Last month, a Miami garbage truck feel from Interstate 95 after crashing through a barrier, landing in a park below. While no children were in the park, the driver of the garbage truck was thrown from the cab and had to be rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. The accident highlighted the dangers of highway truck accidents in Miami, Hollywood, and South Florida:
1) Speed.
Speed limits on highways and freeways are higher than on residential streets, and while this allows for faster it can also mean greater risk. When larger vehicles such as tractor trailers and big rigs travel at high speed, they pose a serious danger in the event of a crash. The force and velocity of these vehicles can cause significant damage to many vehicles around them.
2) Barriers.
Barriers are meant to keep trucks and cars from crossing over medians into oncoming lanes or off freeways. They can prevent wrong-way accidents in Hollywood and other communities. In the event of a crash, however, barriers can create a solid surface trucks can crash into, which can lead to rollovers and serious collisions.
3) Drops.
Bridges and freeways can mean trucks can crash through railings and barriers and onto surfaces below. While such accidents are rare, they can lead to devastating injury and loss of life.
4) Other traffic.
Freeways and highways tend to have significant traffic, including many different types of vehicles. This can be especially dangerous. A truck driver, for example, may not see smaller vehicles in their blind spots and smaller cars and motorcycles can be especially vulnerable in the event of a trucking collision.
5) Multiple lanes and ramps.
Lane changes and merging are among the riskier maneuvers on highways. When a car or truck driver tries to merge onto a highway from a ramp or tries to cross lanes to an exit, crashes can occur if proper lane changes aren’t made. It is especially risky with 18 wheelers and big trucks, which require extra room and cannot come to a full stop as quickly as smaller vehicles.
6) Wind.
When highways are located along empty spaces or when bridges are needed to get traffic over bridges, this can pose additional dangers for commercial trucks. Larger trucks have a higher center of gravity and can be at risk in high wind conditions. A truck can literally tip over in the high winds possible on some highways , bridges, and freeways.
If you have been injured in a freeway accident in Miami, Hollywood, or anywhere in South Florida, contact Flaxman Law Group for a free accident consultation. Out attorneys have more than six decades of combined experience helping plaintiffs just like you file personal injury and trucking accident claims. What we are most proud of, however, is the fact that we treat each client at our Miami, Homestead, and Hollywood offices with respect. In fact, many of our clients recommend us to others and stay in touch after their case is resolved. They know when they talk to our legal team, they are heard.