Vehicle Lighting and Illumination Requirements All vehicles are required to use headlights from a half-hour after sunset until a half-hour before sunrise, when it is raining, and “at any other time when there is not sufficient visibility to render clearly discernible persons and vehicles on the highway at a distance…
Speeding, Driving Too Fast for Conditions, Impeding Traffic Flow, and Speed in Work Zones The General Assembly has both codified specific speed limits and also enacted catch-all restrictions on speed that are based on prevailing conditions like weather, obstructions, traffic, and so forth. All motorists are prohibited from driving “at…
Following Too Closely This code section prohibits following another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway. Subsection (b) is important in the context of CMVs. It requires a vehicle towing…
Driving Without Securing A Load No motor vehicle may carry a load that is not adequately secured to prevent it from falling off or shifting onto the roadway such as to create a safety hazard. This rule could be used in conjunction with the FMCSR where a load problem causes…
Operation on Multi-lane Highways Trucks (defined for the purposes of this Rule of the Road as all vehicles with over six wheels other than buses and motorcoaches) are prohibited from operating in the left lane on highways with three or more lanes traveling in the same direction unless they are…
Negligence Per Se and the Standard of Care The Georgia General Assembly has codified certain minimum standards for the operation of motor vehicles on Georgia public roadways, including CMVs. A violation of a “Rule of the Road” constitutes negligence per se, so long as traditional elements such as proximate cause…
Combination Vehicles, Tankers, Hazardous Materials, and School Buses While less uncommon than those involving 18-wheelers, cases involving combination vehicles with more than one trailer, tankers, or school buses do arise. These vehicles are often heavier and longer than a typical vehicle, and in the case of tankers, frequently contain hazardous…
The Trip Lease Exemption: Overview Motor carriers routinely swap out leased equipment. This is an economical way to keep loaded trucks on the road and therefore on a faster track for delivery. For example, an O/O may be under lease to motor carrier A, which does not have a load…
Lease and Interchange The lease of CMVs, primarily the tractors or “power units,” constitute a significant aspect of many if not most trucking-related personal injury claims. Abuses in the trucking industry in the 1950’s, such as motor carriers that leased or hired “gypsy” independent contractor drivers, who owned their own…
Recordkeeping: Overview Part 390 contains a set of requirements for recordkeeping that may provide a roadmap to potential discovery, as well as a spoliation argument should the motor carrier be found to have destroyed the records. The recordkeeping requirements apply to the entire subchapter, which encompasses all the FMCSRs. Recordkeeping…