Unfortunately, owing to the weight and the size of trucks on the road, accidents involving them are very serious indeed. Even though these trucks make ups small percentage of the overall number of accidents on the road, we cannot ignore the fact that they are certainly over-represented when it comes to the number of deaths and serious injuries which they cause. The truck driver of course is not always at fault, but these are the most common causes of truck accidents when this is the case.
Driving Under The Influence
Most people rightly think that it is a terrible idea to get behind the wheel when impaired with drink or drugs, but some people still do. What is even more crazy is that some truck drivers think that it is acceptable to do the same, despite the fact that they are in control of a potential death trap. This is still a common cause of accidents involving trucks, and the despite attempts from employers and law enforcement, it is still a problem on the roads today.
Poorly Loaded Cargo
Truck drivers have to place a lot of faith in the people who are loading their cargo, because of the impact which this weight balance makes. If cargo is incorrectly or insecurely loaded then it can come loose during the journey which will cause huge issues for the driver. Just imagine if you are in a truck, taking a corner when all of the cargo falls to one side. This will make the turn far too difficult and will push the driver to maneuver in a way that best protects other road users. In some cases we actually see trailers flip over, because of the weight ratio being out of kilter, caused by those who have loaded the cargo.
Tired Drivers
Some years ago truck drivers could keep going for as long as they wanted, and they would do so in order to make as much money as possible. In the modern age however this simply isn’t possible and there are strong laws in place which set the amount of hours which a driver can operate. In spite of this however, if this is not enforced by the employer, or if there are self-employed drivers, we often see this law flouted. The result is that we have drivers on the road who are suffering heavily with fatigue and who are in charge of these heavy pieces of machinery. As you can imagine, when these reflexes are slow, it can cause huge problems keeping those trucks safe on the road. This is yet another common cause of accident which we see involving these big trucks, and it is why more must be done to ensure that drivers are taking the correct amount of breaks and rest hours between shifts.
Such is the weight and the size of these trucks, they really can cause a huge amount of damage to other road users.