On-Board Electronic Devices

With thousands of drivers around the country violating their hours of service, some companies may face the reality of having on-board electronic devices installed.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, trucking companies that are repeat offenders as far as driving hours go may have to install on-board electronic devices to track operation times. This regulation is a long time in coming for some advocates who have been speaking of the need for on-board devices for some time. The greater problem is not simply workers being worked too hard, it is the result of those overtime hours. Truck drivers who operate over the legal limits are at risk for getting in fatigue-related accidents. There has been recent legislation involving the limiting of service hours, but this ruling can only go so far.

Trucking companies can easily vio

late these hours by falsifying information put into logbooks. Drivers are all required to log their hours into their logbooks and have them evaluated. The problem is, if no one is around to see when they are actually driving, it is hard to validate what is written in these books. Although it seems as if the drivers themselves may be to blame, trucking companies are often liable for accidents caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Some employers put their drivers under so much pressure to deliver their cargo on time that they will often skip mandated resting breaks in order to accomplish this goal. Some employers even advocate that their drivers fudge the numbers in the books.

When a study was conducted of truck drivers, it was found that a third of all study participants admitted to have wrongfully inputted numbers into their books or omitted some driving hours. The current regulations are a bit laughable, because there is no good way for them to be validated. Some drivers even refer to them as “comic books.” But truck driver fatigue is no laughing matter. This is the cause for as many as 40 percent of all collisions involving commercial trucks. The presence of these on-board monitoring devices will be hard evidence that can easily prove whether or not drivers are following government resting regulations and not operating outside of their allowed hours of service.

It seems as if the United States is a little bit behind in the times, considering the fact that Europe instituted these electronic devices back in January of 2006. The monetary cost might be significant, but the cost of not implementing this system may be much greater. So many people die and are seriously injured in these types of accidents every year, which begs the need for a system such as this one. If you have been injured in an accident involving a driver who fell asleep at the wheel then you can get help from a personal injury attorney to file a claim. Even in accidents where you believe that you are partially at fault, you may be surprised at the amount of compensation you are entitled to.