There are more trucks on the road than ever before and this has lead to a serious rise in the number of personal injury claims. Truck accident attorneys will tell you just what rise they have seen in recent years, and this is undoubtedly the main reason behind it. The reason why this is bad news is that truck accidents have the potential to cause very serious injuries to multiple people, and the risk of fatalities after such an accident are much higher than those involving cars only. Here are some stats which may surprise you around truck accidents.
Rise in a Year
The number of truck accidents in 2019 saw an increase of 7,000 from the year before, which is one of the biggest rises we have seen in a single year for decades. The reason why we are using the statistics from 2019 is that in 2020 and 2021, many of us were living under conditions of the pandemic and that has skewed the results owing to less vehicles on the road. There is no doubt that the stats from 2022, when reviewed next year, will make for interesting reading.
Cause of Accidents
There are a number of reasons why truck accidents take place, but one of the most common reasons is tire defects. In fact this single reason for accidents makes up 30% of all truck related accidents on the road. This is clearly a big issues which trucking companies and tire manufacturers have to look into.
Driver Blame
As lawyers will know, there are many cases in which it is the truck driver who is to blame for an accident. Whilst in some cases they are under the influence, the main reason mis overly-aggressive driving. In fact this makes up 5% of all truck related accidents in the country. Additionally there are 100,000 crashes per year which are caused by sleep deprivation, which is of course something which trucking companies really need to deal with.
Not to Blame
It is easy to assume that accidents involving trucks are the fault of the truck or the driver, but this is actually not the case for the most part. Any truck accident attorney will tell you that they often find the fault to be with the car driver, and the stats very much back that up. In fact cars are responsible for around 80% of all truck related accidents.
Rural
Another worrying statistic finds that some 57% of all fatal accidents involving trucks take place in rural areas. Often this is down to the speed which the vehicle is moving at, owing to lower levels of traffic. It is for this reason why we are seeing a great change in speed limits and road use in those rural areas, in order to reduce the number of fatalities caused in this way.
Despite the increase in truck safety, it is clear that more has to be done in order to reduce the number of dangerous accidents.