Tractor Trailer Accident Lawyers
Find information on truck and tractor trailer accidents by type using the list below. While the causes of a trucking accident can vary (frighteningly) from what is presented here, these are the most common ways passenger vehicles are endangered by commercial trucks on roads & highways.
- Aggressive truck driving. Truck driver negligence occurs when a trucker's driving conduct imposes an unreasonable risk upon another, which results in injury to that person. Truckers should be thoroughly evaluated to determine whether they are primarily defensive or offensive (aggressive) drivers before being granted CDL licensure.
- Excessive speed. Nearly every major traffic safety study indicates that speeding is directly related to the severity of vehicle crashes. And this is particularly true in the case of trucking accidents. As some truck drivers don't realize how often they speed when driving, truck collisions should be investigated as a matter of policy in order to help prevent future accidents.
- Aggressive or unsafe lane changing. Blind spots or carelessness can lead to a car being forced off the road. Unsafe lane changing may have become such standard driving behavior that many people have come to think of it as normal. Nevertheless, lane changing without signaling is a moving violation, and does endanger lives. Unsafe lane changing and was among the most frequent causes of major accidents over the last 10 years. Safety Section 151 of the Motor Vehicle Act requires that a driver who is driving a vehicle on a multiple-lane roadway "must not drive it from one lane to another unless the driver has ascertained that movement can be made with safety and will in no way affect the travel of another vehicle."
- Driver fatigue - due to long driving segments
- Unsafe truck or failure to inspect - cargo falling off trucks, tire separation and other equipment
- Truck driver drug or alcohol abuse - the law has very little tolerance for trucker DUI
- Jackknife accidents - a truck driver loses control of the trailer, causing an accident
- Underride accidents - trucks with either no bumpers or tractor trailers with insufficient bumpers
Trucking Accidents in the News
Unfortunately, crashes and injury reports in the news are all too common:
