“Hitting the back of a large truck is a game changer,” IIHS President Adrian Lund wrote in the report. “You might be riding in a vehicle that earns top marks in frontal crash tests, but if the truck’s underride guard fails—or isn’t there at all—your chances of walking away from even a relatively low-speed crash aren’t good.”

The organization performed six crash tests involving three rear guards that complied with U.S. safety regulations and were attached to parked semi-trailers. In three of the tests, the car slid under the truck enough that the dummy’s head was hit, indicating that decapitation would likely occur in a rear-world crash.

The strongest guard prevented underride when the car struck the truck’s rear head-on and at a slight angle. In every other test in which the car struck the truck at an angle, all of the guards allowed underride.

During the life of a truck, the guards beccome damaged over time. Trucking companies refuse to replace the guards because stronger systems would create a slight increase in weight, which would raise the companies’ fuel costs.

In its rulemaking and research priority plan released last month, NHTSA acknowledged that truck underride is the third largest cause of fatalities in frontal collisions and said it “will assess research data and decide on the next steps” by 2012.

The law was enacted to help protect the lives of those that protect ours- troopers and first responders as well as the motoring public. From 1996 to 2000, motorists in Florida crashed into working law enforcement vehicles that were either stopped or parked along Florida roadways 1,793 times, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries.

More information about the law can be found here. If you have been in an accident and need help, contact the office of an experienced Florida Attorney.

The National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration create a plan to set up devices in commercial trucks that will reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents. The FMCSA is currently involved in the development of a “North American Fatigue Management Program for Commercial Motor Carriers.” This project is a collaborative effort “aimed at reducing fatigue-related accidents and decreasing the personal and economic cost to drivers, companies, and worker’s compensation programs and insurance carriers.”

Have you or someone you know been involved in a Florida truck accident due to truck driver fatigue?

If the injury is caused or contributed to by the negligence of others, we can help http://www.seelielaw.com .

To me, this seems like a no-brainer. But the Safety Board explains that “many commercial vehicle drivers whose serious medical conditions are known to their employers, health care providers, and others are never reported to the appropriate motor vehicle licensing authorities”. Perhaps there is room to lay some blame at the feet of these employers who would endanger the general public. At least, one should hope that not everyone involved is initiated into a code of silence.

According to the Safety Board, “serious flaws exist in the medical certification process for commercial vehicle drivers”.  I am inclined to agree. Especially after I found out that in Texas drivers can self-certify that they meet medical requirements for a commercial license. Seriously. Over 16 thousand truckers got their licenses after being declared totally disabled. The Safety Board goes on to assert that, “flaws in the certification process can lead to increased highway fatalities and injuries for commercial vehicle drivers, their passengers, and the motoring public.”

You might be wondering what these eight proposals are about, and how are they going to fix the problem. I will be examing these eight proposals over the next few days.

[1] Yen, Hope and Frank Bass, “Thousand of bus and truck drivers qualify for disability” Star-Telegram.com 22 Jul. 2008., Nation ed.