Legal•Info

Types Of Truck Accidents

Vehicle accidents have always been a major cause for concern. There are hundreds of traffic accidents that take place every day, which cause harm and injury to thousands of people. These accidents can range from minor to serious. Many of these accidents involve commercial trucks, which are often carrying heavy and even hazardous cargo. However, there are types of vehicles that come under the truck accident umbrella, such as buses, school buses, tractors, and even fire trucks.

There are many reasons why truck accidents with these vehicles can occur, and these range from driver fatigue and vehicle defects to drug abuse and negligence. The number of truck accidents per year is in the hundreds of thousands, and many result in fatalities simply because of the size and weight of such vehicles. With so many larger vehicles such as delivery trucks, buses, emergency service trucks, tanker trunks, and commercial trucks on the road, it is not surprising that the number of accidents and fatalities involving these vehicles has risen over the years, as have the number of lawsuits filed by victims of such accidents.

There are several different types of trucks accidents, such as:

Semi-truck accident: A semi-truck is a type of a big truck with a gross weight, without passengers and cargo, of more than 10,000 pounds. In the US, a semi-truck is also known as an eighteen-wheeler or as a 'big rig.'

Commercial vehicle accident: Commercial vehicle accidents account for a large number of all traffic accidents in the United States. This is because drivers are often are ignorant of the trucks' performance capabilities, including what the truck drivers' visibility ranges are, as well as how fast they can brake and accelerate.

Tractor trailer accidents: Tractor trailers and other big trucks account for up to 500,000 traffic accidents, each year, and this is only in the United States.

Tanker truck accident: Tanker trucks are a very common sight on the highways of the United States, as they are the most preferred means of transportation to transport cargo, which is liquid in nature.

Flatbed truck accident: A flatbed truck is a kind of big commercial vehicle with a minimum gross weight of 10,000 pounds, discounting the weight of any passengers or cargo.

Fire truck accident: These emergency vehicles do the society a great service, but sometimes can also cause a lot of damage when they get into accidents.

Most truck drivers are patient and skilled, but despite this there can be some exceptions or an accident that is almost unavoidable. Some drivers may have received training that is inadequate, especially in regards to truck driving techniques, defensive driving, and safety concerns. Also, the way a truck driver usually gets paid is by a system of competitive payment rates, depending on how fast they can deliver the truck to its expected location. This encourages the driver to go faster and drive for longer hours, rather than resting when they need to and being fully awake while driving, which leads to truck driver fatigue. Despite the fact that the Department of Transportation has issued strict guidelines regarding the number of hours a truck driver can be on the road, and the number of hours that he or she must rest before beginning another shift, many drivers violate these laws and continue to drive even when they are fatigued, or even take drugs in an attempt to stay awake and log more miles.