Proposed federal trucking regulations are delayed

On behalf of Steven Crell of Steve Crell Law posted in Truck Accidents on Thursday, April 21, 2016.

The dangers posed by speeding tractor-trailers and by drivers of semi trucks who have a history of drug and alcohol violations have been the focus of government regulators for quite some time. Making the highways safer in Indiana and around the country will have to wait a little while longer as the implementation of proposals to limit a vehicle’s speed and create a database of truck drivers who have failed a drug or alcohol test has been delayed.

Installation of speed limiters on commercial trucks that weigh more than 27,000 pounds would be required under a Department of Transportation rule proposal. The second proposed rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would create and maintain a database of commercial vehicle drivers who failed a drug or alcohol test. Drivers who refuse to take a test would also be included on the list.

The database regulation would include a requirement that owners of commercial trucks would be required to upload information about failed or refused tests to the federal database on a yearly basis. It would also require trucking companies to check the names of drivers they intend to hire against the database before they are allowed to get behind the wheel of a truck.

People in other vehicles who are in big rig collisions often incur catastrophic injuries due to the overwhelming size and weight of those types of trucks. While some accidents are due to weather conditions, others are caused by distracted, speeding or impaired truck drivers, and people who have been injured in an accident resulting from such negligence may want to have the help of a lawyer in pursuing compensation for medical bills and other losses.