It was just after midnight last month when a semi driver did not stop in a construction zone on Interstate 4, crashing into a Florida Highway Patrol trooper’s cruiser. The 35-year-old truck driver was cited for careless driving, and while troopers did not say how he missed numerous signs, tow truck operator Brian Harris told WFTV-TV that he suspected driver fatigue. “I mean them truck drivers sometimes they drive till wee hours of the night,” Harris told WFTV. “We come across it all the time.”
As the video above discusses, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been working to reduce accidents caused by driver fatigue for more than two decades. According to its website, the NTSB has issued more than 180 separate safety recommendations to address the problem of human fatigue in all modes of transportation ever since the agency was created in 1967.
On July 18, 2012, WTSP-TV reported that another truck driver was cited for careless driving after he reportedly fell asleep and lost control of his gas tanker, shutting down I-4 for several hours. While the 33-year-old driver was the only person to sustain any injuries in that truck accident, the more than 1,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel that was spilled onto the interstate could have certainly had fatal consequences.
The NTSB has spent nearly a half-century trying to recommend ways to reduce the harm caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel. It is important that people understand that they may be entitled to compensation if they sustain injuries in a collision caused by a fatigued driver. Additional information about tractor trailer accidents is available on our website, but if you or a loved one has sustained injuries in a crash caused by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel, contact our firm at (800) 235-7060 today to see how our Orlando personal injury lawyers might be able to help.
Wooten Kimbrough, P.A. – Orlando personal injury attorneys