According to the National Transportation Safety Board, each year about 5,000 people are killed in accidents involving large trucks. Annually, truck collisions account for more than 25,000 injuries requiring emergency room treatment.
Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) illustrate the severity of the problem:
- In 2008, 380,000 large trucks (gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds) were involved in traffic crashes in the United States.
- There were 4,066 fatal truck crashes, and 4,229 people were killed. This is approximately 11 percent of all traffic fatalities reported in 2008.
- More than 90,000 people were injured in truck accidents.
Usually, fatal truck accidents happen in rural areas (64 percent of fatal accidents), during the day (67 percent) and on weekdays (80 percent). Thus, a large majority of the fatal and non-fatal crashes involving large trucks occur in good weather, on dry road surfaces, during the day, and on weekdays.
The primary causes of truck accidents include:
- Excessive speed
- Poor driving
- Improperly loaded cargo
- Driver fatigue
- Unsafe road conditions
- Equipment defects (tires, brakes)
- Truck design defects
- Poor maintenance
- Inadequate or obstructed signage
- Road construction
Driver-Related Factors
Analysis by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shows that more than a third of truck accidents involved driver-related factors, most frequently speeding, running off the road or failure to stay in a single lane of traffic.
The top problem for any truck driver is the constant race against time. This pressure encourages two of the most dangerous conditions for those sharing the road with the big rigs excessive speed and driver fatigue. Nearly one-fourth (24 percent) of all semi truck drivers involved in fatal truck crashes in 2008 had at least one prior speeding conviction. The NHTSA also blames driver fatigue for nearly one-third of all truck driver fatalities.
Increased Stopping Distance
The unique features of large rigs also contribute to many accidents:
- Stopping distance for a truck is dramatically greater than a car for a speed of 65 mph, it takes a car about 162 feet to stop, but a semi truck needs about 420 feet to stop.
- For bobtails (trucks without a trailer) and empty trucks, the stopping distance is even greater because the lighter load has less traction. Heavy trucks are designed with brakes, tires, springs and shock absorbers optimized with the weight of a full load.
Underriding
One of the most deadly types of semi accidents results when trucks lack adequate safeguards on the rear of the truck to prevent vehicles from "underriding." A car underrides a truck when the truck brakes quickly and the car fails to stop before plowing into, and under, the semi typically shearing off the top of the car. Underrides kill approximately 1,000 people each year, and all of them are car occupants only about 2 percent of those occupants survive the accident. These accidents occur because trucks stop or slow suddenly and the driver of the car is unable to avoid rear-ending the truck.
To avoid the awful consequences of a large truck accident, those traveling in passenger vehicles must drive defensively when sharing the roads with the increasing numbers of semi trucks.
Contact an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer
If a member of your family was seriously injured or killed in a truck accident in Colorado, and you believe the truck driver and/or the trucking company was at fault, Chalat Hatten & Koupal can help. Our Colorado truck accident attorneys represent clients throughout the Denver metro area and statewide. A small firm emphasizing personalized service, Chalat Hatten & Koupal offers a free consultation and contingency fee representation in certain cases.
Our Denver truck accident attorneys are dedicated to helping victims and their families obtain the compensation they deserve when negligence causes truck accidents.
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