Motorists in Springfield are likely aware of how much more difficult it becomes to control their vehicles at high speeds. One can only imagine, then, how hard a truck driver must work to control that semi-traveling on a freeway or highway. Most might assume that truck drivers would avoid struggling with keeping their vehicles under their complete control and avoid speeding altogether. Yet according to information shared by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, speeding is listed amongst the most common causes of truck accidents.
One might view a truck driver’s decision to speed as a clear sign of negligence and indifference to the safety of others. Yet could there be scenarios in which a truck driver feels compelled to speed? Any working professional who has felt the pressure that comes with meeting the standards of on-the-job performance might understand such a feeling.
Truck companies are like any other commodity provider in that their reputations are built upon customer service. Offering good customer service when it comes to deliveries typically means making those deliveries on time (and in many instances, faster than competitors). Thus, a trucking company might seek to guarantee deliveries within time periods that require drivers to maintain extremely tight schedules. If the pressure applied in meeting those schedules causes truck drivers to feel as though they have to speed, then the company applying it is in violation of the law.
Indeed, according to Section 392.6 of the Code of Federal Regulations, motor carriers are not to apply delivery standards that would require their drivers to exceed the speed limits in the areas through which they travel. Doing so could open up a carrier to liability should a speeding truck driver cause an accident.