Semi-truck accidents that involve big rigs or other commercial vehicles are of the most dangerous vehicles on the public roads. Truck drivers and their operating companies are supposed to have extra training procedures in place to minimize these risks. A small error while driving a small car may cause a small accident, but a small error while driving a semi-truck leads to a serious accident.
There are a number of categories that consistently arise when trying to figure out whether or not the semi-truck driver or his employer was responsible for the accident. The most common cause of a semi-truck accident is due to visibility limitations and perception reaction times. In addition to perception reaction time, there are a number of other causes of Semi-Truck Accidents. They fall in a few categories:
- Non-sufficient training
- Hour violation
- Logbook violation
- Safety training
- Pressured scheduling
- Broker
- Encouraging profits over safety
- Safety
- Defensive driving
- Merging improperly
- Pulling into traffic
- Stopping on side of the freeway
- Re-entering freeway
- Failure to stop
- Brake failure
- Changing lanes
- Blind spots
- Crossing freeway.
This is a long list, and many of the causes seem common sense. However, common sense often isn’t so common. Semi-Trucks are much heavier, slower, and need significantly more caution to operate safely. For example, when a truck pulls over on the side of the road, and needs to get back up to speed, it will take nearly half a mile of clear freeway to be able to merge back on the road without causing an emergency (dangerous) situation for oncoming vehicles. Cars and normal vehicles do not have that same problem. Because the semi-truck is so much larger than standard vehicles, the thought process required of the driver must be thinking a few moves ahead. Common sense is not enough to be safe.
