Violation of HOS: A Common Cause of Truck Accidents

Violation of Hours of Service (HOS) regulations often leads to truck accidents. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) enforces these rules to make sure that accidents caused by fatigue don’t happen by reducing driving hours and making sure that drivers take breaks.

Even with these protections, some truck drivers and businesses push the limits, putting safety last because they need to meet schedules. When HOS rules are violated, they make terrible accidents more likely, putting other people on the road in danger. 

People who break HOS rules often face the consequences in San Antonio, which has busy highways and a lot of business trucking activity. Because the city is such an important transportation hub in Texas, truck accidents happen there all the time.

These kinds of events can have terrible effects on the people who are hurt and their families. In these situations, hiring a San Antonio truck accident attorney can help people get justice and fair compensation for their losses. The impact of truck accidents caused by HOS violations makes it even more important to be aware of and follow safety rules. 

What Constitutes an HOS Violation?

To understand HOS violations, you must first know the FMCSA’s regulations:

• 11-hour Driving Limit: After 10 hours of being off duty in a row, drivers can’t spend more than 11 hours behind the wheel. 
• 14-hour On-duty Limit: The maximum number of hours a truck driver can be on duty in a day is 14, including breaks. 
• Weekly Limits: The maximum number of hours worked in a week is 60 over seven days or 70 over eight days.

Not following these limits is called a violation. Also, drivers might not keep exact logs or might falsify time sheets, which increases the risks even more. 

Common Causes of HOS Violations

HOS violations are caused by a number of things. Some of these are: 

• Pressure from Employers: Trucking companies may tell drivers to break the rules to get deliveries done on time. 
• Financial Incentives: Drivers can choose to work longer hours if they want to make more money. 
• Poor Planning: Drivers may have to work longer hours than they are allowed to if they don’t plan their routes well.

These violations are not only against the law, but they can also be deadly. They often make drivers tired, which makes them less alert and slows down their reactions, which increases the risk of accidents. 

Preventing HOS Violations

Both truck drivers and businesses must follow the rules to keep these risks to a minimum. Key measures include: 

• Keeping logbooks up to date with correct information on a regular basis.
• Planning routes that allow plenty of time to rest. 
• Getting drivers to understand how important sleep is for safety.

By doing these things, companies and drivers can greatly reduce the number of accidents caused by tiredness. 

Accountability for HOS Violations

People who have been hurt in truck crashes because of HOS violations can file a claim for compensation. A claim can be stronger if there is evidence of violations, like falsified logs or pressure from the employer.

Legal help makes sure that people who are responsible, like truck drivers and their employers, are held responsible for their negligence.