Large truck accidents can be prevented with rigorous and extensive truck driver training and avoidance of dangerous truck driver behaviors like distracted driving. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), additional driver errors that cause truck accidents include:
- Inexperience
- Driver fatigue
- Drug and alcohol use
- Speeding
- Driving during bad weather
In addition to driver errors, other preventable causes of large truck accidents include truck maintenance and driver adherence to safe driving guidelines, including number of hours driven.
Determining the Cause of the Truck Accident That Caused Your Injuries
A collision with a large truck can leave you with serious injuries that can change your physical appearance and your lifestyle. If you or a family member suffered injuries in an accident, you can be left with medical bills, damaged property, and bills that can create a serious financial hardship for you and your family.
The aftermath of an accident can be worsened if you find out that the truck accident that injured you was preventable. If driver error or vehicle failure caused your accident, you may have options for holding the right party responsible for your injuries. Determining the cause of the accident that caused your injuries can help you understand how the accident happened and determine what happens next.
Driver Behavior That Contributes to Truck Accidents
Driver error often contributes to truck accidents. Driver error includes tailgating, distracted driving, and speeding. Truck accidents can be prevented if the driver does not make those errors. Driver and vehicle safety and maintenance inspections are an important part of driver safety and accident prevention. Drivers are inspected by the FMCSA, and violations can be discovered, which can play a role in truck accidents.
Primary Reasons Large Trucks Fail Inspections
There were 2,378,400 inspections conducted by the FMCSA in 2017. Those inspections resulted in 3,789,484 vehicle violations being reported. Reported violations that possibly contributed to truck accidents included:
- Lighting violations
- Brake violations
- Faulty or overly worn tires
- Faulty warning devices
- Inoperable headlights
- Hazy or unclear windshields
Because large trucks share the roads with smaller vehicles and pedestrians, passing FMCSA inspections is an important part of vehicle maintenance and safety.
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Fatalities in Large Truck Accidents
Large truck accidents are major events that can lead to catastrophic injuries because of the size and weight of the trucks involved in the accidents. Devastating injuries can also occur because the passenger cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians involved in these accidents are so much smaller than the trucks they collide with.
Truck accidents can also cause environmental hazards, depending on the contents a truck might be carrying and the danger of spilling those contents.
In addition to the dangers of the collision itself, an accident involving a large truck can cause streets and highways to close and create dangerous road blockages and traffic jams that frustrate other truck and passenger car drivers on the road.
Vehicle and Pedestrian Fatality Victims in Large Truck Accidents
Truck accidents can result in many injured victims. It can also lead to many fatalities among the people involved in the accident.
A large truck can weigh tens of thousands of pounds, which can dwarf the weight, height, and size of a typical passenger vehicle, motorcycle, or bicycle. That size difference puts passenger vehicle drivers and other occupants at a distinct disadvantage.
Legal Help After Your Truck Accident
If you or a family member suffered injuries in a truck accident, you may be able to hold the at-fault driver, his employer, or the truck’s manufacturer accountable for your accident-related expenses and losses. Finding out the truck accident was avoidable only adds to the troubling aftermath of the accident.
Speak to a member of our team to explore your options for financial recovery after a truck accident. We can help you determine how trucking laws or vicarious liability might affect your case. Contact Ben Crump Law, PLLC today at (844) 430-1030 to speak to a truck accident lawyer near you.
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