Drivers are presented with many different risks every time they head out on the road. One of the biggest threats are tractor-trailers, or semi-trucks. These trucks are extremely large and heavy. When they are in an accident with a smaller vehicle, the truck driver is likely to sustain few injuries. For those in the passenger vehicle though, these accidents can be deadly.
The injuries that can result from a truck accidents are among the many reasons the federal government has enacted specific laws pertaining to truck safety. One of those laws is that truck drivers can only drive for 14 hours on the road, but only after they have rested for ten consecutive hours. Drivers must also log their time using electronic logging devices to verify they did not drive longer than the time mandated.
These laws are in place to prevent truck drivers from becoming fatigued to the point that they fall asleep behind the wheel. Even drivers that feel slightly drowsy are not able to focus properly on the road. Fatigue slows reaction time, so truck drivers are also unable to respond to emergencies on the road before they happen.
The rules make sense, yet livestock haulers are not always required to follow them. Industry associations and advocacy groups are constantly praising the good driving records of their truck drivers, going so far as to say they are the safest drivers in the motor vehicle industry.
Yet, they are still large trucks that cause serious injury when they are in an accident with smaller vehicles. In April of 2018, truck driver James McGilvray was involved in a large single-vehicle crash in Missouri. He and his passenger survived, but half of the livestock he was carrying at the time was killed. If there had been any other drivers near the truck at the time, they would have also sustained serious injury.
Later, McGilvray’s passenger made a statement that the truck driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel. Sadly, it is just one example of an accident that may not have happened if the rules had not been waived for livestock drivers at the time.
“There is no reason certain large trucks should be exempt from following the same rules as all other trucks,” says Clayton T. Hasbrook of Hasbrook & Hasbrook. “The McGilvray case shows that livestock haulers face the same issues, including fatigue, as other truck drivers. As such, they should be required to follow the same rules.”
