Truck Accidents: Cause and Effects

It goes without saying that any type of vehicle accident can cause catastrophic personal injury and the reasons why accidents occur in the first place are endless (see Top 4 CA Vehicle Code Violations Resulting in Injury Accidents and Top Causes of Car, Truck and Motorcycle Accidents), and due to human imperfection, can never be completely prevented. But accidents involving commercial trucks (i.e., “big rigs”) pose greater risk of injury due to their size, weight and cargo. While trucking accidents can occur on all California roadways, the majority of them occur on freeways and highways, due to the increased volume of surrounding vehicles and higher rates of speed at which the trucks travel. The main causes of truck accidents resulting in personal injury are the failure of the truck’s cargo to be properly secured, the failure of the truck driver to check all of his/her blindspots before merging or changing lanes, the truck driver falling asleep at the wheel because of failing to properly rest on long trips, the overloading of cargo, the driver being distracted, and transporting cargo at unsafe speeds. Any one of these factors (among countless others) can cause an accident with tremendous repercussions. Unlike typical car accidents where two cars are involved most of the time, accidents involving trucks often times involve several vehicles. What’s more, a collision involving a big rig at, for example, 40 miles per hour, will cause more damage than a collision at 40 miles per hour involving a mid-sized sedan because of the size and weight disparities. When a truck driver slams on the brakes, the total distance it takes for a 35-thousand pound mass of metal to stop is far greater than the distance it takes for a four thousand pound car to stop. This results in the truck striking or colliding with multiple vehicles, and when the truck does strike other vehicles, it will not come to a complete stop suddenly, because of the heavier mass needing more obstruction to cause it to lose all of its momentum. As one could imagine, personal injuries stemming from a truck accident can be enormous because the risk of suffering more serious injury is greatly increased. Invariably, the risk of death resulting from a big-rig accident is also greater than a typical auto accident (see Wrongful Death Actions in California). If you or a loved one have been injured in a truck accident, contact our truck accident lawyer for a free consultation.