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How to Address Commercial Driver Fatigue

Given the long hours that commercial truck drivers tend to spend on the road, it is no wonder that commercial driver fatigue has become a problem that leads to accidents causing injuries or even death. The North American Fatigue Management Plan (NAFMP) is designed to address and this issue and eliminate it as much as possible, through fatigue management education, corporate culture development, and information on sleep disorders and techniques to avoid fatigue.

NAFMP is a coalition of American and Canadian regulators and carriers who have worked together to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with professional driver fatigue. These partners used focus groups with motor carriers to assist in the design of the plan, developed educational trainings and materials, conducted operational field tests with 77 Canadian and American drivers, and, finally, created model guidelines to combat commercial driver fatigue.

Through presentations, and online courses and modules, drivers can learn how to effectively prevent fatigue and the accidents that inevitably occur because of it. However, education is not only for drivers. NAFMP also offers driver fatigue information geared toward dispatchers, driver managers, motor carrier executives and managers, freight shippers and receivers, carrier safety managers, and spouses and families of drivers. Various downloads are also available to supplement the courses and modules. By having everyone on board when it comes to preventing commercial driver fatigue, NAFMP hopes to encourage a culture that recognizes and does not allow for driver fatigue. This, in turn, is likely to prevent many of the accidents that are arguably caused in full and in part by commercial truck driver fatigue.

Commercial driver fatigue is a real problem that leads to truck accidents that cause injuries to multiple people, and even death. Given the high amount of commercial truck traffic on our nation’s roadways, it is essential that NAFMP, trucking companies, and drivers themselves hopefully can prevent driver fatigue before it happens. This will lessen the incidences of fatigue-related crashes on roads and highways. For more information about how to properly handle your personal injury claim, contact the Wisconsin personal injury lawyers of Boller & Vaughan today.