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Drugs and Alcohol

The rules against the use of alcohol and other drugs while driving a semi are considerably more strict than the laws which govern driving passenger vehicles.

With respect to alcohol where the passenger vehicle is a 0.8% blood alcohol content, under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations the limit is zero and a driver cannot consume any alcohol within 4 hours of going on duty.

With respect to drugs, while most street drugs would violate general motor vehicle laws, the prohibitions against apply to any drug which can affect driving, even those under a doctor's prescription unless the doctor has advised the driver that the substance will not affect the driver's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. As many prescription drugs contain warnings about use while driving, this requirement would shift the burden to the driver to prove that his doctor had approved such use.

Carrier Responsibility

The starting point for determining carrier responsibility, is that as the employer of a driver, the carrier is responsible under a doctrine of respondent/superior. The issues get considerably more complicated, when the driver was an "independent trucker." Then it may be necessary to find liability against the carrier on other legal theories.

The starting point for all such theories would be the requirements for carriers under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Generally, those Regulations create an obligation on the
carrier to see to it that the drivers are in compliance with all Safety rules applicable to them, in addition to creating independent obligations on the carriers to inspect, comply and to make sure the drivers are complying also.

A carrier has a duty to take steps to prevent injury to the driving public by determining the competency of its drivers to operate a commercial vehicle. A carrier is responsible to obtain background information on a potential driver before he can be hired. A carrier can be held negligent if they fail to obtain such information.

A carrier that fails to prepare or maintain records or maintains a required record that is incomplete, inaccurate or is false, is subject to the commencement of civil proceedings by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as well as fines.