Common Mistakes Causing Truck Accidents

The big problem with truck accidents is that they are almost always really serious. A truck is heavy, large and can cause serious damage. Commercial truck drivers always take huge responsibility whenever they start moving the truck. This is why you can only drive such vehicles when you are certified and you go through special training.

When truck accidents happen, personal injury attorneys tend to be involved. This is because personal injury claims almost always apply. It is always important to do all that is possible to stop the accidents from happening in the first place. If this was not done, the courts decide that negligence caused the truck accidents.

According to Rees Law truck accident lawyers, the negligence that appears usually happens because of some simple mistakes that could have easily been avoided. Those mistakes that are really common are presented below.

Driver Fatigue

This is one of the most common truck accident causes and can be incredibly dangerous. There are federal regulations in place that limit how many hours the truck driver can remain on the road before rest is forced. The problem is that these regulations are often not enough to stop the truck driver from experiencing fatigue. There are so many trucking companies that pay their driver by a mile. Truckers try to make as much money as possible so they end up exhausting themselves with the purpose of earning more money.

Experience Lack

Inexperience is often not discussed but can cause serious injuries. In the trucking industry, the highly experienced truck drivers are always respected and paid more. This is because of the fact that they have really high hands-on experience, which can be considered to be priceless. The novice driver is normally naïve and can easily make mistakes.

Truck Maintenance Problems

This can be disastrous. Truck accidents are not always caused by the driver and some errors that he/she made. It is possible that there is some sort of malfunction that happened. Also, a serious situation is that in which the trucking company showed negligence with fleet maintenance. Routine truck maintenance is needed. When this does not happen and the faulty truck causes an accident, the company is held responsible and needs to pay compensation fees.

Improper Truck Loading

Numerous possible improper cargo loading problems can appear. All freight need to be loaded and then secured in a proper way. This prevents so many possible injuries and accidents. If loading is improper, it can cause uneven weight distribution and shifting. These are serious contributing factors for numerous truck accidents these days.

Distracted Driving

In many parts of the world, this is the main cause for all accidents, including those involving trucks. Distracted driving is much more common now than in the past since drivers have access to numerous technologies they can be distracted by. LCD navigation systems and smartphones are common examples of that. With truck drivers, in particular, the common distractions that do cause serious accidents are smoking, reading, turning on the radio, texting and eating.