Fatigue Makes Killers of Truck Drivers - The Debate on HOS

       

There can be no dispute that fatigued and sleep deprived  truck drivers cause tractor trailer accidents that cause great devastation, injury and death. The Federal government has promulgated new rules on the hours that a truck driver can work to add an additional layer of safety on trucking operations by decreasing the hours of service in a week that a truck driver can drive.

Needless to say the trucking interests are fighting this rule and finding support primarily among their own stakeholders. However even some tort lawyers that are free market advocates find the additional layer of regulations burdensome. My good friend and colleague Michael Ehline has written a well thought out article on the hours of service for truckers being an uneccessary burden on the trucking industry.

Michael reasons that, " common sense, freedom and less regulations will lead to more innovation and safety.  After all, tort lawyers can sue an unreasonable trucker based upon ordinary negligence already. A reasonable trucking company who wants to avoid lawsuits will behave reasonably. "

However to me this misses the point of safety regulations. Yes truck accident lawyers can sue when a tractor trailer operator is negligent ( fails to act reasonably ) but that is after the fact. The idea here is safety prevention. Truckers push themselves beyond their safe capacity to drive. Often tacitly encouraged by their own company.

My dear friend Jonathan Rosenfeld and member of the circle of legal trust of which Michael Ehline is the founder wrote an article that seems to tacitly agree with Michael but also takes a wait and see position.
 http://www.chicagotruckinjurylawyers.com/new-trucking-rules-will-they-reduce-big-rig-crashes-or-just-cut-drivers-work-hours/

The New Rules Are Not a Drastic Change 

Here is a chart of the new hours of service rules.

HOURS-OF-SERVICE RULES
PROPERTY-CARRYING DRIVERS	PASSENGER-CARRYING DRIVERS
11-Hour Driving Limit May drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.	10-Hour Driving Limit May drive a maximum of 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty.
14-Hour Limit May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.	15-Hour Limit May not drive after having been on duty for 15 hours, following 8 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time is not included in the 15-hour period.
Rest Breaks May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver’s last off-duty or sleeper-berth period of at least 30 minutes. [49 CFR 397.5 mandatory "in attendance" time may be included in break if no other duties performed]	60/70-Hour Limit May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
60/70-Hour Limit May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days. A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty. Must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. home terminal time, and may only be used once per week, or 168 hours, measured from the beginning of the previous restart.	Sleeper Berth Provision Drivers using a sleeper berth must take at least 8 hours in the sleeper berth, and may split the sleeper-berth time into two periods provided neither is less than 2 hours.
Sleeper Berth Provision Drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus a separate 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.

The 11 hour driving limit and the 14 hour on duty limit have not been changed. The work week though will be cut by a potential estimate of 15 % from 80-82 hours to 70 hours.

Primary Concern of Trucking Industry is Utilization

The big concern of the industry is that the decrease in hours will cause an under utilization of trucking capacity. This could also lead to loss of drivers. See the article in fleetowner magazine. http://fleetowner.com/regulations/hos-rules-kick-driving-fears-capacity-crunch So be it if we are going to save lives. My thought is the railroads are more efficient and safer and their continued rebirth  in the long run will save our highway system and improve the economy. Thet certainly can pick up any slack caused by underutilization.

For a comprehensive review and my expanded commentary on the new trucking hours of service rules see my Columbus truck accident blog and my article titled Trucking Industry Grumbles About New Hours of Service Rules .

Needless to say, despite our difference of opinion, if an unsafe tractor trailer operator or trucking company injures you, you can count on us to be your uncompromising attorney and counselor at law that will advance your interests against any trucking company that negligently harms you. Sadly many truck crashes involve serious injury and death.

Further Government Source:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm

About the author:

Anthony Castelli Attorney is a vetted member of the circle of legal trust. He has over 32 years experience as a personal injury lawyer in Ohio. His internet properties focusing on Columbus motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and death claims are http://columbuscaraccident.attorneys.us and http://columbustruckaccident.attorneys.us

He has multiple other website properties and Google plus pages.

What Is the Real Risk for a Child Sustaining An Incapacitating Injury in a Car Accident - How To Prevent It

Injuries sustained in a car accident can be both physically and psychologically traumatic for a child. If the child luckily comes through the accident with minimal injuries, they may still suffer from psychological trauma. In severe car accidents, children may suffer incapacitating injuries that can change their entire lives forever.

Incapacitating Injuries

Incapacitating injuries are classified as injuries that disable a person to such a degree that they are unable to function normally as they did before their injury. This can include difficulties in walking, talking, and eating normally due to injuries such as lacerations, broken bones, or head and abdominal injuries. Incapacitating injuries can have long-term effects that can make life quite stressful for both parents and the injured child.

Children are at a high risk of sustaining incapacitating injuries in a car accident. In a 2010 study conducted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it was found that using child safety seats for children aged three and under reduced the risk of incapacitating injuries considerably. In the study sample analyzed, it was concluded that 8% of children aged seven and under who were not using any sort of restraining device suffered incapacitating injuries. This is compared to only 1% of children aged seven and under who were using restraining devices that suffered incapacitating injuries.

Type of Car Accidents

The use of restraining devices such as car seats and seat belts has an impact on the severity and risk of incapacitating injuries in children. The type of car accident also affects the risk of such injuries from occurring.

In the same 2010 study conducted in the US, it was found that the incapacitating injuries occurred the most in rollover crashes. In rollover crashes, the car is impacted from all sides, thus affecting everyone in the car at almost every angle. If the child was not restrained in the rollover crash, they were at a much higher risk of sustaining incapacitating injuries. 26% of unrestrained children suffered incapacitating injuries, while only 9 – 10% of restrained children sustained the same injuries.

In car accidents that involved side or rear impact, the risk of unrestrained children sustaining injuries again was much higher than restrained children (8 % and 1 % respectively).

Restraining Devices

According to these results, incapacitating injuries can be prevented or at the least minimized by using age appropriate restraint devices such as safety car seats or seat belts. Children who were restrained either by car seats or seat belts had much less of a risk of suffering incapacitating injuries than unrestrained children. There are age appropriate restraints that must be used for children, and it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that their child is safely secured in the vehicle before travelling.

The 2010 study has made it very clear about the real risk of children sustaining incapacitating injuries
in car accidents. We cannot control the type or extremity of a car accident, but we can control how safe we keep our children. Thus, it is very important that parents take all safety measures very seriously to ensure the safety of their children.

Some Useful References For Child Safety:

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811325.PDF

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022080643.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23137094

Thank you to Jonathan Rosenfeld, a car accident attorney at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, 33 N. Dearborn Street, #1930, Chicago, IL 60602 (847) 835-8895.

 My Comment
Jonathan Rosenfeld spends a lot of time looking at children's safety issues and injury prevention. Since we are both Dads it is an issue that concerns us both personally and professionally. I asked him for his thoughts and I am grateful he took time to prepare this article that I am proud to share.

If your child is injured in Ohio I would be happy to discuss how I can help. I can be reached at 513-621-2345

Drunk Driver Causes Head on Car Crash in Middletown

A alleged  drunk driver caused a crash late Friday night May 17th in Middletown Ohio. According to Middletown police, Daniel Rich was driving the wrong way on North Verity Parkway. The Rich vehicle collided head on with a PT cruiser according to news reports. Wxix and WHIOTV.com reported on this crash on the internet .

Apparent serious injuries occured to the people in the PT cruiser. It was reported one girl was thrown from the cruiser. The male driver was trapped and had serious injuries. A 4 month old and another woman were treated and released.



The horror of this collision can be seen by looking at the picture of the PT cruiser.

Middletown Traffic Crash PT Cruiser

Drunk Driving Must Be Stopped 

Yet another drunk driver OVI has caused injury. This is against the back drop of the NHTSA calling for states to lower the legal BAC .05 %. In Ohio for adults it currently stands at .08%  Some people are up in arms. But I support this effort along with many others. Although many are against this. In fact why not go to zero tolerance. No, it will never happen because our society is too ingrained with the booze mentality. 

The entertainment and eating and drinking establishments would howl. Hey we stopped smoking in those places. Do you really have to drink to have a good time? If that is the case get a designated driver or hire a limo. I'm not talking about stopping drinking booze. Just do not get behind the wheel if you are drinking. 

About the Author

Anthony Castelli is a Ohio personal injury car accident lawyer with over 30 years experience. For more information or help with an Ohio car accident in Dayton, Columbus, Middletown, West Chester , Cincinnati where Anthony has office and meetimg locations please view his specific web sites. For a free consultation call his central number 1-800-447-6549

http://daytoncaraccident.attorneys.us for  Dayton car accidents

http://columbuscaraccident.attorenys.us  for Columbus car accidents

Other posts on Middletown car accidents by Anthony Castelli

Clermont County Ohio Car Accidents and Defensive Driving

 

Clermot County Car Crash Stock photo

 Clermont County, Ohio just had two serious accidetts on the same day on the same road. One was a  head on collision. The other was a car leaving the road hitting a tree.

These car wrecks occured on Dela Palma Road in Williamsburg Ohio. A woman and a 7 month old child were in the first crash. All parties were taken to hospitals. Some were transported by helicopter to University Hospital.

University of Cincinnati Hospital is known for its trauma team. this is a great asset to the community. The helicopter was able to transport the injured from the first auto wreck. But in the second motor vehicle crash the care flight was grounded because of the weather.

WCPO news was on the spot to report this one Though only sketchy details were available. Thank goodness there was no loss of life. In some case defensive driving may have helped. Although it certainly does not excuse the person to blame. However in a left of cneter collision there is not much the driver can do  that is facing down a motor vehivle coming at you goingthe wrong way.

For more information or help if you have been in an accident go to www.castellilaw.com or call Anthony Castelli attorney at 1-800-447-6549 for any Ohio car crash or 621-2345 locally in Cincinnati

The map below shows the location of the car accidents.

Read more: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_east_cincinnati/Medical-helicopter-called-after-2-seperate-crashes-on-the-same-road#ixzz2SmBgKQCr

Safer Vehicles And Their Effect On Personal Injury Relating to Motor Vehicle Accidents

March 26, 2013 For Release Columbus,Ohio


As a personal injury lawyer  I’ve grown increasingly curious over the last few years as to how drastically improving safety features in vehicles would impact rates of injury in motor vehicle accidents, and by extension, the entire nature of the personal injury industry.

Anyone shopping for a car today will inevitably be taken aback and probably spend a lot of time comparing the many different safety features offered by each vehicle when making a decision. Over the years, we have become used to what are now considered to be very basic safety features such as:

- Seat Belts
- Air Bags
- Anti-Lock Braking Systems
- Head Restraints
- All-Wheel Drive
- Traction Control
- Stability Control

To me however, vehicle safety is being revolutionized by what is now being called Intelligent Vehicle Technologies. These technologies are aimed at reducing or even eliminating motor vehicle accidents in the first place. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

- Vehicle Collision Avoidance Systems. These can apply the brakes if a driver has not noticed an accident or vehicle stopped in front of their own vehicle. Statistics show that 75% of accidents happen at speeds under 20 miles per hour and most vehicle manufacturers now have some technology to stop or avoid these accidents in the first place. Some do so with radar sensors, distronic triggers, some can even communicate with traffic lights and other vehicles themselves.
- Lane Departure Warning System with warning lights or seat vibrations to notify the driver.
- Parking Assistance
- Shifting Headlights
- WiFi systems that detect collisions ahead and notify the driver.

Many of these systems could take years to fully implement as they require other vehicles to have the same features or for city roads to be outfitted with the proper infrastructure to handle them. However, there is no doubt that it is the way of the future.

We at Intraligi Law Firm wonder what the public thinks of all this and whether we may be looking at an accident-free future for our roads. In the meantime, companies like Google are working on self-driving cars... but that’s a story for another day.

Stephan Intraligi, Hon.B.A., J.D., Esq.

Mr. Intraligi is a personal injury lawyer in Toronto, and also offers consultations in Ottawa to all victims of car accidents, slip and falls and all other type of personal injury related matters.

For Canadians injured in Ohio, Attorney Anthony Castelli is an experienced car accident lawyer ready willing and able to help snow birds and others traveling through Ohio injured in car accidents.

Thanks to Lawyer Intraligi for contributing this article to our blog on auto accident harm law news.

Cincinnati Attorney Anthony Castelli Embraces Google Plus for Business and Pleasure

Marine Color guard by Anthony Castelli attorney in Cincinnati

As a personal injury lawyer in Cincinnati I am always looking for opportunities to educate the public as well as myself on current legal issues. As a sole practioner that relies on client referrals, attorney referrals and the internet to let people know about me and continue a steady stream of clients, embracing the internet was the way to go.

Take a look at my web site for Cincinnati accident injury lawyer Anthony Castelli . It has been through several changes. But note the age of the site. It has been around for quite awhile as I was one of the early adopters of internet marketing and public education on legal issues.

But now the new kid on the internet block is Google plus. You can have an individual profile page https://plus.google.com/102020672746013342778  as well as a business page. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/115611918118020817406/115611918118020817406 .

There are certain ramifications that each type of page has and the usefulness of each page. Have you heard of Google Authorship? If not and you are a young attorney trying to put up your own shingle call me. I'm happy to help you . (pro bono) Or if you are an old dog wanting to learn new tricks call me .

Top 5 Posts on Google Plus for 2012

It may be easier to show you than to tell you about it. So here are my top 5 posts from google plus for 2012.

1. https://plus.google.com/u/0/102020672746013342778/posts/LJQLmdQqvMD  Brain Issues 

2.https://plus.google.com/u/0/102020672746013342778/posts/dpyt75rabUh  Disability Secrets

3. Viral Imitation of Bruce Springsteen

4. What are Google communities and Why Lawyers Should be Using Them

5. Cincinnati Start Up companies winners from losers

2 Bonus posts From Google+

1. Can you fire someone for the way they look?

2. Google plus Community for personal Injury Lawyers

This is just the very tip of the iceberg on google plus . I have met some amazing lawyer friends through this venue. Just to name a couple of my closest colleagues they are Michael Ehline , David Slepkow and Jonathan Rosenfeld and Mathew Dolman .

So puy your profile page and busines page together. Then engage and do not just blow your trumpet.

by Anthony Castelli Attorney practicing personal injury law in the State of Ohio located at 8170 Corporate Park Drive #220, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 513-621-2345 with an Law office in Downtown Cincinnati at 602 Main Street Suite 707 Cincinnati Ohio 45202

Drugged Driver Kills Motorcycle Rider In Cincinnati

A drunk driver killed a motorcycle rider in Cincinnati this past Wednesday.

Cincinnati Police released new information this morning about their reasons for charging a woman with a crash that injured a motorcyclist and his passenger.  The collision happened on I-71 in Walnut Hills on Wednesday night.

Officers say 57 year old Gina Whited of Sharonville was driving north on I-71 around 11 p.m., near the Taft Road overpass, when she struck a Harley Davidson motorcycle from behind.  The motorcycle drive, 25 year old Jesse Malone, was seriously injured. He's at University Hospital in stable condition.

His passenger, 27 year old Sherry Sublett, was also hurt-she is at University Hospital in critical condition. Whited was not hurt.

Officers charged with two counts of aggravated vehicular assault. Detectives say she had been taking drugs and was not allowed to drive because of a previous OVI suspension.

Officers add that neither Malone nor Sublett were wearing helmets when the crash happened.

A 27-year-old woman was critically injured when a motorist suspected to be under the influence of drugs followed a motorcycle too closely with her SUV and struck it on northbound Interstate 71 near the Taft Road exit Wednesday night, according to Cincinnati police.Sherry Sublett, who was on the back of the motorcycle, was taken to University Hospital about 10:30 p.m.

The male driver of the bike suffered non-life-threatening injuries and also went to the hospital.
The motorist, Gina Whited, 57, of Montgomery faces two counts of aggravated vehicular assault.
She is held without bond at the Hamilton County jail and is scheduled to make her first court appearance on the case Friday morning.

Whited was under the influence of drugs when her white SUV with Indiana license plates struck the back of the bike, a police officer wrote in a complaint filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Whited has a suspended driver’s license with limited driving privileges after she pleaded no contest on June 1 to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol in Montgomery on May 22, police said.

According to her traffic ticket in that case, she blew a .236 when a Montgomery police officer pulled her over on U.S. 22 - nearly three times the legal limit of .08 to drive in Ohio.
She also was charged with drunk driving in 1984, her ticket shows.

Anthnoy Castelli Cincinnati, Ohio personal injury attorney

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