Florida Injury Lawyer BlogTiming and time play a bigger role than you might think in car and truck accidents in Hollywood and South Florida. When it comes to sharing the roads with larger commercial vehicles, especially, you need to consider timing in three crucial ways:
Articles Posted in Causes of Truck Accidents
Heading Out Of State Puts You At Risk for Truck Accidents
Driving in Hollywood and the rest of Southern Florida comes with certain dangers. There are distracted drivers, heavy traffic, intense weather patterns, wildlife, and other dangers. However, you’re probably used to driving near your home and in your community.
Even though statistics show you’re more likely to be in an accident where you drive most often – near your home – leaving the state does bring its unique challenges. Knowing how to navigate those challenges can help you stay safer, no matter where you’re driving.
Trucking Accidents and High Winds
For big rigs and tractor trailers, high winds can mean an increased risk of accidents and rollovers. Quite simply, these vehicles have a much higher center of gravity and when large trucks drive along bridges or highways, especially, the wind can hit the truck with enough force to knock the vehicle off its route and into another lane. In some cases, it can cause the truck to fall over.
Trucks may be especially at risk if they are hauling empty trailers and don’t have the added weight to anchor them down. Speeding vehicles along routes with little wind cover are also especially vulnerable.
Garbage Truck Accidents in Hollywood and South Florida
Garbage trucks and waste disposal trucks have an important role to play in Hollywood and South Florida. Waste disposal keeps our streets clean and help us get rid of garbage from our homes, creating a more hygienic environment.
Each year, however, people across this country are injured and killed in waste disposal truck accidents. Waste disposal trucks are large vehicles that have to share the road with smaller cars and pedestrians – especially in residential areas. Garbage trucks are also very large, which can mean any collision involving these vehicles can be serious.
Waste Truck Accidents Are a Serious Concern for Hollywood and South Florida Residents
When most of us hear about commercial truck accidents, these collisions involve tractor trailers, big rigs, and other large transport trucks. But other trucks can also cause crashes on the road. Waste trucks, for example, can easily be involved in accidents. In fact, there are several reasons why waste truck accidents in Hollywood and South Florida can especially be a hazard:
Trucks and Parking Lot Accidents
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 20% of car accidents take place in commercial parking areas. In many cases, parking lot accidents do not result in any injuries. A parked car may be empty when it is rear-ended or hit by another car. In addition, parking lot accidents in Hollywood and South Florida tend to occur at very low speeds, which also helps keep accidents relatively minor. Despite this, serious crashes do happen in parking areas.
Parking lot accidents can be especially harmful if trucks are involved. Often, commercial trucks enter parking lot areas to drop off and bring back products from retail stores. Since these large trucks share the space with passenger vehicles and pedestrians, crashes can occur. Even at low speeds, the larger size of commercial big rigs and tractor trailers can cause devastating collisions and even loss of life.
Truck Driver Lifestyle and Crashes
Truck drivers have one of the most dangerous jobs and may face a higher risk of work-related illness, accidents, and injuries, according to a new study from the University of Utah’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. The study identified a number of lifestyle factors that can increase truck drivers’ risk of crashes:
1) Poor health monitoring.
Drivers who have elevated pulse pressure, high blood pressure, and other issues may have an increased risk of heart disease and truck accidents. However, since drivers are on the road so often monitoring issues such as blood pressure or talking to a doctor regularly may be a problem, potentially meaning serious health conditions are not monitored closely. The University of Utah found that 24% of the truck drivers they studied had high blood pressure but had not been diagnosed or were not receiving care for the condition.
Squeeze Play Accidents in Hollywood and South Florida
In Hollywood and South Florida, squeeze play accidents are a serious type of trucking collision. This type of collision occurs because of the size and length of tractor-trailers. These vehicles are so large that when they are making a right turn they need to veer left first. To some motorists behind the truck, it may look as though the truck is just making a lane change. If the car tries to pass the truck on the right as the truck is making a turn, the truck will swing into the smaller vehicle, effectively crushing it or squeezing it into a curb, a wall, a barrier, or other cars.
Squeeze play accidents are terrifying. Passenger car drivers may be trapped in their vehicle with literally no place to go and a large tractor-trailer weighing tens of thousands of pounds careening towards them. If the truck crashes into the smaller vehicle, the impact and the crash may be enough to cause serious damage to the smaller vehicle and to the passengers inside.
What Happens When Weather Is Partly to Blame for Your Trucking Collision?
Florida is known for having some severe weather systems. The state sees everything from torrential downpours to tornadoes, and while we don’t have to deal with harsh winter weather conditions the way parts of the country do, the weather in Hollywood and South Florida can still wreak havoc with driving. Poor visibility, slippery road conditions, and heavy winds on bridges can and do lead to trucking collisions in Hollywood and across South Florida.
Fall Season Is the Time to Brush Up on Tips to Avoid Truck Accidents
Fall is here, and that means harvest season for some crops. Harvesting season can mean more trucks, machinery, and seasonal workers on and near the road in rural areas, so drivers may want to stay more alert.
There are a few tips to keep you driving safely all season and into winter: