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ATA prepares to fight outsized legal awards against truckers

Marijuana legalization presents next costly legal threat to trucking

Truck drivers are blamed for more highway accidents than they cause, a case the American Trucking Associations plans to press against trial lawyers. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) is gearing up to fight against multimillion-dollar legal awards against truckers and their employers who are not at fault but blamed in many car-truck crashes.

“We’re fed up,” ATA President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Spear told members October 7 at the association’s Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. “I’m sick of playing defense while trial lawyers buy jets and yachts at the expense of trucking jobs. These ‘nuclear’ verdicts are strangling our industry.”

Two-thirds of the accidents involving trucks are caused by passenger vehicles, Spear said.

“If a car going the opposite direction veers out of control, crosses the median and crashes into a truck going 25 mph below the speed limit and is brought to a controlled stop after the collision, you shouldn’t have to pay $90 million for a tragedy your driver didn’t cause!”


Yet the number of trucking fatalities through 2017 was a 29-year high, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Speeding and failure to wear seat belts contributed to deaths in many of the crashes, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

A weed problem

The legalization of marijuana in 11 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada could be the next cudgel used against truckers, Spear said.

“You can just see the trial lawyers – sitting on the edge of their high, wing-back leather chairs – drooling over the thought of more legal ambiguity,” Spear said in his speech. “We can’t just sit back and hand them yet another opportunity to litigate our industry.”


The association scheduled the initial meeting of its Controlled Substances, Health and Wellness Subcommittee during the convention. The goal, Spear said, is creating a trucking-led policy platform that helps lawmakers and regulators make informed decisions about the impact of substance abuse on safety and interstate commerce.

The ATA also will continue to press federal agencies to allow hair follicle testing in place of urine testing for drug use and have those results included in the FMCSA’s commercial driver’s license Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse that begins operating in January 2020. The database will contain information on violations of the controlled substances and alcohol testing program.  

By the numbers

The U.S. trucking industry spends more than $10 billion each year on safety, including technology, training and compliance “all part of a concerted effort to save lives, not our bottom line,” Spear said.

Trucking employment exceeds 7.8 million people or one in 16 jobs in the U.S. Trucks move more than 71% of domestic freight.

45 Comments

  1. Jennie Taylor

    It’s pass time for ATA to do this been in trucking since the day I was born been driving for 26 yrs was o/o for most of my driving career except for the last 5 I went company. I see companies not stand behind their drivers throw them out to wolves all because of a 4 wheeler they call it preventable that’s b.s. the driver does all they can do no matter how you look at the driver not at fault but the company pays off the lawyers fire the drivers just to keep it out of court end of story not hardly that driver life is ruined it’s on their csa and psp then that good driver finds themselves driving for a crap company barely making it .So yes it’s pass time I’ve read about a lot if drivers and know some that was treated wrong i tell them to fight the system all the time. These lawyers know they are wrong hopefully their time has come

  2. Deanna

    It’s about time someone started to see what we have to worried about every day on the road ..what we need is education the public on trucking… for instance That we can’t stop like a car can.. the other day I had a person driving a car got mad me because I was passing other truck and in thier mind i was taken to long to passed once i passed the truck the car that was inpatient got in front of me and put on his brakes, to the point i had to put in brakes so hard , I can do hope and praying nothing bad come to this.. just because some asshold didn’t want to wait for me to get over.. I guess he was trying to prove a point but little did he know him trying to prove could have cuse his death. If only you guys just talk to us ..we can tell you what it’s like being on road day after day.. .p.s sucks that we don’t get paid like someone in office does . Our work hours are not to 9-5 it’s 25/7 and I wish people would understand that if it’s wasn’t for us no one would have any thing. No food , gas, ect..just think about that one and on day basis we are getting treated like shit from everyone and we are just out here trying to make a living for our self.. just like anyone that goes to work in a office which they go home at night and be with there family, sleep in thier own bed. No one understand what we have to go through…

  3. Steven Leech

    They also ruin the lives of truck drivers who earn a living hauling freight. They have no conscience when it comes to other working people. It’s a sham to go after the wrong entity who caused the accident, drivers are taught with high grade training to avoid accidents and are trained in the realms of federal laws. A driver does not just go out one day and decides to cause an accident, drivers are taught safety everyday with the new log systems in place and constant reminders they need to be safe when driving. Many trucking firms are now placing cameras in trucks now to record accidents that are caused by 4 wheelers. The loop holes will be closed eventually by using these cameras onsite reviews of the accident will show what really happened.. Attornies are legalized crooks that want to get rich off the backs of hard working drivers and companies that deliver the goods they buy everyday. They know the cost of delivering the goods they buy and they enjoy the creature comforts that are delivered by trucks! And they wonder why prices are so high? Trucking companies have to recoup the expense these lawyers pocket everyday, and do these lawyers give a rats ass about it? They have no shame about it at all because they enjoy the profits that trucking brings them. STOP THE THIEVES WHO GET IT WRONG!

  4. Steven Leech

    Lawyers are money hogs running around chasing the big money ticket called the trucking industry. They post billboards trying to pull in clients who are involved with trucks that cause accidents that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do they ever think about who really caused the accident between the car and the truck? Who decided that trucks cause accidents what nimble minded attorney decided to go after trucking firms to pay their pay checks? I’m a trucker who knows first hand who causes accidents. If I wanted to cause an accident between me in my car and a truck I know how to do it! But is it fair to the trucking firm to pay for something I caused to begin with? It’s cheating the system as lawyers always do and they find all the loop holes to justify the wrong that the truck did to warrant paying for a senseless accident caused by the 4 Wheeler. STUPID LAWYERS I SAY!

  5. David M. Benge

    O and if you want to know if I’m on point just let someone propose that and watch to see how much flak you get from the insurance industry they know who is at fault lawyers don’t care who they Sue because that’s what they do. Raise the liability rates on cars and pickups to the same as commercial vehicle problem will solve itself. My opinion

  6. David M. Benge

    I’ve said it for year’s, the reason we loose is because we have more to loose. If card had to carry the same liability insurance level as commercial vehicle do it would change overnight anything else is just pi—-ing in the wind.

  7. Michael Blunt

    It’s about time these blood sucking lawyers need to get inside a semi and just ride around I285 in Atlanta and look at all the distracted drivers in cars

Comments are closed.

Alan Adler

Alan Adler is an award-winning journalist who worked for The Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press. He also spent two decades in domestic and international media relations and executive communications with General Motors.