Of all trucks, 18 wheelers are considered to be deadliest to get involved in an accident. An 18 wheeler can be around 70 to 80 ft lengthwise and 80,000 pounds in weight. No combination truck should exceed this legal limit of length and weight. These trucks cause great property damage or loss of life, when compared to other trucks. Big rigs or 18 wheelers are frequent on interstate roads.
Prompt delivery is usually stressed by dispatchers, which may motivate a driver to drive, even when they are fatigued. Most drivers, fall asleep behind the wheel due to tiredness, which may cause a fatal accident. Because of such heavy weight and length, even if the truck grazes a vehicle, the impact will be huge, so a full fledged accident will usually cause fatalities.
Data for 18 Wheelers
Statistics for the year 2005 for the Unites States, observe 5, 212 fatal accidents that were caused due to 18 wheelers. For every 8 truck related traffic fatality, fatigue related statistics show, about 20% of truck drivers admit that they have fallen asleep while driving, once during their three months driving tenure.
According to IITS statistics, 12% of interstate truck drivers had stimulants without prescription, less than 1% had alcohol, while 15% had marijuana, making driving under influence of drugs the prime reason for truck driver’s fault in truck accidents.
According to FARS data for year 2009, out of 2,334 combination trucks, around 11.5%(268 trucks) were involved in Rollover incidents. While from 90 trucks with two or more trailers, around 12.2% (11 trucks) were affected with Jackknife occurrence. Collision with non fixed objects and non motorists were observed to be at 364, which amounted to 11.3 % of truck accidents.
Statistics
Most truck accidents are caused due to driving under intoxication, which is also a cause of many regular traffic related accidents. 30 percent of traffic accident deaths had alcohol or intoxication as a reason. Medications both prescribed and non prescribed, that interfered with driving abilities came second in the top reasons for traffic accidents. Truck drivers took to consuming stimulants because of greater pressure for prompt delivery. This goes to show that more often, the trucking company is indirectly responsible for an accident that was caused by a truck driver. Factors like slippery road and other circumstances also cause fatal accidents, when 18 wheelers are considered.
What Causes 18 wheeler accidents?
- Since 18 wheelers have so many tires and brakes (10 brakes) to operate, braking time required is more by 40%. If the motorist ahead stops abruptly without signaling, an 18 wheeler behind may not be able to stop, without hitting or killing the motorist.
- Speeding is also a cause of such deadly accidents. In fact, it is observed that about 20% of traffic accidents are caused due to speeding.
- Poor maintenance on the part of a trucking company or owner of 18 wheelers may result in equipment malfunction and cause a fatal accident.
- Driver fatigue is among the most commonly cited reasons as the cause of fatal 18 wheeler accidents.
- Jackknife accident is caused when the tires skid out of control, thus swinging the trailers to a 90degree position against that of trucks, thus injuring or killing motorists along the way.
- 18 wheeler trucks have trailers at a greater height, which can cause truck underride accident. If a truck is not installing underrides, it may result in fatal accidents.
- Wheels of 18 wheelers may blow out and cause fatal accidents.
Tips to Avoid 18 wheeler accidents
- A truck driver should check on the working and condition of equipments, before heading for delivery. Avoiding all distractions while driving is a good measure that should be followed by a truck driver.
- A motorist driving ahead or behind a truck, should maintain fair distance, to stay protected, in case of jackknife or blow out, causing underride accidents.
- A motorist should use proper hand signals apart from indicators on their automobiles, to avoid any accidents that occur from missed signals.
- A motorist should not overtake an 18 wheeler, and slow down immediately, this may result in fatal rear end crash.
Tips for Victims
- If they are able to move around and feel alright, they should take license information from the truck driver and other contact information about the trucking company.
- It is good to take pictures of road when the accident occurred, if there are any fluids that caused skid and jackknife accident, thus damaging victim’s property without loss of life.
- They should call the police and take contact information of witnesses like email address, phone numbers, residential addresses etc.
- Most importantly, they should hire a competent attorney who has a good success record in handling truck related cases.
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