According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), driver error or negligence accounts for 83 percent of the large truck accidents that happen each year. These generally occur because of mistakes or reckless actions by a trucker or trucking company.
Vehicle malfunctions, like brake failures, come in a distant second, causing up to 10 percent of collisions.
When a truck driver acts negligently, or the trucking company fails to uphold its duty to only put safe, well-trained drivers on the road, the risk of collisions increases exponentially. Victims hurt in these crashes generally hold the driver and/or their employer accountable. Consult a truck accident lawyer to navigate your case effectively.
Most Truck Accidents Occur Because of Driver Negligence
When a commercial truck driver acts carelessly or recklessly behind the wheel, their negligence often causes serious accidents. Victims suffer life-altering, catastrophic injuries and even death.
Driving tractor-trailer trucks and other large commercial vehicles requires proper training and careful due diligence. Some ways negligent truck drivers cause and contribute to collisions include:
Failing to Check Blind Spots
Also known as No Zones, blind spots on large trucks are huge areas around the vehicle’s front, back, and sides where a driver cannot see. Still, truck drivers must check and double-check their blind spots before changing lanes, turning, or merging. They must confirm all the areas around their trucks are clear. Failure to do so could cause a serious collision.
Disregarding Traffic Signals
Commercial truck drivers must obey all traffic signals, including yield signs, stop lights, and stop signs. Disregarding traffic signals is a common cause of collisions for vehicles of any size and weight.
Failure to Yield
All drivers must yield when turning, when they have a yield sign, in certain types of roadway junctions, and when merging onto the highway or interstate. Commercial truck drivers who fail to yield are among the most common causes of semi-truck accidents.
Improper Passing or Turning
With a heavy truck and long trailer, passing and turning safely requires training, care, and experience. They must make extra wide turns using careful planning and execution.
They must consider their blind spots, yield to other traffic, and consider how wide they must swing to avoid nearby cars. Commercial truck drivers who fail to properly perform those maneuvers often cause serious or even fatal collisions.
Intersection Errors
Errors while maneuvering through interactions can result in deadly collisions and serious injury accidents. The incidents frequently occur at intersections with signals. However, Federal Highway Administration data shows these accidents are much more common at uncontrolled intersections with stop signs, yield signs, or no signs at all.
Failure to yield the right of way and ignoring traffic signs and signals are the most common ways drivers make intersection errors that cause collisions.
Tailgating
Semi-trucks have a much greater stopping distance and time than other vehicles because they weigh up to 35,000 pounds without any cargo and 80,000 fully loaded. When a truck driver tailgates the cars in front of them, they fail to consider this. A rear-end collision when traffic stops for some reason could result in significant damage to other vehicles and injuries to their occupants.
Even when a vehicle cuts in front of a truck, the trucker must slow down to keep the appropriate space in front of them. This is the best way to prevent these crashes.
Unsafe Lane Changes
Unsafe lane changes on packed highways commonly cause collisions involving commercial vehicles. Changing lanes requires combining several tricky maneuvers, including checking blind spots and yielding to other drivers in the lane.
Truck drivers must confirm that the lane is clear before they move into it. They usually do this by turning on their turn signal, checking the lane, double-checking their blind spots, and only merging into that lane once they are sure it is clear.
Unsafe Speed
When piloting large commercial trucks, CDL drivers must pay close attention to their speed. They need to stick to the posted speed limit and avoid driving too fast for the current conditions. Maneuvering too quickly in a large rig could cause the driver to lose control and jackknife or roll the truck.
Truckers should also know where on their route the speed limit is lower. Some areas have a lower speed limit for commercial trucks than passenger cars. The posted speed limit might allow passenger vehicles to go 70 miles per hour, but limit commercial trucks to 60 miles per hour instead.
Driver Fatigue
Driver fatigue is a serious issue in commercial trucking. That’s why the FMCSA created Hours of Service Regulations. These rules limit how long commercial truck drivers can remain behind the wheel without resting.
Of course, even when following these regulations, fatigue can occur. Drowsy driving contributes to many crashes without hours of service violations. Circumstances such as being sick, not sleeping well, having sleep apnea, or taking certain medications can contribute to drowsiness while driving and even falling asleep behind the wheel.
Drugged Drivers
Drugged driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving, and the number of violations appears to be on the rise, according to reports published in Transport Topics.
Prescription, over-the-counter, and street drugs can all have intoxicating effects on drivers, affecting their judgment, reaction times, and overall ability to drive safely.
Commercial truck drivers are testing positive for marijuana, cocaine, and other street drugs more often than ever before. Over 80,000 drivers landed in prohibited driving status in 2021, potentially preventing many serious accidents.
Drunk Driving
As with drugs, driving while impaired by alcohol affects reaction times, judgment, and the ability to make good decisions behind the wheel. Still, drivers continue to get behind the wheel after drinking.
Many states, including California, have a significantly lower blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for truck drivers than others. Here, large truck drivers with a BAC of over 0.04 percent are guilty of drunk driving. Testing for drugs and alcohol is mandatory following any tractor-trailer crash.
Distracted Driving
According to reports from the FMCSA, more than 70 percent of commercial truck driving accidents occur while the driver is doing something in addition to driving. Texting while driving, changing the radio station, and even reading passing billboards cause potentially deadly distractions. Some drivers are distracted enough by things going on in their own minds to lose concentration.
Staying focused on the road ahead is a top priority for large truck drivers. A distracted driving crash involving two passenger cars is often devastating. When they involve large, heavy commercial vehicles, they put many lives at risk. Even a short moment of inattention or distraction is enough traffic to stop ahead or other obstacles to appear.
Other Parties’ Negligence Could Cause Truck Accidents, Too
The trucking company and other parties could cause truck accidents despite not being in the cab when the crash occurs. Generally, trucking companies or those who employ at-fault truck drivers are vicariously liable for accidents under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior.
However, a trucking company is sometimes negligent and directly liable in a crash case. This occurs due to:
Unrealistic Schedules
Trucking companies must remain realistic when creating delivery schedules for their drivers. Including too many stops or too much distance in a strict timeline could result in several critical issues, including drivers violating hours of service, loading teams cutting corners, or drivers taking unnecessary risks.
Some companies do not have a culture where drivers can question the assigned route or unrealistic schedule or discuss changes to make it more reasonable with dispatch. When the company assigns these schedules and dispatches these trucks, they are likely liable for any accidents that occur as a result.
Unsecured Loads
Improperly or unsecured cargo could spill, blocking the roadway, causing traffic accidents, and hitting nearby vehicles. These can be deadly accidents. Even when unsecured cargo remains inside the trailer, significant shifts are possible. A change in the weight distribution could cause it to tip over, usually while turning or changing lanes.
The trucking company, warehouse, or distribution center might be legally liable for an accident caused by an unsecured load. This will depend greatly on the specific details of the accident.
Visual Obstructions
When traveling with an oversized load, truck drivers may find it impossible to see around their cargo or manage other tasks, such as ensuring their cargo can pass through the route assigned. They must have a crew available to help.
These crew members are responsible for relaying info to the driver, managing the route, and warning other motorists about the large, oversized load. The trucking company must provide this crew in situations when the driver cannot safely drive without them.
Oversized Loads
With a permit, trucking companies sometimes have their drivers carry oversized loads. In some cases, the load might also be wider than the truck, causing the vehicle to take up two lanes or more. When this occurs, visual obstructions are not the only concern.
Exceptional care must be put into transporting oversized loads. The trucking company must follow many regulations and stipulations and pass them along to their drivers. When they fail to do so, accidents are more likely.
Poorly Planned Routes
Commercial tractor-trailer trucks are not designed for some roads. Twisty roadways, narrow lanes, and low overpasses all pose major challenges. Truck drivers with poorly planned routes might get stuck, jackknife, or cause major traffic issues for others while they try to navigate their way through.
Trucking companies must properly plan their drivers’ routes to avoid frustration for their drivers and an increased risk of accidents for others sharing the roads.
Poorly Screened Truck Drivers
Trucking companies must properly vet their drivers through the FMCSA Pre-Employment Screening Program. This program aims to put the best of the best behind the wheel, reducing collisions and saving lives. Having the knowledge, skills, and experience to safely operate a big rig goes far beyond holding a current CDL.
Understaffed or over-obligated companies sometimes forgo a careful screening process. Some companies hire drivers with bad driving records, a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and other major red flags. This is negligent hiring.
If the company learns about violations and continues to use the driver, this is negligent retention. Either way, the trucking company is likely liable for any accident the driver causes.
Other Compliance Violations
Compliance violations stem from violating any state or federal rule or regulation in place to prevent accidents and promote safe driving.
According to statistics published in Work Truck, the most common acute compliance violations in one recent year included:
- Driving with a suspended or revoked CDL
- Failing to implement an alcohol and drug testing program
- Failing to implement a random testing program
- Driving with more than one CDL
- Failing to randomly test for drugs and alcohol
Trucking companies are responsible for major compliance violations in their drivers, trucks, or organizations. When an accident occurs because of a compliance violation—an intoxicated driver for a company that failed to test its employees, for example—the company is liable.
You Must Prove the Cause of a Truck Accident to Recover Compensation
Why is it important to understand the common causes of semi-truck accidents and who might be responsible for different types of negligence? First, knowing the causes could help you drive defensively and avoid a collision. More importantly to many reading this, you must prove the cause of a truck accident to recover compensation as a victim.
If you were hurt in a devastating truck accident, you may be facing bills for hospitalization, lost income, and the need to replace your totaled vehicle. The only way to recover that money and cover these costs is to show how the negligent truck driver or company caused your accident and resulting losses.
At Wilshire Law Firm, we are here for you. We have the knowledge and skills to help you seek justice and recoup your losses. We take building strong injury cases seriously. We know how to show negligence occurred and identify the liable party or parties. Let our team begin work on your case today.
Discuss Your California Truck Accident Case With Our Team for Free
Contact the experienced, relentless personal injury lawyers at Wilshire Law Firm for your free case review today. We’ve collected over $1 billion for our injured clients and their loved ones. Call us 24/7 at (213) 335-2402 or use our online contact form to get started.
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Driver negligence causes most truck accidents. If you’re a victim, seek help from an experienced truck accident lawyer today.
