Personal Injury Law

Truck Drive Fatigue a/k/a Asleep at the Wheel--Causes Another Truck Accident

By Jeffrey Lowe

Despite the warnings against driving while drowsy, fatigue continues to be a problem for truck drivers.

Recently, a 55-year-old truck driver who was traveling eastbound on I-70 fell asleep at the wheel. The truck went off the highway and back on then overturned on its side. The truck ended up blocking both lanes of the highway.

The accident occurred just before 5 a.m. The driver only suffered minor injuries and no one else was involved in the accident, The Marshall News Reports.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration?s Large Truck Crash Causation Study, fatigue was listed as an associated factor in 9 percent of the fatal accidents involving trucks.

An 18-wheeler can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. If a truck driver falls asleep behind the wheel, the outcome can be disastrous. When a semi crashes into an automobile, it is most often a person in the car who is injured or killed. In a fatal truck-car collision, 98 percent of the time it is a person riding in the car who is killed.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact the Lowe Law Firm by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

Full post as published by Trucking Accident Attorney Blog on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).