Truck accidents are an unfortunate event that’s getting worse day by day. While no one wants any accidents to occur, they can just happen to anyone and can put lives at risk. With that, every truck driver should always drive with precaution as a larger vehicle can cause more significant damage to itself and its surroundings.
In unfortunate events that you’ve experienced damage or injury from a truck accident, you might need to call an appropriate lawyer to help you get the compensation you deserve. You can visit this recommended reading list and other online resources to learn more about what you need to do if you’re involved in a truck accident.
To prevent accidents from happening, one must know what causes them. In this article, you’ll learn the most common causes of truck accidents and what you can do to prevent these from happening.
A truck is usually about four times larger than most roadgoing vehicles. With that, a truck driver might not have complete vision of what’s happening around them. In that case, truck drivers are more likely to cause an accident when trying to switch lanes or making a turn when there’s a vehicle near them that they couldn’t see.
Driving a truck may impose a lot of stress and pressure on drivers. In most cases, they need to bring their cargo from point A to point B within their schedule. Sometimes their trips span days or weeks, making them sit on their trucks for extended periods at a time. You can just imagine the fatigue they undergo as they’re driving their trucks for with very few breaks in between.
Additionally, when a driver needs to transport their cargo within a week, they might not have enough time to sleep or keep their bodies well rested. With that, you can expect some truck drivers to diminished alertness, concentration, and coordination while they’re on the road due to overfatigue, and that can cause an accident.
While a distracted driver is more general as it can happen to anyone, it’s becoming more common among truck drivers that experience accidents. With distracted drivers, crashes and collisions are most likely to happen, harming other vehicles and passengers.
A distracted driver is someone who doesn’t have their full attention on the road as they’re too occupied with what’s happening around them. This occurs when a driver is distracted by something inside or outside the truck. Some drivers might have focused on a specific store or billboard while on the road, listened to a radio program more attentively, or talked to someone with them. With distractions, drivers can lose focus on the road, causing accidents.
Since drivers usually have a short time delivering goods from one place to another, this might force them to drive above the speed limit to keep their schedule. While that can help get their job done, overspeeding is considered reckless endangerment and one of the leading causes of truck accidents worldwide.
An overspeeding truck is far more dangerous than a regular vehicle since they weigh more (including their payload) and has a larger size. With those factors, you can anticipate a strong force of impact when they’re hitting the brakes or colliding with a different vehicle. That’s the reason why most cars try to drive away from trucks, as a single mistake can cause it to topple over and cause a massive accident.
As unfortunate as it sounds, no matter how careful a driver is, they’re most likely to encounter a vehicle failure without proper maintenance, which may lead to unfortunate incidents. A truck failure occurs when there’s a mechanical breakdown beyond the driver’s control, which may include the following instances:
With these mechanical failures, you can just imagine the horror a truck driver has to go through when they find out that there’s something faulty in the vehicle that they’re driving. Not only will it cause panic, but it can lead to terrible accidents as well, endangering the lives of the drivers and those around them.
While the weather is something no driver could control, this can certainly affect the road conditions, which can cause accidents. When it’s raining hard, there’d be zero or at least limited visibility and the road would almost have no traction due to the rainwater.
Apart from precipitation, wind and fog could be a factor in truck accidents. Strong winds can cause debris to fly over the road, which can bring obstructions on the road or damage your vehicle. With heavy fog, unless you have fog lights, you’re better off, off the road while waiting for the fog to clear. With that, you need to take extra precautions to maintain safe driving.
Truck accidents are unfortunate. While you may want to prevent them from happening, it’s best that you know what its causes are, what you need to avoid, and what you need to do in times of accidents.
With any vehicle that you drive, always ensure that you practice safe driving and have regular car maintenance. In this way, you can save your life and the people around you.