How Common Are Semi-truck Accidents?

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Semi-truck accidents are usually severe and result in severe, often fatal, injuries. In addition, when you’re involved in a semi-truck accident, you could be left with very expensive medical costs. That’s why it’s so vital that you should be aware of 18-wheelers on the road. Additionally, we will educate you on how common semi-truck accidents are to mitigate risk when you’re on the road. 

Semi-truck Accident Statistics

The following is a breakdown of the number of accidents and types of accidents that occurred in 2008:

  • 123,918 large trucks and 13,263 buses were involved in non-fatal crashes
  • 49,084 large trucks and 7,123 buses were involved in injury crashes
  • 2,609 large trucks and 11 buses were involved in hazmat (HM) placard crashes

Most trucking accidents occur in rural regions rather than the urban city-regions you would expect. To the tune of 68%, believe it or not. Most occur during the day, which makes sense because there’s more traffic at that time, and 80% of those are on weekends. Another surprising fact is that most large truck crashes occur when the weather is fine, clear and dry. 

How Often do they Occur?

Recently, the frequency of trucking accidents has been going up. Fatalities are going down, but one source reported that in 2017, only 153,254 trucking accidents occurred compared to the 151,246 crashes in 2016.

Determining Liability

Determining liability for regular car wrecks is usually pretty straightforward. However, it’s more difficult for semi-truck accidents. Authorities may need to investigate a commercial vehicle’s history. The driver’s employer may be at fault for breaking hours of service regulations, or some form of driver negligence could cause the accident. For example, if it was a mechanical failure, failure to maintain its fleet, failure to provide drivers with adequate training, or overworking its drivers. 

 

We want to educate you about these large truck crashes, so you know what to do if you’ve been in a wreck with a semi-truck. You should be very aware on the road, especially when around one or more semi-trucks. If you’ve been involved in a semi-truck accident recently, contact Reynolds & Reynolds Law Firm in Frisco, Texas, for more information on how to handle your claim. We can help you get everything settled!