5 Most Common Causes of Truck Accidents

One of the leading causes of death in the United States continues to be automobile accidents. Many people think that they are safe driving so much because they are driving large trucks. However, in 2019 alone, more than 4,000 people died in large truck accidents.

Truck accidents are not especially uncommon. In fact, there are a few common causes that are responsible for most truck accidents. However, there are ways to avoid these most common causes of truck accidents can greatly reduce the chance that you end up in an accident.

So what exactly are the most common causes of truck accidents? Read on to learn all about the most important things to understand about the most common causes of truck accidents and what you can do to avoid them.

Fatigue Causes Truck Accidents

If you talk to a truck accident lawyer, they will tell you that many accidents they work with are the result of people driving while they are tired. In fact, that is often a cause of accidents for automobiles as well as for large trucks.

At the end of the day, when you drive so often, the whole driving process can start to feel extremely automatic and routine. When you combine that with long hours, it makes a lot of sense that people end up tired and start to nod off.

On top of that, people are the least likely to be making the wisest decisions when they are tired. Unfortunately, that means that at the time that it is most important to exercise some discretion and pull over to get some rest, people are least likely to do so.

People use a variety of tools to help themselves stay alert while they are driving. Some people put on loud music. Other people force themselves to keep moving while they continue to drive.

In general, it is worth making a resolution to yourself. If you feel the need to sleep, decide in advance that you will pull over to get sleep. It is not worth risking your life to continue driving.

Car Wrecks Often Result From Distraction

Driving for a long period of time can be uninteresting. As a result, people are always interested in a variety of ways to keep themselves entertained as they drive down the road.

Unfortunately, there is a fine line between entertainment and distraction. Many people end up entertaining themselves so well that they forget to keep their full attention on the road.

In most cases, it is not that big a deal if somebody indulges in a little bit too much entertainment. However, if you do so while driving, the results can be fatal. On top of that, they could be fatal for you as well as for other drivers.

It is for that reason that distracted driving is looked down on. Courts do not have a lot of sympathy for people who cause accidents because they were distracted while entertaining themselves.

Inebriation Can Lead to a Car Crash

Of course, even the best lawyer would struggle to help someone who caused a car crash due to inebriation. There is a reason that there are laws against driving while inebriated. It is impossible to maintain the same level of skill and attention that drivers can maintain while sober and rested.

Some people think about alcohol alone when it comes to inebriated driving. The truth is that various drugs can have just as much of an inebriating effect. One of the more common drugs to use while driving is marijuana.

Marijuana changes your perceptions of reality and your reaction times. It can be just as detrimental to your driving as drinking.

Breaking the Rules of the Road Can Cause an Accident

The rules of the road exist for a reason. At the same time, sometimes they seem silly. They especially seem silly when they only make sense in the context of multiple drivers.

A rule that seems to make no sense might exist because it creates a safer driving dynamic when multiple drivers on the road are following it at the same time. But if drivers do not understand that, they may feel that the rule does not deserve to be followed.

The end result is that people sometimes break the rules of the road. One of the most common ways to break the rules of the road is to speed.

This is unfortunate because speeding is one of the worst ways to break the rules of the road. There is not a linear increase in damage when a crash occurs at a higher speed. Instead, the damage increases exponentially as speeds increase linearly.

The end result is that differences in speed that seem small can lead to huge differences in danger.

Faulty Equipment Can Lead to an Accident

Sometimes, accidents happen to good drivers. In some cases, that is because their vehicle is not functioning properly. In other cases, it is because the weather is simply too bad to drive in.

In many cases, it is worth not driving at all if the weather is too bad. It is also important to remember that performing maintenance on your vehicle is part of being a good driver.

Understand the Most Common Causes of Truck Accidents

We hope that some of the ideas in this brief article about the most common causes of truck accidents have been helpful for you. Unfortunately, many people end up in dangerous or even fatal accidents because of the same few mistakes. On the bright side, that means that simply avoiding these few mistakes can eliminate the majority of the probability of ending up in an accident like that.

At the end of the day, driving can be dangerous work. It is more than worth putting in some extra time and effort to understand how to decrease your chance of injury. To learn more about how you should manage the legal side of things if you end up in an accident, feel free to reach out and get in touch with us here at any time!