Among vehicle accidents, Truck accident injuries are frequently fatal. Contact Monheit Law if a family member has been involved in a fatal traffic accident. Fatal traffic accidents kill thousands of people each year.
Every year thousands of trucking fatalities occur -- people are killed and hundreds of thousands more are injured as the result of truck accidents.
In 2003, 457,000 large trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds were involved in traffic crashes in the United States; 4,669 trucks were involved in fatal traffic accidents.
The costs for fatal traffic accidents exceed $20 billion, including $8.7 billion in productivity losses, $2.5 billion in resource costs, and quality of life losses valued at $13.1 billion. A truck is considered large if its gross vehicle weight rating exceeds 10,000 pounds.
The most common causes for fatal traffic accidents are:
- Lack of training on the part of the truck driver
- Overloaded trucks
- Oversized trucks
- Poorly maintained truck brakes
- Driving in conditions of poor visibility due to fog, snow, rain, or smoke (e.g. Truck rain accident)
- Truck driver inexperience
- Fatigued, sleepy or tired driver; driving too long and too many hours without rest
- Speeding over the limit or driving at high speeds beyond the road and weather conditions
- Running off the road
- Failure to yield the right of way
- Aggressive driving behavior
- Truck drivers driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol
- Driving the truck in bad weather conditions
- Dangerous or reckless truck driver with a long record of wrecks and fatal traffic accidents
- Unsafe safety systems, reflectors, lights, and other warning devices
- Failure of truck to install an under-ride protection under-guard.
Contact Monheit Law for a Pennsylvania lawyer handling truck accidents and pharmaceutical drug cases.