Personal Injury Law

Disabled Truck Drivers Cause Many Deadly Accidents

By Joseph I. Lipsky, Esq.

According to a recent government report, many truck accidents, especially those resulting in wrongful death, particularly in Florida, are caused by truck drivers with diagnosed disabling medical conditions. Even though many of the drivers receive social security disability payments, for seizures, heart attacks or loss of consciousness, thousands of those same truck drivers also have valid commercial driver's licenses.

One such example is of a Florida bus driver who suffered from lung disease, who admitted he occasionally blacks out. The driver, despite not having a medical certificate, has a valid licenses through 2010. The bus driver apparently has received disability benefits for over fourteen years, as he losses his breath when walking.

Unfortunately, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, who is responsible for overseeing such truck drivers, admitted it has not complied with regulators' proposals, such as determining if truck drivers are medically safe to drive. We can only hope that Congress will act to insure that the necessary regulation of such truck drivers is implemented before someone else is seriously injured or killed.

Full post as published by Florida Personal Injury Law Blog on July 21, 2008 (boomark / email).