An accident with a commercial truck can result in devastating personal injury or death because of the severity of the crash. Commercial truck accidents occur for a variety of reasons and the more you understand the hazards these oversized vehicles can impose, the better chance you have of avoiding a serious accident.
One of the main causes of commercial truck accidents is driver negligence. Negligence comes in many forms, and with truck drivers this can mean:
- failure to follow driving duty regulations;
- driving while intoxicated; or
- neglecting to secure their cargo load properly.
Drivers aren’t always the responsible party in a truck accident; in some cases accidents are purely accidental because of road hazards that are unavoidable, like poor weather or debris. Manufacturer defects in commercial truck assemblies can also cause devastating accidents.
There are common types of accidents involving commercial trucks that can occur because of any of these factors:
- jackknifing;
- rollovers;
- overrides;
- head-on collisions; and
- underride accidents.
Crashes because of jackknifing and rollovers are attributed to a commercial truck’s high center of gravity. The height of the truck creates less stability when making sharp turns or abrupt stops, often causing the cab to flip or double back on itself. Underrides and overrides are common when passenger vehicles follow too closely or do not compensate for a truck’s reduced field of vision. Head-on collisions are almost always caused by driver negligence, but can also be caused by a mechanical defect such as brake failure.
The best way to avoid becoming a victim of a serious truck accident is to exercise caution when sharing the road with these massive vehicles. Commercial trucks take longer to react to changes in traffic patterns which means you should be aware of when a truck is making a maneuver near you and give them plenty of space should an error occur.
No matter what caused your truck accident, if you are seriously injured you may need the help of a New York personal injury attorney to get your case settled. Remember that when an accident is caused by another’s negligence you have the right to seek compensation!
