Personal Injury Law

Truck Accidents During Adverse Weather Conditions

It has been estimated that 13% of all truck collisions in this country occur during bad weather conditions. Obviously, on many days it will rain, sleet, or snow. On certain days, fog conditions are also likely to exist in many parts of the country. Regrettably, as demonstrated by these statistics, when bad weather conditions occur, it is more likely that a serious truck accident will also occur. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations which address this topic should reduce the number of these accidents but regrettably have failed to do so. The reason: The extreme caution guideline provided is routinely ignored.

49 C.F.R. § 392.14 requires that drivers of commercial motor carriers use ?extreme caution? in the operation of a truck during hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, rain, etc., which could adversely affect visibility or traction. This section also states that ?speed shall be reduced when such conditions exist.? While it goes without saying that speed should always be reduced during adverse weather conditions, experience indicates that oftentimes this is not the case. Many state commercial driver?s license manuals, like the State of Georgia, require that speed be reduced by as much as one-third (1/3) during rain or adverse weather conditions and yet the general public knows that this very rarely occurs. What is interesting legally is that this reduced speed is mandated by law but nonetheless, oftentimes, this mandate is tragically ignored.

Obviously, it takes much longer to stop a tractor-trailer in adverse weather conditions. Any truck driver must be able to stop his vehicle on wet conditions in the same distance as he would do so on dry road. Wet roads can double the required stopping distance. By reducing speed on a wet road, stopping distances can be decreased as well.

Because Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations specifically state that extreme caution must be used in the operation of a truck during hazardous weather conditions, experienced counsel are often able to use these regulations to impose liability on those carriers and drivers who disregard their duties to the motoring public. The 13% figure referenced in this article is obviously much greater than it should be. If truckers were always utilizing extreme caution during adverse weather conditions, one would think that the number of accidents occurring during adverse weather conditions would be substantially less than we see. Again, with respect to those unfortunate victims of truck drivers who fail to exercise the appropriate standard of care during adverse weather conditions, it appears that litigation and money damages may be the best deterrent available to reduce these statistics which adversely effect us all.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).