Assigning liability for speeding truck drivers

If you are in business, then you know that the pressure to please your clients in San Antonio is ever-present. Thus, you may be willing to do whatever you can to meet (or even exceed) their expectations, even to the point of straining the resources available to you. Commercial freight carriers also experience this pressure. Their customer satisfaction is typically gauged by how quickly their drivers can complete their delivery routes. Due to the demand to make deliveries in a timely manner, carriers may enforce route times. Unfortunately, we here at The Law Offices of Miller & Bicklein, P.C. have seen the unintended consequences of such enforcement.

Truck drivers who operate their vehicles as excessive speeds present a great danger to you and others required to share the road with them. You might view the decision of a truck driver to speed as the ultimate sign of negligence. These professionals are familiar with the capacities (and limitations) of their vehicles, and thus should know better than to operate them in a manner that is unsafe. Yet what if the decision to speed is not on that they make by choice, but rather compulsion?

Section 392.6 of the Code of Federal Regulations states that motor carriers cannot try to implement and enforce route times that would require drivers to exceed the posted speed limits in the areas the routes traverse in order to complete. If the truck driver that caused an accident that you were involved in testifies as to the pressure placed on them by their employer played a factor in their decision to speed (and that testimony can be supported by evidence), then the carrier that employs them may share in the liability for your accident.

More information on recognizing liability in truck accident cases can be found throughout our site.