Late last month the federal government released the results of a new study that found that many workers in the United States are getting fewer than six hours of sleep at night and, as a result, are putting themselves and others at risk of serious accidents.

One of the key findings of the study is that people with rotating schedules or overnight shifts may be among the most tired workers. This may include truck drivers. The study encourages both workers and employers to consider how to change work schedules or make other accommodations that ensure that workers get enough sleep.

Are you a truck driver? Do your shifts constantly change or routinely involve nighttime hours? How do you stay rested to prevent serious truck accidents? Please leave a comment. Your tips may help prevent another trucker from causing a serious accident or fatality.

There are few professions where adequate sleep is as important as it is for truckers. Federal regulations attempt to make sure that truckers are well rested so that accidents caused by tired drivers can be avoided. To that end, hours of service regulations have been in place for a long time (and were recently revised) to try to ensure that truckers have adequate rest periods.

For at least the last decade, other potential causes of tired truckers have been considered by the federal government. Sleep apnea is one of the potential causes of tired truckers. Hours of service regulations will not prevent fatigue from sleep apnea and any kind of fatigue, regardless of its cause, can be dangerous for truckers and other motorists.

Thus, it is expected that in the next few months the federal government is going to propose regulations that will require sleep apnea screening for truckers who meet certain criteria. Those criteria are expected to include a BMI (body mass index) of 35 or greater. Those who support sleep apnea screening for truckers generally welcome the expected change while those who do not support the screening believe that the screening will disqualify many truckers from holding a commercial driver’s license.

What do you think? Would such a regulation improve safety and prevent fatalities caused by fatigue or is it unnecessary? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Truckers have a lot to negotiate on the streets of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Often truckers must face the significant, yet different perils, of making deliveries on crowded city streets, of traveling local suburban roads where children play, of stop and go traffic on urban highways and of long monotonous stretches of rural interstate.

One of the dangers facing truckers on local roads is what happens when they come to highway rail grade crossings. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, approximately 700 of the 3,000 highway rail grade crossing accidents that occur each year involve a truck or tractor trailer. These accidents may result in significant injuries or fatalities. Truckers are urged to approach railroad crossings with care, to decrease their speed, to be prepared to stop, and to use extreme caution.

Have you ever been involved in a railroad truck wreck? What happened? Please leave a comment and let us know.

The winter weather may be over, but that is not the end of weather related risks for truck drivers and other motorists. The spring and summer months can bring rain which creates its own dangers for truckers and those traveling near large tractor trailers.

Wet roads can, for example:

• Make it more difficult for a truck to stop. It may take longer for a truck to stop on wet roads which may result in more accidents if truckers do not properly account for the weather and road conditions.
• Water spray from the trucks can create blinding situations for nearby motorists.
• Trucks, like cars, can hydroplane and lose control.

It is important to be aware of these risks and to take steps to avoid a serious Pennsylvania truck accident, even as the weather warms and the threat of ice and snow goes away – until next year.

In March 2011 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) strengthen regulations related to tractor trailer underride guards. The IIHS found that underride guards, designed to stop passenger cars from going under trucks, were failing even in low speed accidents and that stronger underride guards could prevent truck accident injuries and fatalities.

Currently, it is unclear whether the NHTSA is going to act on the IIHS petition for change. To date, new regulations have not been put in place that would require stronger underride guards to prevent serious accidents.  Yet, the federal government estimates that more than 400 people are killed and more than 5,000 people are injured each year when their passenger vehicle collides with the back of a tractor trailer.

Do you think stronger underride regulations should be put in place for tractor trailers? Please leave a comment and let us know.

The problem of tired truckers is not new. For years, the U.S. Department of Transportation has had hours of service rules in place to prevent tired truckers from causing accidents. Public awareness campaigns have been launched and trucking companies have been urged to allow truckers adequate time to rest so that serious injuries and fatalities can be avoided.

However, not everyone may have gotten the message. A new survey found that 10% of truckers and other transportation providers such as pilots and train conductors may be significantly sleep deprived and create dangerous conditions. The poll, conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, found that more transportation workers perform their jobs while drowsy than other types of workers.

It is the hope of researchers that the information learned will remind those in the trucking industry, and broader transportation industry, that tired truckers and transportation providers are dangerous and that additional steps need to be taken to ensure that drivers have adequate rest and can perform their jobs safely.