What Causes Truck Accidents?

The number of truck accidents has increased significantly in recent years. These vehicles are bigger than ever, and many truck drivers are more inexperienced than ever.

The maximum allowable weight for a large truck recently increased to 80,000 pounds. Furthermore, regulators routinely issue waivers that allow bigger vehicles on streets and highways. Additionally, due to a long-term truck driver shortage, many large truck operators are pressed into service before they have sufficient experience.

This combination increases the risk of a truck crash and the force in a truck crash. As the number and cost of truck accidents changes, a Winter Garden personal injury lawyer remains committed to victims.

Operator Impairment

As mentioned, many large truck operators are very inexperienced. Therefore, they have little margin for error, especially when it comes to things like driver impairment. Some examples of truck driver impairment include:

• Fatigue: As large trucks become more unsafe, instead of aggressively enforcing safety rules, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has watered down many rules, especially HOS (hours of service) truck driver fatigue rules. For example, the FMCSA now usually defines “resting” as “not working.” Truck drivers need sleep time, not down time. Driving after eighteen consecutive awake hours is like driving with a .05 BAC level.
• Drugs: Most truckers avoid narcotics, depressants, and other “dangerous” drugs. But, mostly to combat the effects of fatigue, many drivers use amphetamines. These drugs impair judgement ability. They make users edgy and suspicious. So, amphetamine users can’t accurately judge things like the distance between vehicles. Moreover, when amphetamines wear off, users typically crash fast and hard.
• Medical Condition: This third area is also fatigue related. Mostly because they sit for such long periods of time, many truckers have problems with sleep apnea. These victims basically nap all night, instead of getting the deep, restorative sleep they need. Many effective sleep apnea treatments are available. But first, people must admit they have problems and seek help. These first two steps are usually the most difficult stages of the treatment process.

The margin of error for truck drivers is already low. In California, truck drivers have a duty of utmost care to avoid crashes. So, they must essentially bend over backwards to avoid accidents. A small degree of impairment usually breaches the duty of care in these cases.

Aggressive Driving

We mentioned some trucking conditions that affect the number of wrecks. We didn’t mention an important economic condition that, in many cases, encourages aggressive driving.

Most truckers have very small profit margins. An on-time or early delivery bonus could be the difference between making money and losing money on a particular run. This economic reality encourages truckers to drive while fatigued. It also encourages them to drive aggressively.

Speeding, and specifically stopping distance, is probably the most common kind of aggressive truck driving that causes truck accidents. At 45mph, most fully-loaded large trucks travel about 170 feet between the time a driver sees a hazard and the truck safely stops. At 65mph, stopping distance multiples to 550 feet, which is roughly the length of two football fields.

Other kinds of accident-causing aggressive driving include turning unsafely and ignoring a traffic control sign.

Rely on a Dedicated Orange County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Winter Garden, contact Goldman Law, P.A. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.