Big rig, diesel truck drivers are slaughtering innocents in 18 wheeler truck accidents
Drivers of the barreling behemoths known as an 18 wheeler, big rig, semi truck, diesel truck or tractor trailer aren’t that different from those in far smaller cars. That is to say, too many of them are guilty of inattention, when all it takes is a moment to cause a traffic accident fatality or serious injury.
Large trucks have caused many of those lately, including four deaths in a horrific Phoenix, AZ crash when a dump truck driver — who admits he was doing paperwork while driving — slammed into nine motorcycles which had stopped at a red light. Just days earlier, an 18 wheeler in Kentucky careened into a van, killing 11 members of a church.
Also recently, a trucker crashed into a woman’s car when its driver was watching streaming pornography on a laptop computer; a big rig sparked a 50-car pileup in Wyoming; a tractor trailer ran into the rear of a Greyhound Bus in Bowling Green, KY; and a truck smashed into the back of a van in Indiana.
As with car wrecks, the cause of many of these large truck accidents may have been driver distractions, from paperwork and laptops to cell phones and texts. An 80,000 pound truck traveling at 70 miles per hour can go the length of a football field in the time it takes its driver to read a text, and even then such huge vehicles need more time and space to stop than smaller, lighter cars. It’s called physics.
In short, drivers of diesel trucks, tractor trailers, big rigs, semi trucks and 18 wheelers bear a larger responsibility on our roads, due to their larger vehicles which cause such greater damage. Indeed, while only 3 per cent of vehicles on America’s roads are big rigs, they are involved in far more traffic accident fatalities: 12 per cent of those nationally, 10 per cent of those in Illinois, and 15 per cent of those in Missouri.
Long-haul truck drivers also may not get enough sleep, and when they do sleep, they may suffer from a condition called sleep apnea. Such sleep disruption makes them more tired when they’re behind the wheel.
Anything which reduces a trucker’s awareness and alertness for even a second can cause a truck crash that kills and injures horribly. No mere diversion is worth that. Truckers must hold themselves accountable for driving with greater caution, because too many lives are at stake.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by a diesel truck driver or other big rig drivers, alert a semi truck accident lawyer or tractor trailer accident lawyer with USALegalHelpCenter.com. We can provide you with an 18 wheeler accident lawyer or diesel truck accident lawyer in any of America’s 50 states.
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Last week’s national summit on distracted driving brought much needed attention to a malady that’s killing and maiming thousands of Americans. It seems cell phone calling and texting along with web surfing is an addiction, and people can’t seem to stop doing it, even when engaged in the most dangerous thing they do each day: driving.
Obviously, a single car can cause great damage on our roads. But how much more damage can a semi truck, 18 wheeler, big rig or tractor trailer cause?
It’s not enough that thousands of Americans die or are seriously injured each year in accidents involving an 18 wheeler, tractor trailer, semi truck, big rig or other large truck. Now trucking interests want these road monsters to be even bigger — and thus more dangerous — just so they can carry bigger loads.