Truck Driver Fatigue and Other Factors
While 18-wheeler truck accidents have many causes, many
can be easily prevented. Such mishaps can result from causes as
varied as defective equipment, reckless driving; driving under the
influence of drugs or alcohol, poorly packed loads, unsafe road
conditions, and driver fatigue. While many truck drivers willingly
ignore state and federal regulations limiting the number of hours
per day they are permitted to drive, their own companies frequently
add to their stress by pressuring them to meet tight deadlines that
may require them to drive up to 100 hours a week-over 14 hours per
day. Such companies obviously have little or no regard for the driver's
safety and well-being, or that of nearby travelers and/or pedestrians.
The huge, heavy-laden rig operated by a sleepy, inattentive driver
becomes a devastating weapon, albeit unintentional, of destruction
and death to others, while the driver is rarely seriously injured
in a trucking accident.
The most common defense for truckers' accidents are bad road and/or
weather conditions, but studies actually reveal that the majority
of large truck crashes occur during daylight on weekdays, and on
dry roads in good weather!
Truck-accident injuries are no different from those resulting from
other vehicle accidents, although they more commonly and tragically
affect occupants of smaller vehicles involved in the incident. These
damages include brain and spinal cord damage; sprains; fractures;
abrasions; internal and soft tissue injuries; burn injuries; and
every other injury resulting from vehicular accidents.
In spite of strict federal regulations limiting working hours
for drivers of large trucks, truckers frequently exceed these limits
in their desire to deliver their loads on schedule, or to increase
their income by hauling more loads in a given time span. Even more
often, the driver is pressured by his company to exceed the federal
limit on driving hours in order to meet overly-tight schedules.
Less commonly--although a real factor in many accidents--is mechanical
failure, frequently from brakes or turn signals. "Jack-knifing"
often results in injury to occupants of other vehicles, and/or toxic
and hazardous chemical spills that endanger the environment, other
motorists, and pedestrians.
Drivers of non-commercial vehicles should be attentive to the
driving patterns of nearby large trucks, and use caution when the
truck approaches and passes, as well as when the smaller-vehicle
driver is approaching and passing a large truck.
Following an 18-Wheeler accident, you'll have serious questions.
What about rent, utilities, car payments, food, clothes, soccer
uniforms and prom dresses? Do you have enough legal knowledge and
experience to make the right choices to protect your family? Call
and someone at our law firm will talk to you over the telephone
about your injury, your family and your future. Our law firm wants
to help you and we're very good at what we do. Call the Ogletree
Abbott Law Firm at 1 (800) 779-4950. Or, send us an email and a
legal professional will contact you right away.
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