Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

Good Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers praised the recent U.S. Transportation Secretary's announcement that 109 commercial truck and bus drivers were removed from public roadways as a result of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's annual alcohol and drug sweep this summer.

Said US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: "If you are a commercial driver or carrier operating in violation of federal drug and alcohol laws, we will remove you from our roadways." Additionally, he stated: "Parents deserve to know their children are being driven by bus drivers who are drug and alcohol free, and every motorist deserves to feel confident that the drivers of large trucks and buses are safe and sober."

The sweep was done by an investigation into the alcohol and drug safety records of all truck and other commercial drivers employed by bus and truck companies including hazardous material transporters, school bus drivers, interstate passenger carriers and general freight truck drivers.

The goals was to identify those offenders in violation of drug and alcohol testing and remove them from the road. The terrifying fact is that there are truck drivers who move from company to company just to evade the federal drug and alcohol testing and reporting requirements.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration warned that they are committed to ensuring that only safe truck drivers are allowed to operate. Unfortunately, there are truck drivers all over the country who have violated federal laws wreak havoc on public safety. Families all over Georgia have lost loved ones and been seriously injured due to the terrible negligence and criminal acts of truck drivers who recklessly take to the roads putting Georgians at risk.

If you know of someone who has suffered due to a truck driver's negligent acts, Williams Oinonen LLC is committed to bringing justice to Georgians who have been injured due to truck driver negligence. Please call us today to discuss how we aggressively fight the trucking companies who break laws and negligently allow dangerous truck drivers on the road risking the lives of our loved ones.

Continue reading "Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Praise Crack Down on Truck Drivers Who Purposely Evade Drug and Alcohol Testing: Georgia Trucking Accidents Part Four " »

Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers help you when your loved one has been injured or killed due to a trucking accident. One of the biggest reasons people die from horrible truck accidents is due to "driver fatigue"---because the truck driver has been driving for hours on little sleep. Unfortunately, truck drivers by law are allowed to drive up to 11 hours per day which for those of us who have driven that long, know that it can be exhausting and very difficult to do it for long periods of time.

Just last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration submitted an important proposal for the new proposed truck driver hours of service rule. The details are unknown, but it is believed that the new laws will shorten the number of hours truckers are permitted to drive each day.

The trucking industry of course is concerned about losing money and is urging that the current 11 hour rule per day is allowed but public safety groups and consumer advocates are pushing for an eight hour day requirement.

What most Americans are not aware of is that often times, truck drivers are breaking the rules that protect the public and going over the mandated 11 hour maximum. Many times, tragic accidents that have caused innocent families to lose loved ones have happened due to truck drivers who have pushed themselves past the brink of exhaustion and driven more hours then allowed or humanly possible to do so safely. Oftentimes, in order to push themselves to meet deadlines with their thousand ton loads, truck drivers will take dangerous caffeine supplements and energy drinks which has a "crashing" effect later on. Sadly, these truck drivers end up literally "crashing" into other drivers on the roads and freeways. This type of criminally negligent behavior is often ignored by the big trucking companies who turn a blind eye to this behavior. However, it is the public safety that ends up paying the cost.

Hopefully, the new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed rules for truck drivers will put public safety before the profits and pocketbooks of big trucking companies. No life is worth losing due to a company's greed and recklessness that encourages their employees to engage in such dangerous practices.

Good Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers can help you during a terrible truck accident. "How can I sue the truck driver and trucking company that killed or injured my loved one?" is question that none of us ever want to be faced with. It you are ever in that terrible predicament, is absolutely essential that you retain the services of a good Georgia lawyer immediately for one main reason: Trucking companies, similar to railroad companies are notorious for underhanded tactics when it comes to hiding the evidence in a trucking collision that has caused fatalities or serious injuries. Thus, it is essential that you have a good, trustworthy, competent attorney working on your side to fight against these tricks .

One of the first things a good Georgia lawyer will do in a situation involving trucking deaths and injuries will be to immediately send out spoiliation letters to preserve the evidence. For example, attorneys need to immediately request data from on-board recording devices, including ECM (electronic control module), any computer on board, or other recording device that was on the day of the accident and prior.

The "black boxes" are essential to help victims in their truck accident cases because the data is often able to provide evidence as to what actually was the causing factor in the collision. For example, "black boxes" often can be compared to the driver's personal log to see if the truck drivers actual driving time doesn't match up with what was actually recorded in the computer data.

If an attorney is not promptly hired on the scene, it is often the case that the trucking company will allow both the tractor trailer and the ECM black box to be destroyed.

Continue reading "Good Georgia Truck Accident Lawyer, How Can I Sue The Truck Driver That Killed My Family? Georgia Trucking Accidents Part One" »