All information is provided for reference or educational purposes only, please contact experienced Indiana Truck Accident Attorneys for additional information or legal advice.

These statistics show the chilling reality that semi-truck accidents are almost always fatal. To reduce this statistic, drivers need to be aware of the common causes of semi-truck accidents.

When the passenger vehicle driver is at fault

About 75 percent of all semi-truck accidents are caused by the driver of the passenger vehicle. Here are some common reasons why passenger vehicle drivers are at fault.

They underestimate the semi’s speed

It is common knowledge that semi-trucks do not accelerate quickly. Many people assume that they can turn left before the semi-truck reaches them, or that they can change lanes in front of a semi-truck. Turning left without yielding is a major cause of all motor vehicles, and it becomes even more dangerous when a semi-truck is the oncoming vehicle. Also, when entering a highway, never assume that a semi-truck driver is driving at a slow speed. It is hard for semi-trucks to brake quickly, so don’t change into their lane unless you are positive that you are driving at an appropriate speed.

Driving where the truck driver has little visibility

Foliage, weather, time of day and various road conditions can cause truck drivers to have reduced visibility. Most truck accidents occur in the middle of the week and in rural areas.

When the semi-truck driver is at fault

Truck drivers are responsible for 14 percent of semi-truck related accidents. Here are some common reasons why semi-truck divers are at fault.

Alcohol

Even though only one percent of semi-truck accidents are related to alcohol, it is still important to know that alcohol does contribute to accidents.

Brake failure

Unfortunately, semi-trucks are notorious for brake system failures. Recent statistics have caused companies to improve their brake systems for semi-trucks.

Fatigue

This is one of the major causes of semi-truck accidents. Many semi-truck drivers are pressured to meet deadlines, and they compromise their sleep to meet those deadlines.

Speeding

Some truck drivers feel pressured to speed to meet deadlines. Even 10 miles over the limit can be very dangerous.

It’s important to know that this article is not intended to provide any legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice about a semi-truck accident, you must consult with a professional lawyer. A lawyer can give you more information about any legal options involving semi-truck accidents.

This information is provided as an educational reference only, for more details or information contact an experienced Tucson truck accident attorney.

Passenger vehicle driving error
One of the most common causes of accidents is mistake by a passenger vehicle driver. Though many will rush to blame truck drivers, lots of accidents happen because passenger vehicle drivers are not paying attention the way they need to. Following too close to trucks, driving in a truck’s blind spot, and weaving through traffic rank among the top causes by passenger vehicle drivers. Likewise, many passenger vehicle drivers abandon their vehicles on the side of the road in an unsafe manner. They leave the vehicles unattended and very close to the white line, causing problems for large truck drivers. This is an especially common cause of accidents that happen at night.

Truck driver negligence
Another issue that causes truck accidents in the US has to do with truck drivers. They can be negligent in a number of ways when driving. The most obvious and common causes are unsafe driving, including speeding and following too close. Making unsafe lane changes is another problem that has been known to cause many accidents. Another thing that many people are not aware of is that driver fatigue plays a huge role in truck accidents. Drivers who fail to adhere to the mandatory sleep standards often find themselves in dangerous situations on the road and this is a very big deal. It is a form of negligence that is often overlooked by people who are in accidents.

Maintenance problems and truck failure
Other accidents are causes when a company or driver fails to maintain the truck in the right way. Trucks are large and dangerous, so they need to be maintained in a responsible manner. It is important to check out the brakes, the tires, and other parts of the truck that could fail and cause an accident. When companies and truckers neglect this, they can cause big problems. Likewise, there can be issues with the equipment itself. No amount of maintenance can account for a truck that is made poorly. This falls on the head of the company that made the truck.

Goldberg & Osborne, a personal injury law firm, has provided this article for informational purposes only, written by an independent author, and has not reviewed or edited this article and is not responsible for its content or accuracy.

Truck Driver Causes:

Truck driver fatigue is one of the causes most noted in relation to trucking accidents. Drivers who are tired after hours of driving get into crashes by falling asleep at the wheel or delayed reaction time. Federal regulations are in place to minimize trucker exhaustion, but it still remains a potential cause of accidents.

Prescription or non-prescription medication usage is another potential cause of truck accidents. Truck drivers who take a medication are subject to delayed reaction times and put others at risk.

Truckers driving over the allowed speed limits are putting others at risk. Delays during the trip such as traffic or construction and too little time for the drive result in truck drivers who are pressed for time. The result is speeding, which causes accidents.

Drivers who are unfamiliar with a road can get into accidents due to mistakes relating to the road. For example, if construction on a road requires the driver to take an unfamiliar route, he might turn the truck the wrong direction or miss signs such as stop signs or yield signs that result in an accident.

Car Driver Causes:

Drivers of passenger vehicles who drive in truck driver blind spots are a potential cause of accidents. Blind spots are some areas along the side of the truck and too close to the back of the truck.

Drivers who cut off a truck due to misjudging distances or timing can potentially cause an accident because the brakes on large trucks are not fast enough to prevent an accident.

Unsafe passing, whether because the space is insufficient or speeds are too slow, can cause accidents with trucks.

This article is provided as information only and not intended as legal advice in any means or manner whatsoever, Attorney Elan Wurtzel P.C. provides focused legal counsel within the area of Truck Accidents, and has provided this for informational purposes only.

About 500,000 truck accidents occur every year in the United States, with about 5,000 fatalities resulting from these crashes. Around 98 percent of the time, these fatalities are from passengers in other vehicles. One out of every eight traffic accidents involves a truck, and they are more likely to be involved in fatal multi-vehicle wrecks than passenger cars or motorcycles. However, only about one percent of all accidents involving trucks are due to one of the parties driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

Trucking accidents are more likely to occur in rural areas. Sixty-eight percent of trucking accidents occur in rural areas, and 66 percent occur during the daytime. Additionally, 78 percent of trucking accidents occur on weekdays. For those truckers that have been involved in accidents, just over one-fourth of them have previous convictions for speeding.

When trucking accidents are examined on a state-by-state basis, the numbers can be revealing. Texas has the most fatal truck crashes per state, with 432 in 2003. In Oregon, 1,134 trucking accidents occurred in 2004 that resulted in vehicular damage, injuries or fatalities. Of these crashes, 621 were due to the truck, and 596 were due to negligence on the part of the truck driver. While around 400 people were injured in these crashes, only 6 of the truck drivers died as a result of those injuries. In three percent of these cases, the trucker was hauling hazardous materials.

While overall fatal vehicular crashes tend to decline each year, despite more cars and trucks being on the road, truck-related fatalities stay at around 5,000 each year. About half of these accidents occur on the front side of the truck, and 720 involved the rear end of the truck; the rest occurred on the left or right sides, usually while the truck was turning. In around 600 cases, the truck rolled over, leading to an accident.

These statistics show that more measures must be taken in order to ensure truck safety, including driver training and alertness, as well as keeping trucks well-maintained and operable.

This article is provided as information only and not intended as legal advice in any means or manner whatsoever, Attorneys Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart, and Shipley P.A. provide focused legal counsel and representation related to Truck Accidents, and has provided this for informational purposes only.

A living will is a legal document which contains specific orders on how medical treatments should be rendered once the person becomes incapacitated or unable to make decisions regarding their health. The patient or “declarant” explicitly expresses what he wishes in terms of life prolonging treatments.

A living will is a written consent which is also referred to as a health care directive, advance directive or a physician’s directive. Living wills are different from Living trusts and deal only with decisions made regarding a terminally ill patient’s treatment. These are very important in making a patient’s own wishes known when they are unable to speak or communicate with their friends or the medical team.

This is in relation to the medically accepted rights of a patient. Every patient according to the law has the right to self determination in terms of his medical treatments. When people are left in a permanent vegetative state and is able to continue living only thru life sustaining equipments like respirators for example, a patient thru a living will is able to express if medical treatments are to be continued.  

The living will does not stop medical teams from performing emergency treatments during an accident. Patients who are rushed to emergency treatments still have the right to the full range of medical procedures.

In order to be effected; doctors must first determine if a person is terminally ill and there is no prognosis for recovering from such medical condition. The doctor must prove that the patient is only able to sustain life thru the assistance of medical equipments.

Doctors have the final say in terms of when the patient’s living will is to take effect. The living will does not take effect immediately when a patient is unable to express themselves during treatment. When patients become incapacitated due to an ongoing illness or unable to speak for themselves due to treatment, executing a health care proxy or health care power of attorney is advised.  This gives a family member the consent to manage all medical treatments until the patient is able to determine their own health course.

Visit this website to learn more about Probate Law: Public Attorney Adrian Philip Thomas, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

In diagnostic findings of randomly selected boxers, MRI revealed changes in periventricular white matter, undersized cysts in brainstem and cerebrum, subdural hematoma, and atrophy or degeneration of the frontal lobe. Moreover, several contusion and hemorrhage have been found in the MRI of 66 years old retired boxer.

There have been a lot of known boxers who have been victimized by the lethal consequence of the sport itself. Leavander Johnson suffered a traumatic brain injury after defending his lightweight title. He collapsed in the 11^th round after receiving heavy beating from Jesus Chavez. He was rushed in the hospital and was operated to relieve the subdural hematoma in his brain. He was induced into a coma, but never woke up. After 16 years in professional boxing. Benjamin Flores died in May of 2009 when he fought for the super bantamweight division against boxer named Seeger. Seeger won the fight in the 8^th round while Flores was hospitalized and died five days after the fight. In the same month, a Hungarian boxer named Nagy experienced a brain injury during his training. He was hospitalized with a diagnosis of a swollen brain. He had undergone 2 operations, but eventually succumbed to injuries and died. Probably the most well known death in the world of boxing was the fight of Duk Koo Kim and Ray Mancini in 1982. Mancini knocked Kim out in the 14^th round and Kim never regained consciousness.

There are others, lucky enough to retire the sport without overtly seeing untoward manifestations of brain injury. However, there is a great chance that manifestations will begin to be manifest later in life.   

For those thinking to enter the sport of boxing, we advise to think twice. You may earn a lot of money, but you may also loose your most important wealth – your health.

If you or a loved one has suffered from an accident resulting in TBI, find out more from Attorney Elan Wurtzel of Personal Injury Law Firm Wurtzel Law here.

This article is not intended as legal advice.

Even so, a study conducted by the insurance Institute for Traffic Safety showed that, for interstate tractor-trailer drivers, 15% tested positive for marijuana, 12% tested positive for non-prescribed stimulants, 5% tested positive for prescription stimulants, 2% tested positive for cocaine but fewer than 1% had alcohol in their systems.

Even so, a driver can still be impaired by alcohol even if they are not legally intoxicated. Even at low blood content levels, alcohol reduces reaction times and will slow the decision making process. In recognition of this, the Federal government prohibits mass transit workers, truck drivers, railroad workers, marine employees and airline pilots from operating a vehicle with a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) at or above 0.02%.

At one time, alcohol abuse and truck driving was a prevalent and severe problem. However, this has decreased with driver intoxication being more effectively controlled by strict monitoring and regulation enforcement by the Department of Transportation.

Recently, statistics have indicated that truck accidents, related to alcohol use, stand at only 1-3%. The greater problem is attributed to driver fatigue which accounts for over 30% of all truck accidents. Driving continuously without proper rest periods would seem to be an area where stricter monitoring and regulation would be required.

Another big problem lies in the fact that most truck drivers feel that “drugged driving” is somehow safer than drunk driving. Of course, marijuana can also affect perception, reaction time and concentration. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking, which is a far greater timeframe than the effects of alcohol impairment.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report in 1990 which studied 182 truck accident fatalities. Their finding indicated that 12.5% of those accidents were the result of marijuana use.

The New England Journal of Medicine also issued a report which indicated that out of drivers stopped for recklessness on the road (without alcohol in their systems), 45% had marijuana in their systems and 25% had cocaine in their systems.

Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.

Substance abuse convictions may not deter a driver from continuing to place motorists in danger. If you’re a victim of this type of reckless behavior, don’t hesitate to contact the South Texas truck accident lawyers Todd Elias and Steven J. Gordon in Houston, Texas.

To give an example of this – a semi truck, carrying a full load and moving at a rate of 55 mph on a dry, flat road will take about the length of a football field before coming to a full stop after braking.

Turning a Tractor Trailer
Tractor trailer trucks will also require wide turns due to vehicle length. Therefore, care must be taken when observing a turn signal on an 18-wheeler. Another major hazard can occur when a tire blows out on a tractor trailer vehicle. The tires on a large truck receive a lot of wear, due to the heavy payloads that the vehicle carries. The pieces of a blown truck tire can act like cannon-fired shells, causing considerable damage.

Fatalities Statistics
In 2003, alone, there were a total number of 58,512 U.S. automotive accidents involving fatalities. Of these, 4,669 were fatal large truck accidents (NCSA).

Statistics show that passenger vehicles are less likely to cause a fatal multi-vehicle accident than a large truck. 68% of these fatal truck accidents occurred in rural areas during daylight hours (66%) and during weekdays (78%).

Alcohol and drugs only accounted for 1% of the fatalities, on the part of the semi truck drivers, while other drivers showed a much higher rate (22% for passenger vehicle drivers and 29% for motorcyclists).

This is in contrast to speeding issues. Here, 27% of large truck drivers, that were involved in fatal accidents, had a least one prior speeding conviction. With passenger vehicle drivers, the rate was 19%.

Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.

For more on tractor trailer accidents, visit Attorney Kristopher Barber at The Barber Law Firm, located in Dallas, Texas.

Tires have a limit for how much weight can be placed on them. Overloading the tires can have the same effects as over-inflation. In addition to being inflexible, the shape of the tire is affected, which results in excessive wear and poor handling capabilities.

Need a Eureka springs truck accident lawyer? Please do your research before hiring an attorney.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has enacted regulations concerning limits to the Hours-Of-Service that truck drivers may drive. Anyone who drives a commercial motor vehicle must comply with these regulations.

Fatigue is a major cause of truck accidents. The effects of drowsiness have been shown to be as dangerous as being under the influence of alcohol. The Department of Transportation estimates that 755 deaths and 19,705 injuries result from fatigued drivers of all kinds of vehicles each year.

As of January 4th, 2004 the Hours-Of-Service rules say that a truck driver may not drive:

• More than 11 hours, after 10 hours of off-duty time
• Beyond the 14th hour after coming on-duty, following 10 hours of off-duty time
• After 60(or 70) hours on-duty in 7(or consecutive days

The 7 or 8 consecutive day period is reset after 34 consecutive hours of off-duty time.

Truck drivers are often expected to adhere to unreasonable delivery schedules by the companies they work for or they are paid by the miles that they drive. They are also subjected to many hours of uncompensated work each week as they wait on loading docks. This uncompensated time does count toward their on-duty time. This forces many of them to drive for unreasonable hours to make up for lost time.