How Likely Are You to Die in a Truck Accident?
Let’s assume that you’re in a wreck with a big rig. Are you more likely to survive, or pass, as a result of injuries sustained in that accident? Today, the Car Crash Captain is looking at truck accident fatalities – the truth about sharing the road with commercial vehicles.
Big Rigs on Our Highways
There are around 13 million trucks on the roads in the US – about 3 million of them are semi-trucks. That’s about 4.5% of vehicles out there (1% if only counting semi-trucks). However, trucks account for 10% of fatal vehicle accidents.
Factors Contributing to Truck Accident Fatalities
The biggest reason there are so many more fatal truck wrecks comes down to one factor. They are so much bigger than the average passenger vehicle.
A fully loaded semi-truck clocks in at as much as 80,000 pounds. A passenger car weighs just 3,000 to 4,000 (SUV’s and pickups can be a bit heavier). Just like if you and a toddler collide, the toddler will sustain more damage than you do as an adult – the smaller vehicle will sustain more damage and the occupants inside are more likely to be injured or killed.
Combine that size disparity with other factors like:
- Blind spots: big rigs have larger blind spots than smaller vehicles.
- Braking distance: big rigs require more distance to stop and bad rear-end wrecks can occur.
- Driver fatigue: commercial drivers are on the road for a long time; drowsy driving can be an issue.
And the result is that wrecks are often much more severe with trucks, and lead to truck accident fatalities more often.
Common Causes of Truck Wrecks
While technology is improving, the fact remains that there are still a lot of crashes on US roadways every year (some 400,000 truck accidents occur every year). And a lot of those crashes boil down to driver negligence.
- Distracted Driving
- Impaired Driving
- Unsafe Driving
And sometimes it’s a third party that’s negligent.
- Mechanical Failures
- Improper Loading
- Illegal Management
Inexperience leads to a higher risk of causing fatal truck accidents as well.
How to Protect Yourself on the Roadways
There’s not a lot you can do about another driver who is driving distracted, impaired, or unsafely. We have to hope that every driver out there is looking out for the best interest of others on the road. However, you can protect yourself by being vigilant and driving defensively.
- Avoid driving in blind spots.
- Maintain safe distances
- Give more room in adverse weather
- Stay extra aware
- Maintain your own vehicle
By doing a little extra, you can often spot an unsafe driver before they become an issue to your own safety.
Herbert Law Group is on Your Side
Trucking is an important part of the US economy. Without trucks moving goods back and forth, our shelves would be empty, fewer jobs would be available, and our favorite products wouldn’t be found.
If involved in a wreck, however, the trucking companies are going to protect their own interests first. They don’t want costs to increase, and they don’t want to pay out large settlements. So, they have teams that work hard to ensure a settlement for a truck wreck is as low as possible.
Herbert Law Group is on your side. Have you been injured in a truck wreck? Has a loved one died in an accident with a semi-truck or other commercial vehicle? Then you need to be compensated fairly.
Let’s talk about what happened, and see how we can help. Call our offices at 214-414-3808, or fill out our contact form and we’ll be in touch with you for a free conversation on how we can help.