TAMPA, FL -- An ABC Action News investigation is raising questions about whether Florida has adequate laws to ensure truck drivers abide by regulations restricting the number of hours they are allowed to drive per day.
The investigation was prompted by a number of serious accidents around the state.
Five years ago, the family of David Mathis and his bride Mary Kathryn celebrated their wedding.
"It was a wonderful affair and everyone was happy, " said David's aunt, Jan Mathis.
Five days later, there a traffic jam on I-95 near Titusville. A tractor trailer driver, according to Florida Highway Patrol, didn't see traffic slowing ahead. There was a fiery crash. David Mathis and his bride lost their lives.
"The truck went up under the car hit another car. It burst into flames. They were trapped in the car and were killed, " said Jane Mathis, who lives in Riverview. "You don't know what devastating is until you experience something like that."
Two months ago, there was another example of a tractor trailer driver who, authorities say, didn't realize traffic had slowed. This time, it was in the dead of night on I-4 in Tampa.
No one was killed, but four people were hurt, including the trucker and a Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant who was driving his patrol car when the rig barreled into the cars in front of it.
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It turns out the driver of the rig, who was charged with careless driving and driving with an expired medical certificate, was cited just four months earlier for falsifying his log book that tracks the hours he's on the road.The purpose of those log books is to make sure truckers don't violate federal regulations limiting how many hours a day they can drive. But an ABC Action News review of records from the Florida Department of Transportation reveals that in 2008, there were more than 24,000 violations, ranging from truckers who falsified their log books to truckers not keeping a record at all.
Sergeant Tim Burgess of the State DOT's Motor Carrier Division, says he has no doubt there's a link between log book violations, exhaustion and accidents.
"It goes along with driver error along with the ability to drive a vehicle take a lot of concentration. And if they are the slightest bit off it could affect their capacity to operate the vehicles," Sergeant Burgess said.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board and AAA, 30 to 40 percent of tractor trailer accidents are caused by "driver fatigue."
States like Alabama and California have increased fines for violating laws regulating the hours truckers can drive to $1000 per violation. But here in Florida, that fine is $100 and it's been $100 since 1953.
"Does that deter anything? No it doesn't," said State Senator Mike Fasano, who's trying to change the law.
"Our bill last session would have allowed that to go up to $750. Would that deter anybody? I think it would," Fasano said.
But every time Fasano has introduced the bill, it's never gotten out of committee.
That'sdespite the lobbying efforts of Florida families devastated byaccidents involving truckers. Including the family of David Mathis andhis bride.
The trucker was never charged in that fatal crash. But the couple's family, including Jan Mathis, have repeatedly gone toTallahassee to implore legislators to increase fines on truckers who doviolate the law. But every time they've gone.
"We were prettymuch told the trucking lobby is pretty strong, that attempts to passbills and change laws have never passed," Mathis said.
In astatement to ABC Action News, the Florida Trucking Association says itopposes any increase in fines and that it believes "the currentdrivers' hours of service regulation have served to both reduce driverfatigue as well as the risk of crashes."
A position Mathis doesn't believe for a second.
"Itdoes make me angry because there are so many other families who havesuffered the way my family has suffered. And these accidents continueto happen," Mathis said.
Senator Fasano claims truckingcompanies who's drivers violate hours of service regulations currentlysee it only as the cost of doing business.
He hopes to overcomethe roadblock he believes the trucking industry has put up by attachingan amendment increasing fines to the transportation bill in the nextlegislative session.
