With more than 3 million commercial truck drivers carrying 70 percent of the nation’s cargo, the trucking industry is a vital part of the economy. It’s also a hazardous industry with truckers putting in as much as 70 hours over an 8-day workweek. In fact, there are approximately 100,000 crashes every year due to driver fatigue. Truckers in West Virginia should know, however, that a new software company might soon be able to benefit the industry as a whole.
Founded three years ago by a group of enterprising Oklahoma University graduates, BlyncSync intends to create software that will improve truck driver performance by first of all cutting down on instances of fatigued driving. Its first goal is to create smart safety glasses that report fatigue in real time by measuring blink rate. The BlyncSync CEO predicts that these glasses will be less intrusive to truckers than the in-cab cameras currently in use.
The startup is also planning to develop watches, bands, smart hard hats and other devices that go over users’ skin and capture important biometric data like heart rate. The company is in the process of creating a scalable business plan with i2E, a nationally recognized nonprofit focused on growing small businesses.
Drowsy driving is an all-too-common form of truck driver negligence when employees are encouraged to exceed the number of duty hours allotted to them. Truck accident victims may be able to see if they’re eligible for compensation by consulting with a lawyer.
Lawyers in the field of personal injury law might have a network of accident investigators who can find the necessary proof of negligence, which could include work logs and biometric data. Lawyers may be able to either negotiate for a settlement with the trucking company’s legal representatives or proceed straight to litigation.