If you’ve been in an accident with a commercial truck in Texas, and you suspect the driver was fatigued, you may have a case against the driver or trucking company. Commercial vehicle operators are held to strict truck driver fatigue laws for a reason: when truck drivers cut corners on rest, other motorists pay the price. Texas law allows injured drivers and passengers to seek compensation when a trucker’s fatigue, driver negligence, or violation of federal rest requirements causes a crash.
Unfortunately, proving driver fatigue isn’t always straightforward. It takes experienced legal support, a strong investigation, and an understanding of the state and federal regulations that govern truck drivers.
At Guzman Law Firm, we investigate commercial vehicle accidents to determine whether driver fatigue, excessive hours, or other safety violations contributed to a crash. Call Guzman Law Firm at (956) 516-7198 to discuss your case.
How can driver fatigue cause a truck accident?
Fatigue can affect a driver’s ability to safely operate a commercial vehicle in several ways. A fatigued driver may have difficulty maintaining a lane, recognizing hazards, judging distances, or reacting quickly when traffic changes. In serious cases, a driver may briefly fall asleep or experience a “microsleep” without realizing it. Even a few seconds without attention can allow a tractor-trailer to travel a considerable distance.
Fatigue may not be obvious from the accident scene, however. A truck driver may deny being tired, and there may be no physical evidence showing that the driver was fatigued. That is why records showing what the driver was doing before the crash can be important.
What are the truck driver fatigue laws?
For many interstate commercial truck drivers transporting property, federal Hours of Service rules under 49 CFR Part 395 establish limits on driving and on-duty time.
Generally, a property-carrying driver may drive for up to 11 hours after taking at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. The driver must also complete driving within a 14-hour window after coming on duty. The 14-hour rule is important because it includes on-duty time that is not spent driving.
Drivers are also generally required to take a 30-minute interruption in driving after accumulating eight hours of driving time, subject to applicable exceptions.
There are longer-term limits as well. Depending on the carrier’s schedule, a driver generally cannot drive after accumulating 60 hours on duty over seven consecutive days or 70 hours over eight consecutive days. These rules are intended to prevent drivers from accumulating excessive fatigue over a single shift or over several days.
What evidence can prove truck driver fatigue?
One of the most important sources of evidence may be the driver’s Record of Duty Status, often maintained through an Electronic Logging Device, or ELD. ELD records can show when a driver was driving, on duty, off duty, or using a sleeper berth. But an attorney investigating a fatigue-related accident should not necessarily stop with the ELD.
Federal regulations recognize supporting documents that can be used to verify a driver’s duty-status records. Depending on the circumstances, these may include:
- Dispatch records
- Trip documents
- Bills of lading
- Fuel receipts
- Toll records
- Payroll or settlement records
- Electronic fleet-management communications
- Other business records
These records can become particularly important when they do not appear to match the driver’s official log. For example, an ELD may indicate that a driver was off duty while GPS, fuel, dispatch, or delivery records suggest that the truck was actually traveling. A discrepancy does not automatically prove that someone falsified a record, but it may warrant further investigation.
How long are trucking companies required to keep ELD?
Time can be particularly important in a truck accident investigation. Federal regulations generally require carriers to retain records of duty status and supporting documents for at least six months.
Six months may seem like a long time, but a serious injury case can take much longer to investigate and litigate. If relevant electronic information is subject to routine deletion or a limited retention period, waiting to investigate the crash can make obtaining evidence more difficult.
Federal regulations also prohibit carriers and drivers from obscuring, defacing, destroying, mutilating, or altering information contained in supporting documents.
That said, an injured person generally cannot simply demand that a private company turn over every internal record. Depending on the circumstances, obtaining those records may require preservation requests, formal discovery, subpoenas, depositions, or court intervention.
An attorney may send a preservation letter asking the trucking company, driver, insurer, or other relevant parties to preserve potentially important evidence. The attorney can then pursue appropriate discovery to obtain records relevant to the claim.
How might the trucking company or insurer dispute a fatigue claim?
A trucking company and its insurer may have a different explanation for an accident than the injured person. The defense may argue that:
- The driver complied with the Hours of Service rules.
- The ELD shows that the driver received sufficient rest.
- Another driver caused the crash.
- Weather, road conditions, or another factor caused the collision.
- The driver was alert immediately before the accident.
- An applicable Hours of Service exception applied.
- There is no evidence that fatigue actually caused the crash.
The defense may also challenge the interpretation or relevance of records offered to establish fatigue. Importantly, violating the Hours of Service rules does not automatically establish that the driver caused the accident. Likewise, a driver could potentially be fatigued even while technically complying with the federal limits.
A thorough investigation therefore considers both the driver’s legal hours and the circumstances surrounding the crash.
How can a truck accident attorney investigate driver fatigue?
A truck accident attorney can look beyond the driver’s official log and compare it with independent evidence. For example, an attorney may investigate:
- Driver logs: Commercial drivers are required to keep detailed logs of their hours. In many cases, these logs are electronic (ELDs) and can show whether a driver exceeded their allowable time behind the wheel.
- GPS and dispatch data: Driving logs can be cross-referenced with GPS data and dispatch records to detect inconsistencies or signs of excessive driving.
- Surveillance and dashcam footage: In some cases, dashcam footage may show signs of fatigue like erratic driving, drifting, or delayed braking.
- Eyewitness testimony: Witnesses to the crash may have observed the truck driving unsafely in the moments leading up to the accident.
- Company policies and communications: If the trucking company encouraged or tolerated long driving hours, those communications can be key to establishing liability in truck accidents.
- Post-crash interviews and police reports: Drivers who admit to being tired or who appear visibly exhausted at the scene may offer important evidence in your favor.
Fatigue-related accidents are not just the result of bad luck; they’re the result of driver negligence. Plain and simple. And under Texas law, victims of that negligence have the right to seek justice.
If the trucking company objects to producing relevant information, an attorney can address those objections through the discovery process and, when appropriate, seek a subpoena or court order.
Injured by a sleepy trucker? Call Guzman Law Firm.
Driver fatigue can be difficult to prove without access to the right records. ELD logs, dispatch records, GPS data, fuel receipts, payroll records, and other evidence may help establish whether a commercial driver was operating within the required limits and whether fatigue contributed to the crash.
Guzman Law Firm can investigate the circumstances of a commercial truck accident, pursue relevant evidence, and help you understand your legal options.
If you were injured in a commercial truck accident in Laredo or elsewhere in Texas, call Guzman Law Firm at (956) 516-7198 to discuss your case.
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