Asheville Legal Blog

Hours-of-service regulations limit the amount of time that truck drivers in North Carolina and around the country can remain behind the wheel. The rules are designed to prevent drowsy driving accidents, but industry groups claim that they are too restrictive. The Trump administration may have been swayed by this argument as recent media reports suggest that the Department of Transportation is planning to relax hours-of-service rules.

Under the current regulations, truck drivers can only spend 11 hours behind the wheel during a 14-hour shift. They must also take a 30-minute rest break after 8 hours of driving. Groups including the American Trucking Association say that this is unfair as most commercial vehicle drivers are paid for each mile covered. Press reports do not say what changes will be made by the DOT to the current hours-of-service regulations.

Apps that claim to improve neighborhood safety and vigilance about crime are popular among many people in North Carolina. However, critics say that these apps fail to make a difference in stopping actual crime but can instead stoke racist stereotypes and unnecessary fears. While violent crime is at its lowest in decades across the country, an increasing number of social media apps advertise themselves as promoting crime awareness and safety by publicizing local crime alerts and promoting discussion with fellow nearby users.

Surveys have shown that Americans believe crime rates are worsening even though they are not. On the contrary, crime rates have sharply declined over the past 25 years. However, these social media apps, combined with sensationalistic news coverage, make people feel that the world is a more dangerous place. Some of the apps seem to knowingly encourage these fears. For example, one such app, Citizen, urges users to turn on its access to GPS location services by showing a mock crime alert for a nearby shooting. When users scroll down, they are instead informed that such alerts will only be possible if they activate location permissions.

According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, speeding accounts for more than 25% of all the car crash deaths that have occurred since 2008. The organization also reported that 94% of the traffic crashes in 2015 involved speeding. Drivers of both passenger and commercial vehicles in North Carolina should know, though, that something is being done to reduce car crash numbers, especially speeding-related ones.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance will increase enforcement of traffic laws during its yearly Operation Safe Driver Week. In 2019, it will take place from July 14 to 20, and the focus will be on speeding. Passenger and commercial vehicle drivers will be under increased observance from law enforcement officials.

In North Carolina, like most states, property division in case of divorce is supposed to be equitable. This means that a court may consider the contributions of both spouses when deciding how to split up assets. While this may be straightforward if both spouses earned an income, it can be more complex if one spouse did not. These spouses are often stay-at-home parents whose support has helped the career of the breadwinner.

More of them are mothers than fathers, and this is consistent with Americans' belief that mothers are better caregivers for babies than fathers. One-quarter of mothers in America do not work outside the home compared to 7 percent of fathers. A study by two Vanderbilt University professors examined attitudes about the value of each person's contributions when assets are divided in a divorce and found that men and women differed.