Protecting Your Legal Rights

When truck drivers experience a preventable crash, the need to protect their legal rights, and those of the trucking companies that employ them, is more important than ever.

Crash involvement is seen as an indicator of future crash risk, leading to lower safety scores that may impact whether a shipper is willing to do business with your company, and to higher costs for insurance, repairs and even driver recruitment. At the same time, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses data from crashes to prioritize its enforcement resources on motor carriers it sees as posing the greatest safety risk.

However, you can now mitigate those impacts through the new FMCSA Crash Preventability Demonstration Program. Motor carriers and drivers that have an eligible crash that took place on or after June 1, 2017, and have evidence to show that the crash was not preventable, can participate. FMCSA will accept Requests for Data Review for crashes submitted through DataQs when an accident falls under one of several categories.

While this process can result in a favorable outcome for a carrier or driver, it can be cumbersome, and that’s where experienced legal representation from a firm dedicated to trucking issues has great value. For example, in addition to submitting a request through DataQs, carriers or drivers must also provide compelling information and documentation to show that the crash was Not Preventable.

With expert legal advice, it is more likely that a crash will be found Not Preventable. In that case, a notation that reads, “FMCSA reviewed this crash and determined that it was not preventable” will be displayed on the Safety Measurement System (SMS) web site and your Crash Indicator Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) percentiles will be calculated with and without Not Preventable crashes.  

Going forward as well, a long-term improvement in carrier and driver safety ratings is possible. After the 24-month Crash Preventability Demonstration Program ends, FMCSA will evaluate if preventability determinations improve the ability to identify the highest-risk motor carriers.

Driving this initiative were industry stakeholders who expressed concern that crash data may not identify the highest-risk motor carriers. They also pointed out that the public listing of crashes, without an indication of preventability, can give an inaccurate impression about the risk posed by a trucking company or its drivers.

A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Correlation Study also indicated that while all crashes are useful in identifying unsafe motor carriers, it encouraged FMCSA to continue to focus on improving crash data. In addition, the analysis of the program will examine the American Trucking Associations’ assertion that removing not preventable crashes from motor carrier records would result in a better correlation to future crash risk.

In this and many other ways, the value of legal representation from a firm entirely dedicated to the trucking industry is unparalleled. From challenging crash determinations to criminal and civil litigation, the ability to improve safety ratings and reduce liability and risk are essential tools in today’s highly competitive markets for freight, and for drivers.

About the Author: J. Bradley Klepper is the Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Drivers Legal Plan, a national law firm formed by trucking company executives to make quality legal representation available to drivers and carriers.

Founded in 1991 by trucking company executives, Oklahoma City-based Drivers Legal Plan is a national law firm offering the highest quality legal representation available to truck drivers in the 48 continental U.S. states. The firm provides affordable legal protection against violations and citations that can have a detrimental effect on a driver’s CDL record and a motor carrier’s safety profile and rating. Dedicated entirely to defending truck drivers, Drivers Legal Plan currently represents truck drivers at hundreds of trucking companies. Drivers Legal Plan is affiliated with the American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association and endorsed by a number of state trucking associations. For more information, visit www.driverslegalplan.com.