subject: Some Typical Reasons Why Truck Accidents Happen [print this page] Some Typical Reasons Why Truck Accidents Happen
Thanks to the long hours that truck drivers spend behind the wheel and the thousands of miles they travel annually, Americans get essential items delivered to them, such as millions of packages, mobile homes and other large items, as well as equipment. Trucks called "18-wheelers" often carry as much as a thousand pounds of goods as they make their deliveries. Driving these vehicles can be a very dangerous enterprise, despite the fact that this country's shipping industry would come to a standstill without trucks.
Accidents involving these large 18-wheel vehicles are disastrous and often involve loss of life because of their size and the tremendous cargo they carry. Believe it or not, it is often the trucking companies that hire individuals to drive these monsters that is the cause of many trucking accidents, even though many accidents also result from defective trucks, drivers who is negligent behind the wheel, or irresponsible drivers in other vehicles.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which sets safety standards for the trucking industry, restricts the amount of time each day that an individual who drives an 18-wheeler can spend behind the wheel. Hours of service is the term used to describe this restriction. The primary objective of this rule is to make sure truck drivers aren't endangering other vehicles and their passengers by falling asleep at the wheel. As a means of getting goods shipped more quickly, some trucking companies will actually compel their drivers to work longer than the prescribed time, or they simply turn a blind eye to drivers who exceed this limit. Regardless of the reason, these trucking companies are allowing their drivers to become a serious threat on American roadways.
Hiring inexperienced drivers is yet another potentially life-threatening error that trucking companies make. There are some trucking companies that simply don't take the time to find out as much as possible about the driving histories of the individuals they hire to operate their trucks. The result is that a person applying to work for a trucking company could very well have a record filled with safety violations, someone no reputable trucking company would want to hire. It makes sense not to give a driver who has been cited and fired for driving recklessly more opportunities to continue this pattern by hiring them to work for the trucking company.
An additional problem that besets the trucking industry is the failure to properly train its drivers. Shopping on the Internet has created a husge demand for shipping, and trucking companies are scrambling to hire new drivers to meet it. Driving an 18-wheeler requires a very unique skill set that involves precision in order to operate these vehicles safely. The ability to drive these huge trucks skilffully needs to be imparted to new drivers through rigorous training. Poorly trained drivers are often allowed to get behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler because many trucking companies simply won'to spend what they consider to be valuable resources on training.
Finally, ensuring that the trucks on our roads are safe, trucking companies must make sure they are in proper working order through regular maintenance. Checking brakes and inspecting engines are just a few of the regular maintenance activities that must be performed on these vehicles. Lives can be saved when trucking companies use a portion of their profit to ensure that their trucks are as safe as possible.
