Just as safety regulators are weighing new rules to restrict how many hours truckers can drive without resting, a civil suit against a New Jersey trucking company began Monday focusing prominently on that issue.
A gasoline tanker, owned by Samuel Coraluzzo, Co., exploded two years ago killing two people and shutting down the busy road through the Memorial Day weekend.
According to the Associated Press, the question of how much rest truck drivers must get will be a core issue in the trial. Jurors will be asked to decided whether driver Keith Thomas of Philadelphia fell asleep before his rig swerved across five lanes and struck a pickup truck, and burning himself and another motorist to death.
Lawyers for the state of Pennsylvania and two accident victoms will argue that he did, but lawyers for the company claim the crash was caused when another motorist cut Thomas off, sending his truck out of control.