Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

Delivery trucks play an important role in carrying products to businesses and customers. While many delivery trucks are very safe and deliver products safely, some delivery trucks can be a danger on the road. One common problem with delivery trucks is that drivers are often under considerable pressure to deliver products by a specific deadline.

When drivers of delivery trucks are in an excessive hurry, mistakes are often made and these mistakes can cause fatalities, pedestrian accidents, car accidents, personal injuries, and property damage. Drivers who are in an excessive hurry may not take the time to properly secure loads. They may run red lights or speed to make a specific delivery by a deadline. They may drive under the influence in order to meet quotas. In all these instances, these behaviours can lead to an accident.

In addition to rushed drivers, other factors may contribute to delivery truck accidents. The trucks themselves may have defects or may not be adequately maintained, leading to failure of major systems on the road and therefore to accidents. In some cases, delivery truck drivers may not have safe driving records or may not be adequately trained to drive a truck.

Truck accidents can and do cause serious personal injuries and fatalities each year. They also cause many millions of dollars in property damage annually. While personal injuries are often far more devastating, property damage can also cause serious financial problems for people and businesses. Some of the more common kinds of property damage caused by trucking accidents include:

1) Damage to real property. When a truck careens out of control, it can easily hit a home, house, or other building, causing considerable damage to the structure. Smaller structures – such as trailer homes – can be completely destroyed by a truck. Even if there is no building on a property, a truck can create gaps or gashes in the soil or can cause damage to driveways, roads, and other paved or soft surfaces.

2) Damage to cars and other vehicles. If a truck collides with a vehicle, the car is often severely damaged, sometimes beyond repair. A collision with a truck can shear off parts of a car, can crush a car, or can break major systems of a car.

Truck accidents can and do frequently cause fatalities. Due to their size and power, when truck accidents collide with cars or even buildings, they can kill a person inside. In a pedestrian accident involving a truck, the pedestrian’s chances of survival are sometimes quite small. In addition to fatalities, however, trucking accidents can cause a number of serious and permanent injuries:

1) Brain injuries. A collision involving a car and truck can cause the car to rollover or travel at very high speeds. This can cause a passenger’s head to whip around, causing brain injury as the brain bumps against the hard surface of the inner skull. In a collision, a passenger’s head may also come into violent contact with a hard surface – such as a dashboard – causing a brain injury.

2) Broken bones. The impact of a car-truck collision can cause passengers in the car to the thrown about inside of the vehicle. As well, any unsecured objects in the car can become projectiles, forcibly smashing against passengers. In both cases, bones can easily break under the impact.

If you drive a truck or work with a truck, there are several things you can do to prevent trucking accidents and the personal injuries they cause:

1) Inspect the truck daily. Even if someone else – such as your employer – is doing regular maintenance on the truck, check your tires, turn signals and lights, windshields, mirrors, and fluids daily. If your truck is not in good condition, ensure that it is repaired before you drive it.

2) Get the correct training. Make sure that you familiarize yourself with truck driving in a controlled environment before taking a truck out on the road. Even if you have been trained in truck driving, get familiar with a new truck before you take it out on the road. You need to be familiar with the particular characteristics of a truck in order to understand how the truck will respond in various situations.

Trucking accidents cause devastating fatalities each year as well as serious injuries, including brain injuries, broken bones, amputations, burn injuries, and more. Although there are many possible reasons for truck accidents, some of the more common culprits include:

1) Rollovers. Since trucks are very top-heavy, they can easily rollover in a collision, causing more injuries than the collision itself. Driving on slopes, near ditches, and soft shoulders can also cause trucks to overturn easily, leading to a rollover. An uneven truck bed or poorly distributed loads can also make trucks liable to turn or roll over.

2) Crushing. If you are working on the hoist, it is essential to block the raised bed so that the bed does not crash down on top of you, crushing you.

3) Collisions. Driver error, speeding, and loss of control of the truck can all cause collisions with other trucks, cars, or inanimate objects.

4) Overloading trucks. Trucks that are carrying more than their maximum load are very dangerous on the roads. Overloading a truck strains the brakes and the tires, and may cause either of these two systems to fail. An overloaded truck is also harder to control, especially on hills. A trailer that is too heavily loaded can easily crash into the truck in front of it down hill or can cause the truck to lose control.

5) Backing. Experts claim that up to one fourth of all trucking accidents involve a driver backing up over an object or person. Unfortunately, trucks have many blind spots and it is important to check carefully to ensure that there is no one behind your truck when you are reversing.

6) Trailer load problems. Not loading a trailer correctly or not securing a load properly can cause objects to fall from the trailer, which can result in a traffic accident. As well, and incorrectly loaded truck is more difficult to control and this alone can cause an accident.

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Moving truck accidents can be devastating. Due to the size of trucks, a moving truck accident can cause fatalities, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, property damage, brain injuries, and other serious injuries. Unfortunately, many families who choose to rent trucks for their move are not familiar with driving a truck. This can make moving truck accidents more likely. Follow these tips to make moving day a little safer:

1) Rent the right truck for your move. Before you rent your truck, estimate the total weight of your possessions as accurately as you can and ensure that you have a truck that can hold all the weight of your things. Overloading a truck greatly increases your odds of an accident, so err on the side of a larger truck than you’ll need. At the same time, however, don’t rent a truck that is larger than what you are comfortable with. When renting your truck, look for a newer model which may have more safety features and fewer mechanical problems.

2) Get the truck inspected. At the very least, take your truck for a test drive to ensure that all lights, brakes, and other features of the truck work correctly. If at all possible, have the truck inspected by a mechanic. Not all truck rental companies take proper care of their fleets and this is really the only way to know if your truck is safe and road-worthy.

3) Familiarize yourself with the truck. Before you load and drive your truck to your new destination, take the truck on some less-populated areas so that you feel comfortable behind the wheel.

4) If possible, move with a friend. A co-pilot can help you read the map and can help you check your blind spots. In a large truck, this can be very useful and can help you feel more confident on the road.

5) Plan your move and route for maximum safety. Drive at a time when you are well rested. Try to avoid rush hour, since less traffic is safer when you are in a larger truck that you are not familiar with. At the same time, plan your move so that you are driving during the daytime, when visibility is good.

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Across the state and across the country, many jobs require employees to drive a truck. Commercial transport companies, for example, hire truck drivers to haul freight across the country and across the continent. Courier and delivery personnel often drive trucks as part of the job. Shuttle drivers must often drive trucks or vans as part of the job. If an accident occurs on the job in such a truck, the legal implications can be quite complex.

When an employee is in a car accident in a company truck, the business is necessarily implicated. Truck accidents, by their very nature, tend to be more serious than car accidents, simply due to the size and the power of a truck. Serious brain injuries, property damage, fatalities, spinal cord injuries, and other damages are a frequent result. If someone has been seriously injured, the company owning the truck can be held liable for a great deal of money.

The driver’s liability is often a consideration in a company truck accident. Often, the driver’s responsibility in an accident is carefully investigated. Investigators try to determine whether a driver was driving recklessly, under the influence of controlled substances, or was tired when driving. In some cases, drivers feel betrayed by their employers because employers as well as insurance companies investigate driver responsibility. As employers try to determine what caused an accident, some employees feel that they are being burdened with the responsibility of a truck accident.

In the summer, many people rent trucks to tackle home projects or moves. Some people also rent trucks to go camping or to travel on vacation. Unfortunately, when an accident occurs involving a rented truck, customers often find themselves faced with a serious legal problem. Even in cases where negligence on the part of the rental company seems evident, customers may have a hard time getting their claim handled quickly and fairly.

The truth is, most rental truck companies promise a hassle-free rental experience. Most people who rent a truck have no problems. However, if a customer finds himself or herself in a truck accident in a rental tuck, the rental company may be unwilling to help. Most motorists are covered under their own driver insurance. However, this insurance may not cover all the costs of a truck accident. Unfortunately, truck accidents often result in serious burn injuries, fatalities, spinal cord injuries, and other serious injuries as well as property damage. The costs of such an accident can be immense.

Most truck rental companies are large and powerful. They have many resources and much legal assistance, whereas the average consumer may not have these advantages. In some cases, consumers do not carefully weigh their options before accepting an offer. Some customers are not aware of their rights.

Tractor trailers are also known as semi-trailer trucks and these trucks are often used in transporting many tons of commercial or retail products. Tractor trailers consist of two parts: the trailer carrying the freight and the tractor or cab where the driver sits. Due to their sheer size, tractor trailers can cause fatalities and very serious injuries in an accident. In a pedestrian accident, pedestrians stand no chance against the size of the tractor trailer. In a car accident involving an tractor trailer, the car and all occupants can easily be crushed flat by the truck.

1) The tractor and trailer are separate units. If the two are not attached properly and if the tractor and the trailer are not kept in good condition, the two parts can become unattached, causing massive damage as the packed trailer careens through traffic.

2) Tractor trailers carry many tons of products. Tractor trailers can carry tens of thousands of pounds of material, and the sheer weight can easily flatten a car or smaller truck. The heavier load can also make tractor trailers more difficult to control, as these trucks take longer to stop and speed up more on downhill slopes.

Summer is often a time of moves. Many families want to move during the summer, before the school year begins, so that their children do not have to interrupt their school year. College students often move before the start of the fall semester as well. For this reason, many moving trucks are on the road during the late summer and early fall. These trucks range from large vans to huge multi-ton trucks, capable of transporting several cars and several homes’ worth of items.

There are a number of factors that can make moving trucks especially dangerous and accident prone:

1) Do-it-yourself moves require inexperienced drivers to drive large trucks. Some moving truck carriers allow families to rent a truck, load the truck themselves, and drive the truck to their new destination. Do-it-yourself moves are popular because they are far less expensive than hiring movers. Unfortunately, renting a moving truck can be dangerous since it allows a driver to drive a much larger vehicle than he or she is used to. Professional truck drivers have special licenses and extensive training, but the average driver renting a multi-ton moving truck lacks this training and certification. On the road, this can lead to an accident.