If you drive a truck for a living you’re more than likely familiar with the amount of truck accidents that happen in the Los Angeles area. Workplace accidents aren’t uncommon by any means and most employers do all that they can to keep their employees safe. However, when you’re on the road, accidents happen no matter how well your rig is or how prepared you are as a driver.
Commercial trucks can present dangers to smaller cars and vans on the road which makes a truck driver’s job a bit more stressful. They have to be aware of everything around them. This is especially important since other drivers might not be taking the same precautions. When drivers are reckless or simply unaware of the vehicles around them, accidents happen. When this happens, you should contact a Los Angeles truck accident attorney like the experts at Jacoby & Meyers, in order to get the satisfaction you deserve.
When Trucks are to Blame
Truck drivers are well-trained and understand the rules of the road, but the size and cumbersome nature of rigs can present problems of their own. When paired with inadequate driving skills or carelessness these problems can be magnified. Truck drivers are on the road for long periods of time in order to meet strict deadlines and stick to rather unrealistic schedules. This encourages them to drive faster than they should and become more reckless. If a driver is tired, they may not be as aware of their surroundings and might change lanes when there is no clearance or they might even fall asleep at the wheel and drift into oncoming traffic.
Flores, Tawney, and Acosta explain that the amount of things that can go wrong on the road when a truck driver is either ill-prepared or out of sorts are endless. Even with technology monitoring trucks more closely than ever, human error is as big a factor as ever.
Where Passenger Driver Vehicles are to Blame
Truck drivers aren’t always at fault when it comes to accidents on the road. There are plenty of times when passenger vehicles are to blame for accidents with rigs or other commercial trucks. These accidents are usually due to the lack of understanding of trucks’ capabilities on the part of the passenger vehicle’s driver.
For example, if a driver doesn’t understand that trucks can’t brake as fast as other vehicles, they will cut in front of them and potentially cause an accident. Similarly, drivers might not understand the smaller window of visibility that truck drivers have which can cause accidents, too.
Some of the common mistakes passenger vehicles make that causes truck accidents are driving in a truck’s blind spot (behind and alongside a truck with limited visibility), changing lanes too close to the front of the truck, misjudging a truck’s speed at a turn or intersection, and unsafe passing. Accidents can also happen when a passenger vehicle gets caught up in air turbulence or a cross-wind caused by them passing a truck at an unsafe speed.
In order to avoid causing these accidents, drivers are encouraged to pay attention to their surroundings when driving on the road with commercial trucks and take all necessary precautions to prevent truck accidents.
If you are involved in a truck accident and are in the Los Angeles area, be sure to contact a credible Los Angeles truck accident attorney to handle your case.
Photo credit: Steve Paine / Flickr
