Although this is not always the case, many truckers who travel through the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area have to follow federal rules. These rules are promulgated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to stay in business legally.
Some of these rules require truck drivers to pull over and take a rest periodically. These rules are in place to prevent truckers from driving while too tired. As many Pennsylvanians can probably guess, driving while overly tired can often mean a trucker will make key mistakes that could cause serious truck accidents.
Specifically, a driver hauling a load, as opposed to a bus or other driver carrying passengers, can only be behind the wheel for 11 hours before he or she will have to go off duty for 10 hours. Although drivers may not have to count time for meals, restrooms and gas stops in the 11 hours, they are prevented from being on the road for more than 14 hours after starting a trip for the day.
A driver also needs around a day and a half off after driving a certain number of hours in a seven or eight-day period. The weekly maximum is either 60 or 70 hours, depending on the circumstances of the driver.
An accurate trucking log should show whether a driver was following these rest rules. As such, it is very important for an injured person or her representative to get a copy of the log by whatever legal means necessary. And, the injured person should consider whether the trucker’s log was accurate.