The Rules of the Road for Commercial Trucks and Eighteen Wheelers in Maryland

If you are involved in a serious crash with a commercial truck or eighteen wheeler, it is sometimes difficult to know where to start in investigating the underlying cause. I say underlying because from your point of view the cause was the failure on the part of the semi-truck to stop or to yield right of way.

But, the fact is that the overwhelming majority of commercial truck accidents have other violations of Maryland or federal law intertwined in them. Where do you find the laws and regulations in Maryland? I am glad you asked.

The twentieth anniversary addition of the Maryland Motor Carrier Handbook was issued in January of 2009 and is available at the following link, http://www.marylandroads.com/OOTS/motorcarrierhandbook.pdf

This tome is a joint effort by a variety of Maryland State Government agencies including the State Police, the Department of Transportation, the MVA and the Department of the Environment.

To say it covers a lot is an understatement. From licensing and registration through a bevy of rules of the road, it's all there. Weight limits, size limits, alcohol and drug testing, federal and state regulations.

The index is sensibly laid out for the one hundred fifty page manual. Of particular interest to those who are victims of crashes with big rigs are the traffic crash reporting requirements begining on page 116.

Among other things, motor carriers are required to maintain an accident register for one year after each accident. This register contains specifics of where collisions occured,the number of injuries or fatalities and whether hazardous materials were involved.