Personal Injury Blog

What Causes Tractor-Trailer Accidents?

If you were injured in a tractor-trailer accident, you need to understand what may have caused it.  Accidents involving large trucks often lead to serious injuries, which are sometimes fatal.  The immense size of the truck, in comparison to a passenger vehicle, is why these types of accidents are usually catastrophic.  In an effort to understand the common causes of large truck accidents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration examined a national sample of truck crashes.

Researchers reviewed a sample of 963 truck accidents from the 120,000 accidents that occurred from April 2001 to December 2003.  These large truck accidents caused 1,654 injuries and 249 deaths.

Based on the findings of the study, there were some factors that occurred hours, days or even months before the truck crash.  Some of these elements included:

• Driver training
• Driver experience
• Truck design
• Highway condition
• Weather condition
• Traffic signaling

Other factors, such as tire blowouts and snow, took place immediately preceding the accidents.

There were also events that led to these truck accidents, which included the truck running out of lane, loss of vehicle control and rear end collision with the vehicle in front of the truck.  Other factors were identified such as brake problems, interruption in traffic flow, prescription or over-the-counter drug usage, driving too fast, unfamiliarity with the road, a required stop, roadway problems fatigue and inadequate surveillance.  Fatigue has been widely examined as a cause of truck accidents, as truck drivers usually drive for hours at a time.

Large truck accidents tend to be more complicated than other auto accidents.  If you have been injured in a tractor-trailer accident, you should talk with an attorney who is experienced in this area of law.  Contact the Law Offices of Lilly, O'Toole & Brown, LLP at (863) 683-1111 for advice regarding your large truck accident case.

The article, Causes of Large Truck Accidents, has more information on this topic.