Is the Trucking Community Being Pushed Beyond its Limits?

Massive semi-trucks keep our economy humming. We’re doing more and more of our shopping online, which translates to having even more semi-trucks and delivery trucks on our highways and byways. The trucking industry is bustling, but is the hectic nature of the business putting truck drivers in jeopardy? If the non-stop pace of your work as a truck driver leaves you injured, don’t put off consulting with an experienced NYC workers’ compensation attorney today.

Safety Rules and Regulations

As a truck driver, you are a professional driver, which means you face far more rules and regulations related to safety than do other motorists. These rules and regulations include strict hours-of-service restrictions that prevent you from remaining behind the wheel of your rig for too many consecutive hours, and that limit the total number of hours you can put in behind the wheel during a specific timeframe. This body of rules is put in place to help keep everyone on our roadways safer, and this includes you, the truck driver. The fatigue that results from spending too many consecutive hours behind the wheel leaves you more vulnerable to dangerous accidents.

Your Employer

The trucking company you work for is no doubt striving to keep up with the urgent demand to keep more and more trucks on our roadways. That trucking company, however, is also responsible for adhering to all of the safety restrictions that are in place for the industry at the state and federal level, including:

• Not pressuring drivers to exceed their hours-of-service restrictions (in an effort to keep up the pace and increase profits)
• Scheduling drivers within the boundaries of the law
• Keeping well-maintained rigs that are safe to operate and roadworthy
• Implementing regular maintenance schedules and maintenance checks to help ensure that their trucks remain in safe working condition
• Hiring experienced mechanics and providing them with quality tools and parts
• Ensuring that their loading crews are experienced and safety-oriented

Failing to deliver on any of these extremely important responsibilities can leave you, as a truck driver, far more vulnerable to dangerous accidents.

The Breaking Point?

In the end, the hectic pace of the trucking industry may encourage some trucking companies to push their drivers to work outside the boundaries of the law, which endangers the safety of those truck drivers – and everyone else on the road. Your employer, however, owes you a reasonable duty of safety that does not include requiring you to ignore safety rules and regulations. Increasing one’s profit margins is simply not a valid reason for endangering one’s employees.

Don’t Put Off Discussing Your Case with an Experienced NYC Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today

If you’re a truck driver who’s been injured on the job, you need the professional legal counsel of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney on your side. The formidable workers’ compensation lawyers at Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman in NYC have considerable experience guiding cases like yours toward beneficial resolutions. Our dedicated legal team wants to help, so please don’t hesitate to contact or call us at 212-285-3300 today.