Trucks are not like cars. They are bigger, heavier and have different driving dynamics, especially when they have an articulated trailer (think: semitractor, trailer).
What Causes Truck Crashes?
Driver fatigue:
Truck drivers who continue operating their trucks when they are overtired and have had inadequate rest are a risk to all drivers and are a major cause for deadly crashes. Drivers who exceed the allowable hours in a day and in a week are most likely to cause a crash, but even drivers who are not "over hours" can be fatigued and cause a deadly incident.
Bad weather:
Trucking companies that permit their drivers to continue operating during heavy fog, snow storms, ice storms and torrential rains place every driver at risk. Operating in hazardous weather conditions is a leading cause of deadly crashes involving trucks. Truck drivers are required to use "extreme caution" or stop driving when weather turns bad.
Unsafe vehicles:
Trucking companies that use tractors and trailers that are mechanically defective are a danger to every driver on the road. Defective brakes and tires, inadequate lighting and inferior "conspicuity" are leading causes of major accidents involving trucks.
Improper loading or securement:
Trucking companies that permit drivers to drive loads that are not properly balanced or secured place drivers at risk of crashes caused by the release of unsecured cargo into the path of cars and trucks moving at high speeds. Motorists can be injured from the cargo itself or from being struck by a vehicle whose driver reacted to the imminent hazard of falling cargo.
Improper parking/lane blockage:
Truck drivers who park their trucks and trailers in the path of moving traffic can cause deadly crashes when other drivers come upon the unexpected obstacle in their path. Failing to place warning triangles or to use a flagger to alert motorists that a truck is blocking the lanes of travel causes dozens of major collisions with trucks every year.
Bad truck drivers:
Many trucking companies are not particularly selective in their hiring of truck drivers and will hire drivers who have moving violations, including violations that technically make the driver "disqualified" from driving. Inexperienced, uninformed and aggressive truck drivers cause deadly crashes.
Bad routing and scheduling:
Many truck companies use their own dispatchers to schedule and route their drivers. Placing an articulated truck in the middle of the loop in the middle of the business day greatly increases the risk that a truck may strike a pedestrian or bicyclist, particularly when the truck could be scheduled to be at the location at a less congested time of day.
Bad drivers:
Many truck drivers are high-quality, professional drivers, some with over a million miles of safe driving experience. But other drivers are inexperienced with spotty driving records and low skills. Too often bad truck drivers operate without knowing the size and driving dynamics of their vehicles. Inexperience like this can be seen in accidents where pedestrians and bicyclists are struck by the rear tandem axle of a trailer when the truck driver attempts to make a right turn that the truck is too large to make. There are numerous examples of this in the Chicago area alone every year, and when they happen, these incidents are catastrophic and even deadly for the person on foot or on a bike.
Speed and distracted driving:
Like many drivers of cars, truck drivers can drive too fast and drive while texting or talking on the phone. It takes little imagination to visualize the danger posed by the driver of a gasoline tanker texting while driving 60 mph, yet it happens.
There are many factors that cause semitruck accidents and fatal crashes on I-80, I-90 and other interstates throughout the Midwest. Large trucks are involved in thousands of crashes that kill or cause serious injury to people every year. The sheer size and weight of tractor-trailers make them much more likely to cause death or injury in a collision with a passenger vehicle. In Illinois, a fully loaded tractor-trailers ("semis") can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, while an average passenger vehicle weighs about 4,000 pounds. The physics reveal the danger for drivers and occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles: in collisions with trucks weighing 20 times what a large car weighs, death or serious injuries are likely!
Cars, SUVs, pickup trucks and vans, being vastly outweighed by large trucks, can be severely damaged in a collision, and all the safety equipment the automakers can load onto a vehicle simply cannot overcome the disparity to completely protect drivers and passengers from serious injury or death.
At the law offices of Konicek & Dillon, P.C., we work as a team to provide you with the aggressive representation you need to protect your rights in a truck accident injury case. In doing so, we draw on more than a century of combined legal experience.
Our Illinois trucking accident attorneys believe that every collision involving a large truck that results in serious injury or death should be investigated to determine whether the driver of the truck, the trucking company, the shipper, a broker and other entities involved in the trucking operation such as a truck, tractor or trailer leasing company, violated state and federal laws designed to protect motorists. Very often, truck drivers or trucking companies violate state and federal laws prohibiting unsafe driving, and these violations cause the collision, injury or death. Our attorneys have considerable experience and knowledge of these regulations from years of handling truck accident cases.
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