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Danylo Terleckyj

FMCSA Makes Updates to Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Website

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The FMCSA made some changes to its Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse website and registration process based on feedback it has received from drivers, motor carriers, and service agents. The Clearinghouse is a database that allows government regulators, law enforcement, and companies that employ commercial vehicle drivers access to those drivers’ drug and alcohol program record. It is meant to keep track of any violations and compliance with rules related to those violations.

If a driver violates Federal regulations regarding drug and alcohol prohibitions in Title 49 of the Federal Regulations, Part 382, Subpart B, which include testing positive for drug or alcohol use and refusal to take a test the database will be able to show current status in real time. The database also contains information about a driver’s compliance with the return-to-duty process and follow-up testing.

Some of the changes to the website include a new look for the homepage that places the “Register” and “Log In” buttons in a prominent place. There is also a section titled, “Learn More” containing links to informational resources.

The website also has an entirely new page called “Before You Register” that gives drivers who are enrolling a list of information they will need in order to properly register. This page also has information about how to create an account. These changes are meant to make the user experience easier.

Of course, anything that makes using the Clearinghouse database easier and keeping it current is a good thing. This is not only a plus for public safety, but streamlining the process for properly qualified drivers to be able to register and keep current allows CDL workers, who are essential to our economy, to avoid being unnecessarily restricted from duty.

It is additionally imperative that proper measures can be taken to prevent a driver who violates drug or alcohol use provisions from getting behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. As important as professional truck drivers are to keeping things moving in this country, it is also a dangerous profession. CDL drivers have a duty to keep themselves and their colleagues safe as well as all other travelers. Government and industry should work together to keep the Clearinghouse database as user friendly as possible. It may seem like a simple thing, but it can hopefully save lives.

Someone hit my car – Now what?

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It is my firm belief that motor vehicle collisions are avoidable. They are almost always the result of someone’s carelessness or misstep somewhere along the way. Whether a crash resulted from a vehicle not being properly maintained, or a sleepy or fatigued driver, car crashes can be avoided. However, what if you do everything right and still your vehicle is hit by another car in a situation that was entirely not your fault?

You can imagine a driver going the speed limit or even slower, or with the flow of traffic, and then that driver stops after a light ahead of them turns yellow then red, or other cars slow down or stop because of traffic backing up. This is an extremely common scenario. It is so common, in fact, that most people don’t even give it any thought. It’s just part of the world we live in. No one thinks about it unless someone traveling through this transportation system we are all accustomed to doesn’t pay attention, or looks at their phone when they should be looking at the road, other cars, or hazards up ahead, and hits someone or another car. This of course, disrupts everything. It disrupts movement on the roads, people’s schedules, and worst of all, it can cause someone to be seriously injured or killed. In Illinois alone, over 1000 people died in traffic crashes in 2019. Each one of those people lost, should be alive and with us today, yet sadly, they were lost in preventable tragedies. When this occurs, the victim or their family is left to pick up the pieces.

I’m writing this series of blog posts about the aftermath of motor vehicle crashes to let people know what they might expect to encounter if they were unfortunate to have been involved in a collision that was no fault of their own, and so that people can better understand how things work with car insurance, traffic tickets that are issued when a crash occurs, medical bills, and the legal system, or the system of justice where people seek to make themselves whole. Although when faced with a permanent injury or the death of a loved one, that isn’t actually possible because we simply can’t change the past, but we try our hardest to make things right.

Some people may be surprised to learn that in Illinois, the person who was injured by another driver who was actually at fault for a crash will be responsible for securing their own medical treatment. In other words, although the person responsible for the damages caused in a crash should ultimately compensate the person who they injured for reasonable medical treatment related to those injuries, this doesn’t happen right away, or while the injured party is getting care. Compensation from the responsible party in this case would happen when the case is finally resolved by settlement or a verdict, if the case were to be decided in court by a trial.

Additionally, even though a crash was not your fault, you may benefit from opening a claim with your own insurance company relating to medical payments or possible coverage if the other driver who caused the collision had no insurance or not enough insurance. In reality, there are numerous aspects of the aftermath of a motor vehicle crash that many hard-working people, who have had little to no experience with the legal system might be surprised to learn about, or just wouldn’t have known how best to navigate.

To be sure, all the answers to the question of what to do if you’re the victim of a crash can’t possibly be contained in an online article, or even a whole series of them. There is no substitute in these cases for a consultation with an experienced professional. I highly recommend seeking advice from an experienced attorney with a good reputation who practices in the area of personal injury as soon as is reasonably possible after a crash. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the information contained here and the posts that will follow will give people more of an insight into how the system works in Illinois. Please stay tuned and be safe.

Illinois Legislature Sends Bill to Governor’s Desk to Help Injury Victims Get Justice Sooner / End Delays

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Insurance companies seem to have a reputation. You may have heard the phrase, “delay, delay, delay, don’t pay.” Well, legislators in Springfield are trying to change that. We’ve all experienced interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Court houses have shut down as well and only relatively recently have cases been back on the court call for mostly remote video link proceedings. This reality has put a lot of injury victims in an unfair holding pattern when it comes to legitimate, meritorious claims. With some Illinois county courts already being among a few of the busiest in the nation, this has made an already frustrating process for plaintiffs an even more difficult one.

People who have been injured because of no fault of their own may not be able to work or earn a living in addition to other financial hardships they may have experienced because of their loss. All this, and we haven’t even begun to discuss their injuries and medical appointments. Corporations and insurance companies don’t often have to deal with similar monetary burdens when a claim arises against them. With few exceptions, they keep operating and generating revenue. The current system seems allows them the benefit of delaying payment on legitimate claims.

In an effort to remedy this situation the Illinois House and Senate passed a bill early in January of 2021, that if Governor Pritzker signs, would add 9% per year prejudgment interest to wrongful death and personal injury verdicts. Currently, the law allows post-judgment interest after a verdict. According to court statistics, the overwhelming majority of cases settle before trial. This bill would only apply to approximately 3% of cases that result in a judge or jury determining if the hurt party bringing the lawsuit had a valid or meritorious case.

Some may argue that this law is unfair to companies that have a right to dispute the value of claims and the government shouldn’t try to speed up payments by making them settle more quickly or face a penalty. However, Illinois is quite late to the game when it comes to this type of law. 46 of 50 states already have some form of a prejudgment interest law on their books. In reality, the law helps to reduce unreasonable delays for legitimate claims. If a case goes to trial and the person who brought the lawsuit loses, of course, no interest will be assessed. An injury or wrongful death claim will still need to be proven in court for this change to apply. Additionally, the passage of this bill won’t make companies pay the full amount of interest if the claim that started before the law takes effect. Instead, yearly interest will start to accrue after the bill becomes law for those cases.

In reality, when it comes to legitimate claims, insurance companies and corporations don’t stand to lose much of anything at all by having to pay interest on cases where they delay settlement. Whereas injury victims with meritorious claims will likely be treated more fairly by having their cases resolves sooner. Moreover, the public will benefit from a court system that is less bogged down by such a large case load. This change could benefit everyone.

When you’re buying car insurance make sure to read the fine print

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Have you ever bought a car you could barely afford, or thought you paid too much? Nobody wants to drive around in a piece of junk, and for many Americans, your car is part of your identity. So, picking just the right one is important. But then you have to figure out how you’re going to pay for it. Maybe you’ve saved up enough cash to purchase your dream ride. Perhaps, you just want to lease. A lot of us get financing from a bank. You put some amount down and drive away with a payment you have to make every month. But that’s not the end of the story. Now you have to get insurance. Everyone knows, you can’t drive off the lot without insurance coverage. Yet, it might not be the first thing on your mind when you’re excited about a new car, or one that is at least new to you. 

In Illinois, it’s mandatory to have at least $25,000 in liability coverage. That is, if you cause a crash, you have to have at least that much coverage on your policy. To be more precise, it’s $25,000 per person and a total of $50,000 per incident. In other words, supposing an Illinois driver caused a crash that resulted in three people being injured. If none of those people bore any responsibility for their injuries, there would have to be a determination on how to divide the $50,000 insurance policy limits of the at-fault driver. If the damages those three people suffered combined to an amount in excess of $50,000, that determination can be complicated. 

We haven’t even mentioned property damage yet. If that car you just bought gets wrecked, how will you pay to get it fixed or to buy a new one if it’s totaled? Illinois doesn’t require you to buy collision coverage. So, if your car is damaged in a crash and you only have liability coverage, you may be left to fend for yourself. However, even if you do have collision coverage, it may not be enough to cover your loss. 

Back in 2008, the mortgage foreclosure crisis was in the news and we all kept hearing a lot about people that were underwater in their homes. What that meant was that people had borrowed more money to buy a house than the house was now worth. So, if they couldn’t pay the monthly note, selling the property wouldn’t fix the problem because they wouldn’t’ get enough from the sale to pay all the money they borrowed back to the bank. They would then be left with no house and an unpaid debt they were still responsible for. 

The same principal works with cars. Only, the reason why you could be left paying back the bank for a car you no longer have isn’t because you didn’t pay your bills. You could have paid every single bill on time and been the most responsible and safe driver. If someone else causes a crash that isn’t your fault, for example, you get rear ended at a stop light after you have been waiting at the red light for three minutes and the person behind you smashes into your rear bumper because he was looking at his phone, having a car that is worth less than the amount you owe the bank will leave you having to pay off a debt for nothing. 

This is because most auto collision policies only cover the value of the car. Supposing you buy a used car that you really wanted, but you don’t have the cash to buy it outright, so you borrow the money from your local back. The bank paid the dealer so you can have use of the car, but the bank still owns that vehicle until you pay them back. Add interest to the deal and the fact that your car continually depreciates in value and you could get into a situation where the fair market value of that car is less than how much you still owe the bank. If that car gets totaled, even if you pay all your bills on time and the crash was not your fault, if your insurance company contract says you only get how much the car was worth at the time of the crash, you still owe on that loan from the bank. 

So what do you do? The obvious answer is to buy a car you don’t have to borrow a ton to get. However, if you’ve already found yourself in the situation described above, talk to your lender. See if you can cut some kind of deal. Talk to the dealership too and see if they can either roll the existing loan into a new finance deal or come up with some other solution within the allowable rules that will allow your bank to help you out. Most importantly, is read your insurance contract and know your money. Educate yourself on exactly how the payment structure will work, how much the car is actually worth, and what your insurance policy covers. Some insurance companies may offer a policy that will allow you to replace your car. Find out. And if you have questions, ask. And lastly, be safe. 

America’s Truck Drivers Can’t Stay Home

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When we think about the people in our communities who definitely can’t work from home, we most often think of emergency room doctors and nurses, and rightly so. However, there are many workers on the front lines in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 who may not be top of mind for most people, yet their contributions are vital to allowing people to get food and supplies in this critical time. 

Whether you’re buying your food and essentials from a store or getting them delivered, those items most certainly spent part of their journey to your home on a truck driven by one of the over 3 million professional truck drivers in the United States. Since most the country is under some form of quarantine order or another, food, essentials, and medical supplies are nearly entirely moved only by professional drivers. 

Some drivers regularly travel thousands of miles as part of a supply chain that keeps grocery store shelves fully stocked. If a driver were to get sick far from home at a time when there is no guarantee of testing, they may be left with few options and they even might get stranded. With so many businesses closed, many drivers will rely on truck stops and travel centers for rest, fuel, essentials, and supplies. In Some cases, these facilities may be the only ones available for drivers who are far from home. 

The National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO), a trade association based in Washington D.C. that represents the truck stop industry keeps a directory of stops and travel centers on their website to make it easier for drivers to locate facilities near them. 

What if a driver gets sick?

Each trucking company is likely to have a different set of policies for its employees. In March, new Federal legislation was signed into law, called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The law requires employers with less than 500 workers to provide additional paid sick leave to their employees. Some of the provisions that require employers to provide additional paid leave to an employee situations where an employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine, or to someone is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking diagnosis. There are also provisions requiring higher compensation rates for some employees. However, there are exceptions to these rules given to some smaller businesses whose viability would be jeopardized by enacting these provisions. These new rules are set to expire at the end of 2020. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued some guidelines to help delivery drivers stay safe while working. Some of these tips can also apply to long-haul truckers. Additionally, truck drivers should be diligent about taking all the precautions they can to prevent the spread of this virus. 

You’re probably tired of hearing this, but wash your hands: 

Hand sanitizer may be helpful to have in a bind. However, it doesn’t substitute for washing your hands with soap and water for at least 30 seconds. This may seem like overkill, but you should wash your hands every time you get fuel, use the washroom, or before you eat. Just think about how many people touch a fuel pump or use the bathroom every day. In fact, try to avoid things that multiple people come into contact with, like buffet style dining facilities or public computers.

Finally, if a driver does get sick – stop working. You should contact your company’s safety department as soon as you feel ill. Not only are you risking getting someone else sick if you keep working, but it’s also unsafe to operate a rig if you’re sick or fatigued. 

No Need to ‘Hoard’ Groceries Amid COVID-19 Concerns Say Experts – Supply Chain Intact

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Efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 have put a strain on the transpiration industry charged with getting food and supplies from point A to point B. Many stores quickly ran out of toilet paper when news of confirmed infections began breaking in the United States.

Seeing empty store shelves in a country where we often encounter abundance can seem ominous. People are facing a lot of uncertainty surrounding this pandemic. Many people are out of work and have had to apply for unemployment. Businesses are shut down and there are certainly some that may not recover. This whole situation has the potential of changing our realities, possibly even permanently. 

Fear of the unknown is likely what sent people rushing to their local convenience and grocery stores to buy more toilet paper and paper towels than they will likely use in a year. There was a run on food as well. Grocery aisles emptied out quickly even before the Governor here in Illinois told everyone to stay home. Items with a long shelf life, like rice and pasta went first, along with the inventory of most of your local meat departments. However, it wasn’t long after that stock started to replenish at most stores. The main reason for this is the hard work of our nations professional truck drivers. Thankfully, food production hasn’t stopped, and stores are continuing to receive their shipments of supplies.

After the Governor of Illinois announced the shelter-in-place order, he deemed certain facilities and the people employed by them as “essential,” stating that such would remain open and continue to work. Not only did this category include hospitals and pharmacies, but also restaurants and grocery stores. As a result, professional truck drivers continue to work to deliver supplies to grocery stores and restaurants so that people can get what they need. Additionally, in order to stop others from “hoarding” specific items such as hand sanitizer, soap, toilet paper, paper towels and the like, grocery stores have implemented policies which limit the amount customers may purchase.  

Although there are less vehicles on the road due to the “stay-home” orders local governments have been issuing throughout the country during this pandemic, it is still important for truck drivers to be able to practice safe and careful driving when transporting essential goods. If anything, there are a much higher percentage of semi-trucks driving around trying to get supplies delivered to stores than ever before and the last thing that anyone would want to happen is for these trucks and the drivers to get into a crash and possibly be injured. We need truck drivers to be able to do their jobs. However, they need to be able to do so while still following safety rules, including limits on the hours they remain on duty and still meet the needs and demands of each community. Accordingly, government, as well as private trucking companies, must provide truck drivers the ability to get enough rest and not be overworked in order to avoid driving while fatigued. This would ensure the safety of drivers, both truck drivers and other drivers on the road, as well as the arrival of the cargo professional truck drivers are carrying.

In uncertain times like these when some things may be out of our control, we still need to take all the measures we can to prevent crashes and injuries, not only to protect the supply chains that keep us fed, but to allow our hospitals and medical professionals the ability to focus on treating people suffering from this terrible virus.

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