Indiana Injury Law Blog

An agreement between the United States and Mexico that would allow Mexican freight trucks to operate on American highways in exchange for lower tariffs has Indiana trucking accident lawyers concerned about the impact on safety. Under the terms of the agreement, over the next three years, hundreds of Mexican trucks will be allowed to haul freight within US borders. The trucks could begin operating as early as September.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned. For one thing, the trucking industry in Mexico is hardly as regulated as in the United States. Additionally, there are language issues involving Mexican truck drivers. The Department of Transportation says that it will require Mexican truck drivers to speak English in order to be able to read highway signs, and will subject them to alcohol and drug testing. It will also use onboard electronic monitoring devices to track drivers.

US federal trucking safety agencies struggle with inspections of the 18- wheelers that are currently operating on US interstate highways. In a situation like this, it's reasonable to be concerned about the effectiveness of the safety precautions the Department Of Transportation has in mind for Mexican trucks.

Opening up the borders could mean a veritable flood of unsafe commercial trucks. Besides, there is the question of the insurance coverage that these trucks would need to have in order to operate on our highways. In the US, trucking companies are required to maintain accident and injury liability coverage to cover expenses after an accident.

Besides, there are other dangers from widespread hijacking of trucks for drug trafficking in Mexico. It's reasonable to wonder how many of these trucks will find their way across the border.

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board into a truck rollover accident in Indianapolis has blamed a number of factors, including road conditions and driving errors for the accident. However, the report has made a special note of the lack of stability control on the tanker truck as a major factor in the crash.

The accident occurred in October 2009 when a tanker truck rolled over on the connection ramp at Interstate 69S and Interstate 465S. The truck driver lost control, causing it to flip over. The tanker truck was loaded with thousands of gallons of liquefied petroleum gas, and the vapors quickly exploded. The explosion resulted in a massive fireball that damaged several other cars nearby. The driver of the tanker truck and two other motorists nearby were injured in the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board has now completed its investigation into the accident. According to the Board, there were several factors that contributed to the crash. The Board has blamed the accident on the fact that there were no rollover accident prevention systems on the tanker truck.

Tanker trucks are susceptible to a higher risk of rollover accidents than other tractor-trailers or 18-wheelers. These trucks carry liquid cargo, which may shift during transportation, leading to a loss of balance. Indiana truck accident lawyers have known for a while now that mandating stability control devices on tanker trucks can prevent more than 3,600 truck rollover accidents every year. In fact, many freight companies have made the decision to install these devices on their trucks in order to avoid rollover risks. However, there is no federal mandate for such devices.

The NTSB wants the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to develop a rollover accident prevention program. This would include establishing stability control standards for all commercial vehicles above 10,000 pounds in GWR, new performance standards for tanks and better tank designs.

If all goes well, trucking companies around the country would have access to a single database that will include truck driver drug test results from around the country. This will allow trucking companies to screen out drivers with a history of drug use.

The database is part of a set of recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office. A piece of legislation called the Safe Roads Act has been introduced in the Senate to move towards the establishment of the database. The database will contain drug test results from commercial truck drivers from around the country, and trucking companies, medical officers and others will be required to enter their records into the database. The database will be updated frequently, providing vital information that will allow a trucking company to screen a truck driver for drug use before he is hired. Concerns about privacy have also been addressed in the Safe Roads Act.

Drug use is widespread in the trucking industry. Some of the most frequently used drugs in the industry include methamphetamines that are often used by truck drivers to stay awake for long periods of time. Indiana trucking accident attorneys have always felt that current federal trucking safety rules don't attack the problem of drug use by commercial truck drivers with the seriousness it deserves.

The creation of a single database containing records of drug test results from drivers that will be accessible to trucking companies and others from around the country, could solve this problem. Currently, there are too many drivers who conceal their past drug use history. The database would take care of this issue.

Truck drivers who have been cited for violations in the past or have an accident history are more likely to be involved in accidents. That shouldn’t be a surprise to any Indiana truck accident lawyer.
The American Transportation Institute has come up with a study that shows an increased risk of accidents, when drivers have poor driving records. The study draws from an analysis of more than 582,000 truck drivers, and pinpoints driving behaviors that increase a driver’s risk of an accident by more than 50%.

Leading the list is an accident in the past, which, not surprisingly, was the biggest factor influencing a driver’s crash risk. An accident in the past increases a driver’s accident risk by 88%. Improper passing violations also increased crash risks by a similar percentage point.

Apart from this, improper turn convictions, improper lane changes and improper lane/location convictions increased crash risks by 84%, 80% and 68% respectively. Other convictions that increased crash risks were failure to obey traffic signs, speeding and reckless driving. Just about any conviction increased an 18-wheeler driver’s crashes by about 65%.

The study underscores the need for trucking companies to conduct background and verification screenings before they hire a truck driver. Trucking companies have a responsibility to hire responsible, trained and experienced drivers with a safe driving record. Failure to do so could place a trucking company at liability in the event of an accident.

The Indiana truck accident attorneys at Theodoros and Rooth represent persons injured in 18 wheeler and truck accidents across Indiana.

As Indiana brain injury lawyers, we know that in many cases, surgery soon after a traumatic brain injury, can enhance the person’s chances of survival and facilitate a quicker return to a normal life. A new study shows that brain injury surgery can also be helpful in elderly patients, but it also comes with certain risks, especially within the first year after the surgery.

Out of the elderly patients in the study who had surgery after brain injury, approximately one third died in the hospital after surgery. Further, about 50% of the patients died within one year after surgery. That doesn't mean however that brain surgery does not benefit seniors. Among those elderly patients that had brain surgery, and were monitored over a period of 42 months, there were favorable outcomes. Two thirds of the survivors of brain injury surgery had a favorable outcome as seen over 42 months. This was demonstrated by their Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended score of at least five. Overall, the researchers say that they are happy with what they saw in elderly patients with brain surgery over an extended period of time of several months, but the results for patients over a period of one year, were a little disappointing.

There also seem to be a lot of other factors that determine outcomes for elderly patients with brain injury who have surgery. For instance, patients who were admitted to the hospital in a conscious state were much more likely to have favorable outcomes, then those who were unconscious when they were taken to the hospital. Besides, the degree of independence at the time of discharge from the hospital also seems to play a big role in the type of outcome.
Brain injuries among the elderly can be caused due to slip and fall accidents, or as a result of high impact auto accidents including car/truck/motorcycle accidents in Indiana. These can also be the result of violence, assaults and gunshots.

Trucking companies are galvanizing their efforts to shield critical truck safety data from the public. A coalition of trucking companies has now filed a lawsuit that seeks to shield certain parts of CSA 2010, the new trucking safety management system that will soon begin to take effect. The coalition comprises of the National Association Of Small Trucking Companies and the Expedite Alliance of North America. The group has now filed a lawsuit in federal court for a stay on parts of the CSA that would release trucking company safety scores to the public.

That is in spite of the fact that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has already amended some of the rules to withhold certain critical data, including the Cargo-related and the Crash Indicator BASIC scores from the public. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has already made other concessions to placate the trucking companies’ concerns. One of these concerns is about the language used to categorize trucking companies on the agency's website. Carriers are especially concerned about the language that is used to describe carriers who fail to reach certain BASIC benchmarks. The agency has since dropped the term “deficient” to describe a carrier, and replaced it with the milder term “alert.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has also assured carriers that it will use a disclaimer on its website that will caution users against misusing the scores. That's obviously a nod to the carrier concerns that these scores being made available to the public, would open them up to truck accident claims.

Although the FMCSA has bent over backwards to accommodate carrier concerns, the trucking companies are showing no indication that they intend to back down anytime soon. As Indiana truck accident lawyers, we are concerned that the FMCSA seems to be overly eager to placate carriers. The agency's primary concern should be making available critical safety information to the public, not soothing carrier fears which have been blown out of proportion.

Approximately 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year, and between 200,000 and 500,000 suffer mini strokes, which are small periods of stroke-like attacks called Transient Ischemic Attacks. In both these cases, a person is at a high risk of suffering a stroke within the next year. He may also suffer from impaired motor skills and cognitive function. Those can be debilitating conditions for a person, and even more so, for commercial truck drivers. Now, a special panel appointed by the Department of Transportation has redefined guidelines for commercial truck drivers is before they return to work after suffering a stroke.

You don't have to be an Indiana truck accident lawyer to know that there are immense risks to motorist safety if a commercial truck driver suffers a medical emergency behind the wheel. The risk of such medical emergencies is very high in case of a truck driver who has already suffered a stroke in the past. It may not just be a medical emergency that causes an accident. Serious accidents can also occur when a truck driver has his driving abilities compromised because of impaired motor skills or cognitive impairment.

The Medical Review Board appointed by the Department Of Transportation has now issued recommendations for truck drivers who want to return to work after a stroke. According to the new guidelines, these drivers should go off the road for at least one year before being able to drive again. They must also be required to pass a driving test. Besides, the driver must also be put through a series of health assessment tests before he's allowed to drive again. The Medical Review Board also recommends placing drivers’ health checkup data on health records.
The recommendations will now be taken up by both the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the US DOT, although neither of these agencies is under any obligation to implement these guidelines.

Early this month, the National Sleep Foundation sponsored a campaign to reduce the numbers of auto and truck drivers, who continue to drive when their fatigued or drowsy. The campaign coincided with the results of a survey by the AAA showing that drowsy driving may be related to as many as 16.5% of all fatal car accidents.

Drowsy driving is a silent killer on Indiana roads, contributing to more accidents than we know. It can be hard to define whether drowsy driving was indeed a factor in an accident, because motorists rarely admit to police officers that they dozed off while driving.

While the focus on drowsy motorists have only now increased, fatigue among truck drivers has been a serious source of concern to Indiana truck accident lawyers and trucking safety groups for a while now. Driver fatigue is a major contributing factor to accidents on our highways, blamed for hundreds of truck accidents every year. The trucker lifestyle may be especially at risk for tired driving. Truckers work alone, and on long routes, without company. The risk of falling asleep at the wheel is especially great when a truck driver is driving along an empty highway. Besides, these people suffer from irregular sleep and rest patterns, contributing to the risk of dozing off while driving.

Another factor contributing to truck driver drowsiness is sleep apnea, a condition that truck drivers seem to be very predisposed to. One of the causal factors of sleep apnea is obesity, which has risen to near epidemic levels among truck drivers. A person who has sleep apnea suffers from sleeplessness at night, and is likely to nod off while driving.

While many studies have pointed to a link between truck driving and development of sleep apnea, federal agencies continue to ignore this problem to motorists’ peril.

After a ban on texting while driving for truck drivers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is likely to turn its attention next to the other distractions that plague truckers while driving. According to sources within the agency, the agency will look into the use of dispatch systems and CB radios by truck drivers and how much these distract truck drivers. These distractions will also go the way of texting, if the feds have their way.

Of course, any ban on the use of these systems will have to depend on how such a ban would affect trucking processes. The FMCSA does not want to hinder communication between truck drivers and the company, but it wants to minimize the kind of distractions that truck drivers are exposed to while driving.

An Indiana truck accident lawyers, we would also call for restrictions on the increasing use of computers by truck drivers these days. These computers are mounted on the dashboard of the trucks, and are used by truck drivers for a number of purposes. They help truckers stay in contact with the office, receive new dispatches and orders, and route directions. Truckers can log on to check e-mail, or to surf the Internet.

The trucking industry says that these computers have made trucking processes a lot easier, simpler and more efficient. While that may be true, these also increase the risk of truck accidents. Trucking companies recommend that their drivers never use computers while they are driving. If a truck driver needs to use a computer, he must pull over before he logs on.
However, just about any Indiana truck accident attorney will tell you that that is not always possible. Truckers are very often guilty of using these computers while driving, and this poses a serious risk to other motorists around.

At least four tractor-trailers were involved in a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 65 in Jasper County, Indiana last week. The accident left one truck driver dead and two others seriously injured.

The accident was set off by an earlier tractor-trailer accident which left traffic blocked. A tractor-trailer overturned, offloading cargo of more than 30,000 boxes of T-shirts across the highway. The driver in that accident told police later that he “felt something go wrong with his steering.” Investigators will obviously look into that account to determine if truck malfunction contributed to the accident.

Traffic on the highway was blocked after that accident. One truck failed to stop in time to avoid the blocked traffic It was immediately rear-ended by a tractor-trailer setting of a chain reaction, in which two other semi 18 wheelers also rear-ended the second tractor-trailer. At the end of the carnage, one of the tractor-trailer drivers, a Wisconsin man had been critically injured. He was trapped in his cab, and had to be extricated by emergency personnel. The driver unfortunately died a short while later at a local hospital. Two of the other drivers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Indiana truck accident lawyers often see that chain reaction crashes are caused by at least one of the trucks driving at excessive speeds. Truck drivers must drive at the posted speed limit for 18 wheelers, and musty also consider existing traffic conditions. Unfortunately, very often truck drivers may be driving at high speeds, and may not be able to stop in time to avoid hitting a vehicle in front. Failure to judge traffic situations properly or speeding can constitute negligence, which can be the basis for a truck accident claim in Indiana.

The Indiana truck accident lawyers at Theodoros & Rooth help injured victims of semi truck and commercial truck accidents across the state of Indiana recover rightful compensation for their injuries.

Indiana truck accident lawyers often come across trucking companies who are completely in the dark about their employees’ past safety record. For many of these employers, the first time they come across the reality of their drivers’ poor safety history is when he has been involved in an accident, and when a Indiana truck accident lawyer has managed to dig up the several crashes he has been involved in during his past employment.

That could soon change. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has established a website that will contain both accident and inspection records of truck drivers for employers to check.

The website will contain truck drivers’ accident records over the past five years, and inspection records over the past three years. A trucking company can visit the website and check the records. This allows a company to make a safer choice. It also means that truck drivers with a history of causing accidents through negligent driving have little chance of being able to falsify records and get a new job at a new trucking company in another state.

Obviously, this will be a great asset to trucking companies in Indiana. The need for a website like this has been felt for many years now, and the trucking industry and truck accident attorneys in Indiana have strongly supported making such records available to trucking companies. Employees can register at the website, and access the records for a fee of $10 per record. That's all it costs to verify a potential employee’s safety history. The trucking industry has shown great enthusiasm for the project, and hopefully, this will help filter out undesirable drivers, and ensure greater safety for motorists.

As Indiana truck accident lawyers, we think it’s great that the federal administration has set off several steps in motion to enhance truck safety and prevent accidents. In the latest such measure, the Department of Transportation has imposed a ban on text messaging while driving for all commercial truck drivers. Under the new rules, truckers who break the rules could face fines of up to $2,750.

This ban is meant to tackle the issue of distractions in truck drivers, which is obviously a far greater concern than texting by motorists. While a distracted motorist is at a serious risk of an accident, the risks are greatly magnified when you substitute the motorist with a tractor trailer driver operating a massive rig that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds.

The move is part of a greater initiative by the Department of Transportation to cut down the risks of distracted driving. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made clear his commitment to the issue. Last year, Secretary LaHood convened a Distracted Driving Summit after which President Obama signed an executive order banning all employers of the federal government from using government-issue cell phones while driving government-issued vehicles.

As Indiana truck accident lawyers however, we would have appreciated the ban more if it included a ban on the use of computers in the trailer cab. These computers are frequently used by truckers to keep in touch with trucking companies, receive orders and for other activities. Drivers are forbidden from using these computers while driving. However, the fact is that many truckers either don’t pull over before using the computer, or are not able to do so on a busy highway. The risk of distractions from these computers may be several times more than that from cell phones. Fortunately, Secretary LaHood agrees, and has confirmed his interest in dealing with such distractions too.

The Indiana truck accident attorneys at Theodoros & Rooth represent injured victims of truck, tractor trailer and 18-wheeler accidents in Lake County and around the state of Indiana.

This month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration kicked off enforcement of a new rule that Indiana truck accident lawyers have found very encouraging. The rule called the New Entrance Safety Assurance Process rule, makes it harder for new truck and bus companies to breeze their way through their first safety audits, by setting stricter compliance standards and holding the threat of revocation of registration over these companies.

Under the new rule, newly registered commercial motor carriers must strictly comply with everyone of the 16 essential regulations set down by the FMCSA in order to pass their safety audit. Failure to do so will lead to holding back of permanent registration, until the deficiencies are corrected within the time period specified by the agency. Failure to comply with even one of these regulations will now make it harder for new carriers to get permanent registration. These regulations are linked to important safety aspects, like random drug alcohol testing that commercial motor carrier operators are expected to conduct to screen employees, failure to maintain trucks and repair any mechanical problems, as well as failure to use qualified and physically fit drivers.

Following these 16 essential safety regulations are not the only way to prevent truck and bus accidents. There are other factors that may be involved in truck accidents like negligence of the trucker, driver fatigue and roadway conditions. However, these regulations cover some of the most important safety issues that are frequently a factor in commercial trucking accidents. As Indiana truck accident attorneys, we have been very concerned about the poor oversight of newly registered truck companies. These new carriers often manage to sail through initial safety audits even in the presence of violations. The new rule makes it harder to take even a single regulation lightly, ensuring that only the most compliant carriers receive permanent registration. This will prevent the presence of unsafe carriers, and truckers on Indiana’s highways and roads, and therefore prevent accidents.

The state’s fiscal problems could impact Indiana’s motorists in ways that seriously concern truck accident lawyers. Forty two bus and truck inspectors in Indiana have been laid off, as the state continues to grapple with shrinking revenues and rising expenses.

State revenues have decreased by $600 million since the financial year began in July, compared to 2008. While Governor Mitch Daniels says that public safety is one of his biggest priorities, the fact is that the state has chosen to slash its expenses by firing motor carrier inspectors, who are so vital to trucking safety. Truck inspectors’ responsibilities include stopping trucks on highways and looking for violations of state laws.

The latest truck and bus inspector layoffs are the most recent in a series of layoffs announced by the administration to deal with its financial woes. As of now, Indiana state police insists that truck safety will not be impacted, and that that the 41 inspectors who remain, will continue the work of motor vehicle inspections. But, truck and school bus safety groups are already expressing concerns that the layoffs could impact safety.

It’s too early to say if this reduced inspector force will increase the number of unsafe and dangerous rigs on our highways. However, Indiana truck accident lawyers often see that limited staffing resources usually translates into poor oversight and increased number of violations.

As Indiana truck accident attorneys, wish the state administration had focused its cost cutting measures in some other areas than commercial motor carrier safety. The accidents that result from fatigued or drunk truckers and poorly maintained rigs may ultimately be a bigger financial burden than the state’s current fiscal issues.

Whenever there is a truck accident, people tend to assume that the accident or injuries are the fault of the trucker. As Indiana truck accident attorneys, we often represent truckers who have been injured due to others’ negligence.

This week, a truck driver was electrocuted when his trailer rig came in contact with high voltage power lines at a demolition site in Indiana. The truck driver was a resident of Ohio. Apparently, his semi trailer came into contact with power lines while it was off-loading metal. The trucker sustained fatal electrocution injuries, and died soon after.

Electrocution accidents that involve high voltage underground and overhead power lines, kill hundreds of people every year. Victims are often workers in the construction industry and crane operators, who sustain severe or fatal injuries when their machinery comes into contact with power lines. Truckers may also be at risk from such electrical injuries.

In the accident here, an Indiana truck accident lawyer would have a few questions:

Why were no efforts made to secure the premises?
Was the driver trained to perform his job well?

This was an accident that could have been easily prevented by unloading the metal on a part of the site that was safe from electrical hazards.

Injured truck drivers may be eligible for compensation from a number of sources. The trucker may be covered under Indiana’s Workers’ Compensation laws, although this may depend on whether he is a contractor or employee of the company. Truckers who are injured because of the negligence of a third party may also be able to file claims against the responsible parties. Claims may also be filed against manufacturers of defective power tools, maintenance companies and repair companies in case of defective truck components, malfunctioning machinery etc. Families of truckers who have been killed in accidents may also be able to claim compensation for their losses.

As Indiana truck accident lawyers, we have strongly opposed the rule allowing truckers to drive for up to 11 consecutive hours, increased from the earlier 10 hours. Now, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has agreed to revise the 11-hour trucking rule, and has promised to come up with a new rule for trucking hours within the next nine months.

There is no indication yet about what those new working hours will be, but as Indiana truck accident lawyers, we hope that the agency reverts back to the old 10-hour rules that were in place for 60 years before the former administration decided that truckers can do with one additional hour of pressure everyday.

Every year, thousands of truck accidents can be traced to tired, drowsy truckers, fatigued from too many hours spent on the job. Last week, we discussed how the NTSB is recommending sleep apnea screenings to reduce the risk of accidents. Dealing with trucker fatigue is an important part of reducing accident fatality rates, and setting lower maximum working hours for truckers is an important part of those efforts.

For the trucking industry, a rule that allows drivers to drive for one more hour makes strong economic sense. However, for the trucker himself, who is already under strong pressure to make more trips and deliveries in a 24-hour period, the strain can be enough to cause serious accidents. Profits for the trucking industry must not be allowed to take precedence over the safety of motorists and truck drivers.

We hope that the FMCSA will do the right thing here, and eliminate the additional one hour. Thousands of lives may depend on it.

A fiery truck accident last week ended in a massive explosion on the ramp from I-69 to I-456, leading to most lanes of I-465 being closed down. On Monday morning, most ramps were opened for traffic for the first time since the tanker explosion.

The accident occurred on Thursday at about 10:30 in the morning. A semi tanker loaded with liquid propane flipped over on the ramp, after the driver lost control of his rig. The tanker immediately caught fire. Fortunately, for the driver, witnesses at the scene were able to rush to the burning tanker, and pull him out through the windshield. The driver made it out of the tanker just seconds before the tanker exploded.

The explosion resulted in a massive fireball. Several vehicles nearby were damaged, and motorists were injured. Drivers in the vicinity were able to put their vehicles in reverse to avoid the spreading flames. At least one driver suffered second and third degree burns. The damage from the explosion was severe, and several billboards and even a cell phone tower, caught fire.

Meanwhile, Indiana Department of Transportation officials are still working on the strengthening the bridge, which sustained damage in the explosion. One of the support pillars of the bridge was knocked out, and has since been reconstructed.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities in this accident, but several people sustained serious burns, not to mention, survived a nightmarish experience. This accident is just one example of the huge dangers that can result when a commercial truck meets with an accident. Anytime an 18 wheeler or a semi truck crashes, the impact can be severe enough to send other drivers around the semi into a panic, often leading to multi vehicle crashes. As Indiana truck accident lawyers, we know that often, a tractor trailer may not even make contact with another vehicle, but still cause serious injuries. The impact of a tractor trailer tip over or a rig suddenly jackknifing on a busy highway, can be as devastating as a head-on collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board is finally making the kinds of recommendations that Indiana truck accident lawyers have been looking forward to.

The agency has sent letters to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, recommending screenings for sleep apnea in commercial truck drivers. The NTSB has also sent similar letters to the Coast Guard advising screenings for the disorder in merchant ship pilots, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, and transit system agencies around the US.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person suffers from periods of breathing difficulties during sleep. These episodes of respiratory difficulties may occur just a few times in an hour, or as many as 30 times in 60 minutes. A person suffering from sleep apnea suffers from interrupted sleep, and as a consequence, feels listless and drowsy the next day.

A condition like this would be dangerous in any motorist, but is especially dangerous in commercial truck and bus drivers, who operate large and heavy vehicles. Fatigued drivers in fact, are linked to some of the deadliest truck accidents in the country every year. Sleep experts and Indiana truck accident attorneys have been aware that that sleep apnea is a major factor in driver fatigue, but we have been disappointed at the lack of serious attention paid to this problem. Now, the NTSB recommendation gives us hope that mandatory sleep apnea screenings for commercial truck drivers will soon be a reality.

Every year, more than 5,000 people are killed in truck accidents across the country. Last year, 136 people died in tractor trailer accidents in Indiana, many of these caused by drivers too tired and drowsy to focus on the road.

As Indiana truck accident lawyers, we believe that mandatory screenings for sleep apnea, combined with stricter enforcement of medical certification rules for truck drivers, can help lower those rates.

As Indiana trucking accident lawyers, we regularly follow developments in the trucking industry. It's encouraging to see that the American Trucking Association has thrown its weight behind a new bill that will ban texting for all drivers, including commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers.

The texting bill is called the Avoiding Life Endangering and Reckless Texting By Drivers Act, has been introduced by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and will require that states ban texting within the next two years, or risk losing 25 percent of their annual highway funding. The texting ban is especially important in the light of the recent Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, that focused on motorist distractions, including texting and cell phone use.

While the support for Senator Schumer's bill has been good to note, we wish the trucking industry would also recognize the dangers that arise when truckers use computers in their cabs. Trucking groups have been quick to support a texting ban, but not as keen on banning the use of these computerized devices. More and more companies are investing in computers in truck cabs that allow them to send out new orders and messages to truckers around the country. These computers can be a serious distraction to truckers. Studies have shown that truck drivers don’t always pull over when they need to use their computer. This means that the operator of a 57-foot long, 80,000 pound truck could be distracted by the computer in his cab, endangering the safety of motorists nearby.

The American Trucking Association has also adopted policy statements that have the potential to impact truck safety in Indiana and around the country. It has expressed support for the use of onboard safety systems on trucks. These safety systems like brake monitoring systems, automated transmissions and vehicle stability control systems can minimize the risk of accidents. However, the ATA insists that trucking companies be offered financial incentives to adopt these systems.

The ATA is also calling for promoting driving education among new motorists to include awareness of driving safely around 18 wheelers. As Indiana truck accident lawyers, it's a matter of concern to us that motorists may be unaware of basic trucking safety facts, like the fact that an 18-wheeler takes a much longer time to come to a complete stop after the brakes are applied. Besides, truck drivers may not be able to see a motorist if he falls in the trucker's blind spot. New motorists can benefit from learning how to drive safely around a tractor trailer.