|
Truck and Trucking Accidents Weight always wins. It’s always a mismatch. If you are a regular driver on the highways across the state of Florida, chances are you have witnessed the aftermath of an accident involving a car and a large truck or tractor-trailer. The results of such accidents clearly indicate which bore the most damage. Cars are just no match for a large trucks or tractor-trailers in any type of collision. Given the sheer size disparity of the vehicles, it is easy to understand why. According to Road Safe America, a truck advocacy group, the impact of the average tractor-trailer – which weighs in excess of eighty thousand pounds - is roughly equivalent to the average car traveling at five times the speed. And trucks become exponentially more dangerous as they increase in size. The larger the truck, the more difficult they are to steer, and the longer they take to stop. This obviously makes them very dangerous vehicles on our highways. Add frequent driver error to the innate danger of the vehicles themselves, and you have a very lethal combination. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), large trucks are four times as likely to cause occupant deaths than are other passenger vehicles. If the accident results in a fatality or catastrophic injury, it is almost always the driver of the car who is killed or injured – 74% of the deaths were occupants of another vehicle; 16% were truck drivers. The other 10% were non-occupants or bystanders. The latest statistics from the NHTSA are staggering. In 2008, there were approximately 380,000 large trucks involved in traffic collisions – and 4066 were involved in traffic fatalities. While trucks accounted for 8% of the total number of vehicles involved in traffic fatalities, “one out of nine fatalities resulted from a collision with a large truck, “ according to the NHTSA. It is not always the size of the trucks that are responsible. As is the case with most vehicular accidents, driver error is often the biggest culprit. Truck drivers in particular operate under enormous pressure. Strict deadlines for delivering loads contribute to both excessive speeds and increasing sleep deprivation - all factors contributing heavily to accidents involving trucks and tractor-trailers. The NHTSA states that almost 24% of all large truck drivers involved in fatal crashes had at least one prior speeding conviction in 2008, compared to approximately 18% of passenger car drivers. Whatever the cause of the crash, however, the result is no less devastating for the families of the unfortunate victims involved. The emotional and physical devastation can last a lifetime for the victim, and their families. The financial burden, as with any catastrophic injury or illness, can be overwhelming. If you or a family member were injured in an accident involving a large truck – or if a family member was killed – don’t go through it alone. We are here to help.
As a board certified criminal lawyer, I represents clients charged
with serious federal and state criminal offenses, like felonies and
DUI, before federal criminal courts and state criminal courts in
West Palm Beach, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Jupiter, Boca
Raton, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, Stuart, Martin County, Fort
Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando,
Tallahassee, Key Largo, Key West, and all state criminal courts in
Florida and all federal criminal courts throughout the United States
of America. |
|
