After a trucking accident causes personal injuries or fatalities, legal cases usually arise from the mess as people start to accuse each other – and various companies – of causing the accident. In most cases, several factors contribute to a trucking accident. These may include weather conditions, driver error, tire defects, mechanical defects and other issues. Understanding how trucking accidents can occur can help us all stay safer on the roads.
Many trucking accidents are caused by driver error. There are many things that truck drivers can do to make trucks dangerous on the roads. Some drivers simply have too little experience or training to drive safely, while some truck drivers exceed the speed limit. Some drivers drive under the influence or drive when tired, increasing the risk of a serious accident. Drivers are also responsible for inspecting the truck before a trip and ensuring that a truck is correctly loaded. Failure to do these things can result in an accident.
Truck drivers are not the only drivers on the road responsible for preventing trucking accidents. In many cases, drivers of passenger vehicles drive recklessly or make driver mistakes that lead to a trucking accidents. Many drivers drive in the blind spots of trucks, where truck drivers cannot see them. Other drivers cut lanes in front of larger trucks or follow too closely behind a truck. Since trucks have many blind spots and cannot stop as quickly as smaller vehicles, these errors can result in serious accidents and personal injuries. Like truck drivers, drivers of passenger cars sometimes get distracted, drive under the influence, speed, drive while tired or drive recklessly, increasing the odds of car accidents and truck accidents.
In addition to driver errors, weather conditions and road conditions can lead to accidents, as can mechanical failure, machine failure, heavy cargo, and incorrectly loaded cargo. Trucks with defects are more likely to be in an accident. Incorrectly loaded hazardous cargo can spill or ignite, causing an inferno as well as serious damage. Trucks that are incorrectly maintained may develop mechanical problems or mechanical failures that lead to accidents.
Whatever set of factors causes a trucking accident, the results tend to be severe. Truck accidents claim millions of lives. Quite simply, trucks, when fully loaded, can weigh dozens of tons, and yet these large vehicles share the road with much smaller passenger cars. When a truck-car collision occurs, the passengers of the passenger vehicle are in serious danger. If fatalities do not occur, serious injuries to the spinal cord, head, limbs, and face are quite common. If a truck is carrying a hazardous of flammable cargo, a collision can cause a fire that results in severe burn injuries and death.
In addition to the obvious physical injuries, truck accidents also cause a number of other problems for injury victims. Some victims lose significant amounts of personal property in a truck accident – cars in such accidents are often seriously damaged and need extensive repairs or need to be replaced entirely. Victims may also lose all personal effects in a vehicle. The trauma and psychological effects of a trucking accident may last many months or years and may necessitate therapy or time off from work. It is important to note that insurance providers often underestimate the costs of such additional effects, which is why injury victims should at least consult with a qualified Florida personal injury attorney before agreeing to any insurance provider’s offer.