Causes of Large Truck Accidents

If there is one thing that causes complete havoc and often death on the highways these days, it's big rigs involved in crashes.

There usually isn't any contest winner when it comes to a large rig colliding with a passenger vehicle. Most accidents of this nature result in extremely serious injuries, if not fatalities. What is food for thought are the numbers of large trucks cruising on our highways, and that number is well over 14,000,000 according to the Bureau of Transportation statistics.

The most recent statistics available for truck crashes from 2007 indicate total injuries reported were in the range of 81,000, with over 4,500 being fatal crashes. The numbers don't get any better when tracking non-fatal accidents either, with over 55,000 injury crashes logged.

What's going on here? Why are there are so many large rig crashes? Many of the reasons don't take too much thought, and the first things that generally come to mind are speeding, driving while under the influence of some illegal substance, driving while drunk, driver fatigue, and tire blow outs.

There are many other reasons, most of which are not quite as common, but do figure into the fatality statistics, such as driving too fast for the weather or road conditions, not yielding the right of way, driving aggressively, backing up without using due care and attention, improperly trained drivers, driving without a proper license, overweight loads, and vehicle or maintenance failures. With all that going on, it's not much wonder the rate of accidents on the nation's highways is as high as it is.

The difficult thing about a trucking accident happens to be that trucking companies are regulated by the federal government. A lawsuit in this area can get quite convoluted and is one of the major reasons you really need to hire an experienced and aggressive attorney with a good track record in handling big rig crashes.

Consider this added bit of information about truck drivers when you are wondering why the rate of accidents involving big rigs is so high. A truck driver may earn roughly 30 cents a mile. If that trucker wants to hit the $32,000 mark a year for salary, s/he is going to be driving a LOT of miles. Many of those miles are done with one thing in mind, cutting the overhead costs of operation. This leads to drivers who speed, drive past their log out time and drive more aggressively in order to make a decent wage.

If you or someone you love has been involved in a big rig crash, immediately consult with a highly-skilled, large truck crash attorney in order to get justice.

Lance Sharp of The Sharp Firm is an Austin personal injury lawyer specializing in personal injury and accident law in Austin Texas. The lawyers at The Sharp Firm have a collective 40 years experience in being Austin injury lawyers. To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.