Tractor-trailer crashes, especially those involving passenger vehicles, often cause significant destruction and result in serious injuries or deaths to motorists. Many of us fear driving alongside truckers yet can’t often articulate why that’s the case. Understanding the common factors in these collisions may shed some light on your rational fear of sharing the road with them.
Truck maintenance concerns
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires all truckers to perform a pre-trip inspection on their truck to confirm that their truck is roadworthy. Federal regulators also require fleet companies to track regular maintenance performed on the trucks. Many truckers and their employers regularly maintain their tractor-trailers, and failure to do so often results in crashes.
Distractions
Truckers are professionally-trained to operate their big rigs. They’re human, though, and just as apt to find themselves distracted by their smartphones, talking with others in their cab, their CB radios or navigation systems than any other motorists.
Trucker inexperience
Anyone wishing to operate a tractor-trailer must first successfully undergo classroom and on-the-ground training before securing their commercial driver’s license (CDL). While these programs cover a truck’s fundamental operation, they don’t adequately prepare new truckers to respond to unexpected issues that may arise, a factor that often results in inexperienced drivers having crashes.
Improper loading
How a logistics company loads its cargo, e.g., whether it secures it with straps or not, can significantly affect a trucker’s braking distance and cause a jackknife incident.
Drowsy driving
Truckers are much like car drivers in that they often drive after they’ve gotten less sleep than they should have. The imposition of several federal regulations requiring truckers to get a certain amount of rest before taking to the road hasn’t made as powerful an impact as lawmakers anticipated because truckers and their employers often bend the rules.
What you need to know about insurance companies
Insurers who provide coverage to tractor-trailer operators and fleet companies know serious injuries typically result from their clients’ accidents. They aggressively fight claims and aim to settle for as little as possible. That’s why you need a motor vehicle accident attorney here in Commerce who won’t back down if they deny liability in your Georgia case.