5 most common types of truck accident cases?

According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), heavy commercial trucks constitute less than 5% of all registered vehicles plying the US roads. Also, more than 13% of total road accidents on US roads involve commercial trucks. Further statistics also show that 7 in 10 fatalities in road accidents come from the occupant of the other vehicle in an accident with a truck, showing the threat these commercial trucks pose to other road users.

Despite the dangerous aspect of it, these trucks need to be on the road for economic reasons. Society will suffer without the trucking companies getting their trucks on the road to take goods and services from one place to another.

In this article, we discuss the five most common types of truck accidents. Keep ready.

Jackknife

A jackknife accident happens when a truck traveling at high speed suddenly applies brakes without a slow-down approach. The sudden application of brakes will cause the truck to fold at 90 degrees, abruptly bringing movement to a halt. In some cases, when this happens, nearby vehicles, for example, the one(s) following the truck behind, will ram under the truck, causing a fatal accident. Another cause of a jackknife truck accident is a snowy, icy, or slippery road surface that forces the truck in an unintended direction.

Head-on collision

Many factors can lead to head-on trucking accidents, such as distraction, fatigue, recklessness, negligence, mechanical faults, and loss of control, which may be caused by a tire blowout, causing the driver to swerve into the opposite lane and collide with the incoming vehicle head-on.

A head-on collision can also occur at stop signs, red lights, or intersection roads when drivers refuse or fail to obey traffic rules. Additionally, like car accidents, driving under the influence of intoxicating substances, mental imbalance, aggression, and over-speeding to meet demands can lead to a head-on collision.

Truck rollovers

This type of truck accident is one of the most dangerous and capable of causing terrifying wrecks. Truck drivers need to be careful when driving these trucks, especially when going around tight turns or making a sudden swerve, which could lead to the truck losing its balance and falling and rolling over. Another cause of rollover truck or trailer accidents is over-speeding or taking a turn too sharply for whatever reason. Due to the high center of gravity, it could cause the truck to flip and roll over any other vehicle or object in contact with it.

Recklessness on the truck driver’s part, which comes in different forms, can also cause a truck rollover. Either the truck driver is driving under the influence of a substance, driving under fatigue, or maybe being distracted while driving, and many other factors.

Going deeper into a truck rollover accident, we can say that even when a truck driver drives carefully, overloading and improper loading can cause a rollover accident.

A truck works under stress when it’s overloaded by the trucking company. And this could lead to malfunctioning of mechanical components such as brakes, tire blowouts, steering difficulty, and a reduction in the stopping power of the brakes. All these could cause the truck to sway, leading to a truck rollover accident and causing death and destruction of property. Lastly, manufacturing defects can also cause a truck rollover.

Rear-end collision

A rear-end collision is a type of accident that happens when a vehicle behind collides with the one in front. When it comes to a trailer-passenger vehicle collision, the effect is always enormous due to the differences in size and weight, as the truck tends to crush over the passenger vehicle.

A lot of factors can cause this, such as hasty driving, tailgating, distraction, panic stops, wet weather or slippery road surfaces, impaired vision, brake failure, inexperienced driving, and so on.

Sometimes truck drivers default in these laid down regulations by following the vehicle in front of them too closely, forgetting that it takes a truck much more time to slow down and come to a stop than a small passenger car, thereby creating chances of possible collision and accident.

It is always advisable to leave a recommended distance behind the vehicle in front of you to avoid a possible rear-end collision. The FMCSA and other traffic regulatory bodies have set a minimum distance a vehicle should leave while following the one in front, depending on speed, place, weather conditions, etc.

Side impact accident

This can also be called a broadside crash or T-bone accident, and it usually happens at intersections. The major cause of this type of truck accident is the failure of the drivers to obey traffic signs such as stop signs and red lights and the violation of the right of way at intersections.

When a driver refuses to obey traffic signs and drives against the traffic, chances are that his truck will end up colliding sideways with a vehicle that got the pass permit. Unfortunately, most commercial truck drivers working under duress and trying to meet up with demands, impatient, exhausted, and under the influence of some intoxicating substances, are likely to cause this type of accident.

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You would naturally want to move on as soon as possible, considering how drastically truck accidents can alter your life. Similarly, it’s very natural to not know precisely the full amount you are due. Many insurance providers will in fact rely on it to avoid paying as much.

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