I just returned to the office after a great week in downtown Nashville, TN with top truck accident attorneys at the JW Marriott Hotel, where I spoke on “Understanding Hours of Service and Electronic Logging Devices.” One of the most important things I have learned about being a truck accident lawyer is that there is always more to learn. The technology, laws, regulations, and trucks change constantly. It is a full-time responsibility of a trucking lawyer to keep up-to-date on these changes and to determine how to apply those changes to his or her practice of advocating for increased highway safety.
Most of my presentation focused on how we can better understand the rules governing maximum driving times of 11 hours, 14 hours on duty time, mandatory rest breaks, and maximum on-duty periods of 60-70 hours and how that period can be restarted. I also spoke about the technology and application of new mandatory electronic logging devices, which went into effect in December, 2017 and how these can be avoided or cheated.
Coming away from the Symposium, I reflect that not only did I learn from the hours putting together my presentation and visual aids, but also I learned far more from the other speakers and participants than I ever could have hoped for.
