need Herbert Law Group after a truck accident.
Liability doesn’t always lie with the driver, the trucking company, or even a third-party maintenance company – it can be much more complicated than that. If you’ve been injured, or a loved one was killed, in a commercial vehicle accident, it’s going to take a lot of work to get the compensation you deserve.
Let us handle that, you focus on healing.
Call our offices at 214-414-3808, or fill out our contact form, and let’s have a conversation about what happened. We’ll determine just how we can help.