Tractor-trailers are the most dangerous vehicles on the road because of their massive size and weight, which can cause unparalleled carnage when they collide with another motor vehicle. One of the most dangerous situations involving a tractor-trailer in Mississippi is the risk of a commercial trucking accident involving a commercial truck driver who has a serious medical condition and is unfit to operate a tractor-trailer. How serious is the problem? All one needs to consider in answering that question is that there are hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer drivers who are also eligible for full federal disability benefits according to a safety study.
While the Federal Motor Carrier Administration has been aware of the problem for years, there has been little improvement in safety regulations to protect Mississippi motorists from drivers who suffer serious medical conditions that may result in a driver suffering a seizure or loss of consciousness behind the wheel. The danger posed by sick drivers who are unfit to drive first assumed national recognition in 1999 after a fatal busing accident claimed the lives of 22 occupants. The vehicle left the roadway and ran off an embankment after the driver reportedly slumped behind the wheel. The commercial driver was later revealed to have had a severe medical condition involving his kidneys that had necessitate multiple hospital stays. An investigation of the incident revealed that the driver had been released from the hospital only hours before and had medications in his system prone to make him drowsy.
There have been few changes to keep medically unfit drivers off the road since recommendations were made in 2002 following this tragic accident. Almost a decade later most of those recommendations have not been turned into policy or regulations. There has been over a thousand tractor-trailer accidents involving truck drivers who are medically unfit since that time.
Despite the danger posed by the idea of an unconscious driver behind the steering wheel of a tractor-trailer that is barreling down the highway at a rate of sixty mile per hour, the rules designed to keep sick drivers off Mississippi roadways are ludicrously inadequate. All that is required is a certificate of medical fitness from virtually any health care professional including nurses and chiropractors. Further, there are no standards for the type of medical evaluation or what constitutes medically fit. Because there are no regulations governing the competency or expertise of the medical evaluation nor standards for conducting the evaluation or determining medical fitness, the system provides virtually no protection from sick truck drivers on Mississippi roadways.
The experienced tractor-trailer accident attorneys at Barrett Law Offices represent those injured in serious commercial trucking accidents including those caused by truck drivers with serious medical conditions that render them unsafe to drive.
If your or someone you love has been injured in a serious Mississippi tractor-trailer accident, our experienced Mississippi tractor-trailer accident lawyers have been helping clients just like you for over 75 years. We offer a free initial case evaluation so call us today at (662) 834-2376.