All cars – including yours – have blind spots, but the blind spots on large commercial big rigs and tractor trailers are much larger because of the size of those vehicles. On an 18-wheeler or other larger truck, blind spots happen to be alongside the truck and behind the truck. If your car is in these areas, the trucker may not see you and you may be at risk for an accident.
Blind spots can lead to accidents in two major ways:
We’ve all had the experience: you’re driving on the road and you get stuck behind a large truck, such as an 18-wheeler or big rig. You may not feel comfortable driving behind larger vehicle, knowing that the truck driver probably can’t see you. But how can you safely drive around the large truck? Each year, truck accidents in Hollywood and other communities in Florida are caused by drivers who can’t see around larger vehicles and by truck drivers who can’t see cars in their blind spots. The visibility issues large tankers and tractor trailers cause on our roads is a serious concern.
We all know big rigs and tractor trailers have lots of blind spots, but at least one company is considering designing “see-through trucks” to reduce the risk of collisions. These trucks, developed by Samsung, are not actually see-through. Instead, they have large screens on the back of the truck, showing passenger car drivers behind the truck exactly what the truck driver sees in front of them. A camera in the truck’s cab streams a front-of-the-truck view to the screen in real time.
Many of us call a tow truck if we’ve been an accident or if our car breaks down, but tow trucks can also be the cause of accidents. Tow truck accidents in Hollywood and South Florida can cause devastating injuries as well as significant property damage (especially if it’s your car on the back of the tow truck involved in the crash).
Tow trucks are large trucks designed to transport cars and other vehicles. They may be used to transport cars that are illegally parked, are no longer functional, or cars that are new and need to be moved from one place to another. There are many types of tow trucks, including a hook and chain truck (frequently used for towing illegally parked cars), boom tow trucks, flatbed tow trucks (often used for transporting farming equipment, trucks, new cars, and other vehicles), integrated tow trucks, and wheel lift tow trucks.
News agencies have reported that autonomous, driver-less trucks will be on Florida roads before 2016. According to news reports, these will be the first self-driving trucks to see wide-spread use on US highways. The trucks will be equipment with sensors, lights, and read-end crash barriers. The vehicles will follow a lead car and use GPS waypoints.
It all means you likely won’t see a truck without anyone driving it navigating the roads alone. Instead, what you’ll likely see is a crash truck working alongside a construction crew. One truck will be operated by a professional truck driver and the rest of the trucks will follow in line. These trucks will have clear signs to help alert you. The highly visible trucks are known as crash trucks and they help protect highway crews from pedestrian accidents.
Is $500 a lot of money? That’s about the cost of an anti-collision system for big rigs, tractor trailers, and commercial trucks. These devices work simply: they gather and interpret data from around the truck and engage the brakes if the truck driver can’t or doesn’t brake in time to avoid a crash. According to manufacturers and some safety experts, anti-collision system can stop accidents or can reduce the speed and therefore the severity of a crash.
Anti-collision systems are sometimes called mitigation braking or forward collision avoidance or F-CAM systems. They make use of cameras and sensors to gather information about traffic and speed around a truck. If a collision is imminent, the system warns a truck driver with a sound. If the driver does not respond, the system engages the brakes. Currently, about 3% of commercial tractor-trailers on American roads have the devices installed.
Cab cams record traffic and activity inside commercial trucks, and according to The National Transportation Safety Board these devices should be used more widely to help prevent trucking collisions. Specifically, the NTSB has recommended both traffic-facing and driver-facing cams that would either record non-stop or in response to a trigger (such as accelerated speed or sudden engagement of brakes). These recommendations are not laws, however, and not all truck carriers may want to implement cab cams.
The NTSB has recommended that the NHTSA use video recordings to gather more information as part of its accident databases. The NTSB has recommended that trucking associations encourage their members to use cams that capture video in low light and adequately capture the entire cab (including all passengers). For cab cam makers, the NTSB has recommended that manufacturers provide more information for users of web cams – including information about the correct installation, maintenance, and use of the devices.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 10% of fuel truck fires caused 10% of truck accident fatalities in 2012. Considering how rare fuel truck fires are, that is a high number.
Part of the reason why so many fatalities happen with fuel tank fires is because of the nature of truck fuel. A semi can have up to 100 gallons of fuel, so if that ignites there is enough fuel for a huge fire or explosion. Secondly, fuel tank design on trucks means that the tank is placed outside the truck, under the driver’s cab. In the event of an explosion or fire, the passenger and driver are greatly endangered. Finally, experts have stated that the walls of the tank themselves are too thin and are not reinforced. In a serious collision, the fuel tank can puncture, creating a danger of fires and explosions.
Advanced Automatic Braking, Automatic Emergency Braking, Autonomous Braking: these devices have many names, but no matter what you call them they are designed to save lives. These brakes work by engaging when a driver does not or cannot. If a driver cannot brake for some reason or does not notice a threat in time, these brakes are meant to engage to help them a truck accident.
Truck accident experts in Hollywood and South Florida have a great deal to say about these brakes. Some insist that the latest versions of automatic brakes – now being developed by almost every commercial truck maker – make a big impact in preventing tanker accidents, big rig collisions, and other crashes involving commercial vehicles. Others insist that more work needs to be done to prevent trucking crashes.
Not all truck accidents in Hollywood and Florida are the same. Depending on the type of truck that was involved in your collision, you may have very different injuries or you may have a different risk for serious injuries:
Delivery trucks tend to be light trucks, and one of the biggest dangers with these types of vehicles is that they make frequent, unexpected stops. They may also have to park in unusual spots to deliver their cargo, creating a risk of rear end accidents and other types of collisions.
Underride accidents occur when a truck stops suddenly, causing smaller cars to slide underneath the rear trailer of the truck and underneath the truck itself. These types of accidents tend to be devastating, since the surface of the truck will often shear off the top part of the passenger car, causing crushing injuries and severe or fatal injuries to the passengers inside.
One of the most devastating things about underride truck collisions is that they are quite preventable. Underride guards are a very simple device that can be installed under the rear trailer of the truck to prevent cars from sliding underneath the trailer. These guards are metal bars that prevent smaller cars from slipping under the truck in the event of a crash. Most truck companies have already installed these types of devices on their trucks to prevent underride accidents. Since 2007, many trucks have been required by law to have these underride guards.
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