subject: Understanding The Most Common Causes Of Truck Accidents [print this page] Anyone who has driven across the United States is well aware of the thousands of heavy duty, and even light duty, trucks that fill the major roadways. They might carry cargo, mail, fuel, and a huge range of other materials. They are always extremely heavy and require a driver especially licensed to be operating such a dangerous machine.
Sadly, truck accidents are not rare and in the year 2008 alone there were more than ten thousand fatalities attributed to such incidents. A good bit of news, however, is that overall truck accidents are on a very steep decline with a 12 percent dip in the past few years. This might be attributed to a growing awareness of driver fatigue, and it might also have to do with an increase in monitoring of any mechanical defects.
Consider that one of the most common causes of all truck accidents is a manufacturer defect such as tires, brakes, power train problems, and even steering issues. Of course, not all accidents can be blamed on a flawed system or part, and many truck drivers will become involved in an accident for the exact same reason as the average driver of the average car--distraction.
Driver distraction is attributed as the number one cause of most traffic accidents. It can mean that a driver is fiddling with the radio, punching in a text message, drinking or eating, or even looking in their mirrors. It takes only a second for a serious accident to begin, and when a driver has impaired their reaction time through a distraction, this often escalates a minor incident into a serious one. When the driver is behind the wheel of a light or heavy truck, the issue is only made more severe. This is the primary reason that so many states now make it illegal to use such devices as PDAs and cell phones when driving any kind of automobile.
