Common Causes Of Trucking Accidents In St Petersburg
Michael Babboni
Law
Trucking accidents are rarer than automobile accidents, but the results are often far more serious when they occur. The reason for this is simple physics. A professional, cargo-hauling commercial truck has more size and mass than anything else on the road. When it impacts another object that greater size and mass will result in more damage.Getting into a trucking accident is not always the same as other auto accidents. There are different reasons why this can happen. Here are some of the most common reasons trucking accidents happen.
Unreasonable Deadlines
Professional trucking is about delivering cargo within a specified window of time, but the delivery schedule posted by some trucking companies may not be realistic for drivers expected to follow traffic laws or recommended safe driving protocols, such as being alert and well-rested.
Some trucking companies like to issue very tight delivery schedules that force drivers to break speed limits or not sleep to meet deadlines. This way, the choice to ignore laws and regulations ostensibly was the choice of the truck driver, and the company can claim they didn’t force the driver to break any laws.
Poor Training
Driving a truck requires a slightly different skill set from driving an automobile. The greater size and mass of a truck do not make for a direct 1:1 translation of driving skills. This is why having a commercial trucking license is separate from having a normal driving license for vehicles like cars and SUVs.
If a driver has not taken to truck training properly, this considerably raises the margin for driver error on the road. Should an accident occur, the fault lies with the driver and the inability to take the lessons learned to heart.
Poor Maintenance
Unlike a car that spends more time parked or in a garage than it does on the road, trucks spend most of their time hard at work, hauling freight down local and interstate highways. This means that in addition to consuming far more fuel, the components also need more attention and servicing.
Of course, that takes time and money, and some unscrupulous companies try to save money by neglecting truck maintenance. However, if an accident occurs because brakes were in disrepair and a trucking company felt it was more important for the truck to make deliveries than being taken to a garage and out of commission during repair time, that’s negligence and the direct fault of the company.
Loading Error
As with poor maintenance, a loading error is often not the truck driver’s fault. Large cargo, such as logs, requires specialized loading that other groups do. However, should the cargo loading not be adequate, this can result in serious accidents on the road, such as improperly secured logs slipping off the trailer and onto the road into the traffic behind the truck. While this is a serious error, the truck driver played no role.
This is why careful investigation and legal action with a truck accident attorney must be taken when a truck accident occurs. It is never a given that the truck driver is at fault. Many other factors beyond the truck driver’s control play a role.