Accidents Caused By Sleep Deprivation in Truck Drivers in South Florida
Sleep deprivation is one of the most common causes of truck accidents. Commercial drivers are incentivized through money. The faster they can deliver the product, the more payment they take home. Time is money, so drivers tend to drive long hours without rest, causing them to have delayed reactions or, worse, fall asleep while driving.
For this reason, Federal regulations state truck drivers have a tremendous responsibility while they drive down the interstate, to keep the roads safe. Commercial drivers need to stay alert and awake. The Interstate Truck Driver’s guide says truck drivers are allowed to drive a maximum of 11 hours after being off duty for ten or more consecutive hours in one day and can not exceed 70 hours in one week.
According to The Department of Transportation, 13% of commercial truck accidents are caused by fatigued drivers. However, based on police report statistics, the American Trucking Association, fatigue is responsible for 2% of truck accidents. There is a considerable variation between the two statistics due to truck drivers’ invoking their fifth amendment rights when they are being tried for criminal charges. Truck drivers do this because there is no quantifiable evidence to detect their levels of fatigue like a blood test. And police reports will underrepresent the issue at hand.
How Can A Truck Accident Lawyer in West Palm Beach Help Me?
If you or a loved one is a victim of an unfortunate truck accident in West Palm Beach, Florida, you are likely experiencing severe injuries, and your rights need to be protected. Our personal injury lawyers at Advocates USA may be able to get you the compensation deserved and your life back on track financially. Once you hire a truck accident attorney, together, we will create our strategic plan of action. Advocates USA will:
- Collect the Police report. Our lawyers need to read the accident report from the responding law enforcement thoroughly. However, in more severe accidents where a fatality occurred, they are typically more than one accident report with extensive investigations conducted.
- Examine and prove the level of liability. Commercial vehicles have a duty to keep the roads safe and must follow specific federal regulations. To determine the theories of liability, our lawyers at Advocates USA need to prove liability and whether or not the truck driver failed to adhere to the federal regulations.
- Collect Evidence. All evidence is critical, and cases can not be won without concrete evidence. Apart from the initial law enforcement investigation, our truck accident attorneys in West Palm Beach will conduct a thorough examination of our own. An investigation must be performed promptly because evidence could become lost or destroyed. In cases involving a commercial truck accident, critical evidence includes:
- “Black Box” or ECM data from the truck
- The truck driver’s application and personal file
- Maintenance records
- Photos and videos of the accident scene
- Witness statements
- The victim’s medical records
- Field Experts. In trucking accidents, it can be difficult to prove liability when parties are disputing what happened. Hiring field experts allows us to send them to the scene of the accident to take measurements, take photos of physical evidence, and reconstruct the accident. These methods will contribute to identifying the applicable burden of liability.
- Field Experts in Damages. In trucking accidents where the victim is severely injured, experts can identify the level of potential injuries and compensation that can be assessed based on their professional expertise.
Contact A Personal Injury Lawyer in West Palm Beach To Protect Your Rights After A Truck Accident
If you or a loved one sustained injuries in a truck accident in West Palm Beach, Florida, our truck accident attorneys at Advocates USA would help you prove the accident occurred due to the truck driver’s negligence. Truck drivers are required to keep and maintain a log book with their hours of driving and rest, and sleep deprivation could have been the cause of the accident.
Regardless of any federal regulations that were or were not violated, if you were injured in a truck accident, our experienced West Palm Beach Attorneys would fight to prove the truck driver acted with a recklessness that resulted in a person sustaining injuries.
Call the best personal injury attorneys in West Palm Beach at 1-800-872-4878 or fill out our contact form for a free evaluation. You do not pay unless we win your case for you. Don’t fight this alone; we are lawyers for the injured.
Our personal injury attorneys at Advocates USA service all South Florida from Miami, Coconut Creek, Jupiter, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Pompano, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach up to Port St. Lucie. Our experienced accident attorneys help victims who have suffered injuries.
