Commercial truck accidents have devastating consequences for everyone involved. The sheer size of these vehicles means that thousands of Americans are injured each year in big truck accidents and hundreds are killed.
According to the Large Truck Crash Causation Study, the primary reason that big truck accidents occur is driver fatigue.
The study, commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, evaluated several factors to determine how sleep deprivation impacted truck drivers and their alertness levels.
The study looked at:
- Driver sleep history
- Driving Hours
- Fatigue
- Crash event data, including
- Inattention
- Distraction
Safety officials were able to determine that the role of sleep deprivation and driver fatigue in the hours immediately before a crash was vital in predicting whether a truck driver would be involved in an accident.
The study found that truck drivers who are sleep deprived find it more difficult to make the split second decisions necessary to avoid an accident. Additionally, tired drivers fall asleep at the wheel, veer into other lanes, drive at speeds not commensurate with other traffic and fail to adjust their driving to existing weather conditions.
While the large scale national truck accident study was able to identify several factors, including speeding, getting lost, and blind spots as additional causes of big truck accidents, driver fatigue accounted for more than 26 percent of big truck accidents.
Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers
If you have been injured in a truck accident, dont take on the insurance companies and truck owners by yourself. Truck drivers are supposed to adhere to strict sleeping and driving schedules. When they violated these obligations and cause a tragic accident, you and your family deserve financial compensation.
Get a legal advocate on your side. At GWC Injury Lawyers, our Chicago truck accident lawyershave been helping injured truck accident victims file lawsuits for decades.
Dont hesitate to contact us for a free truck accident consultation.
<< BACK TO BLOG POSTS