The danger posed by the more than three million tractor-trailers that travel U.S. roadways is clearly evidenced by the half a million tractor-trailer collisions that occur in the U.S. each year. Someone is injured or dies in a tractor-trailer accident every sixteen minutes. There are many causes for tractor-trailer accidents in Mississippi, including fatigued drivers, improperly maintained rigs and overloaded commercial trucks. One of the most preventable causes of tractor-trailer collisions in Mississippi is the failure to conduct proper employment pre-screening prior to hiring a prospective truck driver.
A trucking accident lawsuit out of Atlanta poses a good example of the importance of pre-employment screening by a trucking company. A tractor-trailer driver ran a red light at an intersection and collided with two vehicles in the intersection. One of the vehicle occupants had been in excellent health prior to the intersection truck accident. The company probably would not have engaged the truck driver had it conducted an adequate pre-employment screening or reviewed the information received sufficiently.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations require trucking companies to conduct a pre-employment background check before hiring a new truck driver. The trucking company is required to obtain a driving and employment history for the driver for the three prior years. The driver must comply with Department of Transportation (DOT) drug testing that applies to those with commercial drivers’ licenses. An employer also must obtain a drug and alcohol violation history for the preceding three years as well as conduct a pre-employment drug test.
It is unclear whether the trucking company in the Georgia case conducted any pre-employment screening let alone one that complied with FMCSA regulations. The employer destroyed all documents relating to the truck drivers employment application prior to filing a court response to the lawsuit. This is a common practice for trucking companies in tractor-trailer litigation. This is why it is important that your trucking accident lawyer send a spoliation letter to the trucking company as soon as practical so that critical evidence is not destroyed by the trucking company. If the trucking company proceeds to destroy the evidence despite the spoliation letter, the court can impose monetary sanctions or take more extreme measures like in this case and instruct the jury to presume the evidence would have been damaging to the trucking company.
In this case, the truck driver had a long list of red flags that should have alerted the trucking company that it was not safe to put him behind the wheel of one of its big-rigs. The truck driver had caused two prior rear end collisions while driving a big-rig during the three year look back period as well as two traffic citations for improper following distance associated with those trucking collisions. The driver has also had his CDL suspended for sixty days and received a traffic citation for speeding less than two months prior to being hired by the defendant.
If you or a loved one is involved in a Mississippi trucking accident, it is important to work with an experienced Mississippi trucking accident law firm that can move quickly to preserve critical evidence and analyze a driver’s employment file to identify potential issues regarding the driver’s competence when hired or potential driving violations or accidents by the driver while working for the driver’s current employer.
If you or someone you love has been injured or a loved one dies in a Mississippi trucking accident caused by inadequate pre-employment screening of a truck driver, you or your loved one may have a right to seek compensation for any injuries or other loss. The experienced Mississippi tractor-trailer accident attorneys at Barrett Law have been providing effective representation to person injury victims for over 75 years. We provide diligent legal representation and impassioned advocacy so we invite you to call us today at 662-834-2376 to learn how we can help.