Let’s speak about these colossal trucks that we see on the highways every day. Isn’t it true that they’re enormous? We already have too many automobile accidents, but now these trucks are creating far more disasters than we could have ever imagined possible.
These trucks play a vital role in our economy, transporting commodities from one location to another to fulfill the needs of our ever-expanding population.
However, even though massive vehicles are necessary for society’s existence, they may represent a significant danger to motorists, mainly when truck drivers are careless, trucks are left in poor condition, and firm owners disregard government safety rules.
Learning about the many kinds of truck accidents and their contributing factors reduces your chances of being involved in a truck accident or suffering injury due to another driver’s negligence.
Bengal Law is experienced in truck accident cases, and it is wise to learn what they have to say about common types of truck accidents in this article.
Truck rollover
An accident involving a truck rollover is one of the most devastating and harrowing. While passenger cars have a lower center of gravity, big commercial trucks, such as tractor-trailers, are significantly higher. When making sharp bends or unexpected swerves, truck drivers must use extreme caution.
To create a lethal threat for everyone on the road, drivers who make sharp corners or drive too quickly for the circumstances run the risk of flipping the trailer.
Often, rollover incidents occur when truck drivers engage in reckless or negligent driving, such as driving while distracted, excessive speeding or tiredness, or driving while under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating agents. A truck rollover disaster may happen even if the truck driver acts safely and adequately.
Head-on collisions
Oncoming traffic may become a danger to drivers who are careless or irresponsible or lose control of their cars and end themselves in the path of oncoming traffic. Failure to observe the appropriate right of way may also result in a head-on accident at a stop sign or red light.
For several causes, a truck may hit head-on with another vehicle. Due to exhaustion from long shifts and strict quotas, the truck driver may drift into the opposite lanes of traffic. Alcohol or illicit substances might potentially be a problem for drivers.
Excessive use of over-the-counter stimulants might cause a mental breakdown, causing someone to wander into oncoming traffic unintentionally. Rollover accidents caused by tire blowouts are more likely to result in a car swerving into other lanes, increasing the risk of a head-on collision.
Jackknife accidents
An accident known as jackknifing happens when a truck driver suddenly stops, forcing the vehicle’s trailer to swing outward.
Truck drivers who brake incorrectly cause most jackknife incidents. In bad weather, the tractor might slow down quicker than the trailer it is hauling if the driver brakes too quickly or violently. This might cause the trailer to fishtail, resulting in a bumpy ride. A jackknife may occur if the trailer’s rear end skids out to one side.
It’s possible to get into comparable scenarios if you take turns too rapidly. The effect of an oncoming vehicle meeting with a jackknifed trailer may be a multi-car pileup, even if the jackknifed trailer avoids hitting other cars.
Serious sideswipe crashing
As with T-bone collisions, a sideswipe accident occurs when two vehicles meet head-on, but the cars involved are usually driving in the same direction when they collide. Commercial drivers failing to assess their many blind areas before coming into traffic or making lane changes cause many truck-on-car collisions.
Truck drivers may also lose control of their trucks due to various factors such as flat tires, road barriers, high winds, and other types of bad weather. Driving when intoxicated or tired may cause drivers to lose concentration on the road and collide with vehicles in the lanes around them.
They are especially deadly since a sideswiped automobile may be pushed into other lanes of traffic, producing multi-vehicle pile-ups and further destruction.
Accidents occur because of a wide turn
Truck drivers must exercise extra care while making right-hand turns, often more narrow than left-hand ones.
Truck drivers may try to escape the “right turn squeeze” by first swinging their cabs wide to the left, then looping into a right-hand turn to avoid the problem of trailers not having enough room to complete good right turns.
However, a dangerous scenario is created for cars in adjacent lanes, which may hit the trailer or possibly become stuck beneath the truck when it swings to the left.
Although this maneuver still needs drivers to estimate the time and clearance available correctly, it is often safer.
