Gallagher & Kennedy Attorneys Lead Charge Against Deadly Trucking Loophole, Lax Safety Concerns
FOX 10 Phoenix’s investigative report “Fatal Fatigue” delves into a tragic 2021 crash on Loop 202 in Phoenix, where a milk tanker truck caused an eight-vehicle collision, killing four people and injuring 11 others. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation revealed that driver fatigue was the primary cause of the accident.
The report highlights a critical loophole in federal regulations that allows agricultural commodity carriers, including milk transporters, to operate without hours-of-service (HOS) limits within a 150-air-mile radius. This exemption potentially contributes to driver fatigue and compromises road safety.
Attorneys Bob Boatman and Shannon Clark are catastrophic injury and wrongful death attorneys at Gallagher & Kennedy. Bob represented the family of a young man killed by a fatigued semi-truck driver because of the HOS loophole. The attorneys are now working to shed light on the dangers of this regulatory gap and its implications for public safety.
Read the partial story below and click here for the full investigative report on FOX10.
Boatman points out the flaw in the exemption, stating, “The problem is, dairy is a year-round harvesting if you will, so it doesn’t appear that the exemption really fits, at least why I understand the purpose of that exemption to be.”
Clark emphasizes the broader implications of the case, saying, “Clearly, this case is a good example of how that type of gap in the law can cause problems. So we would hope that this would be an example that Congress could look at and say, ‘Hey, maybe we need to take another look at that.”
The lawyers have also filed a suit against Daimler Truck North America for not installing collision avoidance technology in the truck involved in the crash. They are representing all victims of the deadly truck accident in this litigation.
Boatman said, “All [the driver] needed is the simple warning that’s now in virtually every vehicle, and we believe this accident never happened.”
Clark adds, “The reality is that the technology was there and to not offer it in this situation where you have what represents probably one of the most devastating things that can happen on the road, just makes no sense.”
Through their work on this case, Boatman and Clark are not only seeking justice for the victims but also advocating for regulatory changes and improved safety measures in the trucking industry to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
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