Truck accidents are terrifying. When tens of thousands of pounds of metal crash into something at 80 miles an hour, the results are devastating. To fully understand this issue, drivers should educate themselves on the most common causes of trucking accidents.
Inexperience
America faces an unprecedented trucker shortage. There are currently more than 60,000 job openings for truckers and that number grows bigger every year. For that reason, some trucking companies risk sending inexperienced drivers on the road before they are ready.
A loaded truck controls fundamentally differently than a car. New drivers often struggle to control their vehicles and may panic when faced with unfamiliar circumstances. Even hitting the brakes too hard can result in a jackknife accident that causes the truck to smash into everything on the road.
Fatigue
Truck drivers around the country are pushed to their limits and beyond to make their deliveries on schedule. By law, truckers can only drive 11 hours without rest. However, drivers face pressure to continue beyond their limits to get the shipments in exactly on time.
Because of the immense work pressure, many drivers find themselves falling asleep at the wheel, struggling to stay awake. That fatigue, in turn, causes truck drivers to lose control of their vehicles and either veer off the road or crash into another, smaller vehicle.
Preventing Truck Accidents
While truck drivers must take great care in controlling their vehicles, everyone must take steps to make our roads safe. Many in the trucking industry, including the American Trucking Association, blame cars for the majority of collisions.
Road safety is a shared responsibility. Cars should take care to give trucks extra space and yield to them, even if they don’t have the right of way. Trucks are huge, cumbersome things that struggle to turn or break. Suddenly shifting lanes and slowing down could cause a tragedy.
If you or someone you loved suffered serious injuries or wrongful death in a truck accident, you might have a case. If you’d like an experienced Minot personal injury attorney from Pringle & Herigstad to evaluate your claim, please send us an email or call (855) 245-5100.
