Causes of Truck Crashes in Louisville Kentucky

Large truck accidents can result in serious injuries and cause extensive damage to the vehicles involved. A tractor-trailer weighs approximately 80,000 pounds and when you compare this weight to the average passenger vehicle, which weighs about 3,000 pounds, it is easy to see why tractor-trailer crashes often have tragic outcomes. In an effort to understand the causes of commercial truck accidents, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration completed the Large Truck Crash Causation Study.

During the study, researchers analyzed 963 truck crashes, which was a sample of the 120,000 truck accidents that occurred during the 33-month study period. These accidents resulted in either injuries or death.

Researchers assigned variables to the large truck wrecks, including critical events, critical reasons and associated factors that contributed to the crashes. According to the study’s findings, some of the major types of critical events associated with large truck accidents include:

• Running out of travel lane
• Loss of control of truck as a result of driving too fast for conditions, shifted load, vehicle systems failure, poor road conditions or other reason
• Rear-end collision with another vehicle in the truck’s lane

Truck drivers are often to blame for serious truck collisions. The study found that the following critical reasons linked to truck crashes were associated with the following:

• Truck driver fell asleep or was too physically impaired to operate the truck
• Truck driver was not paying attention or distracted by something inside the truck or outside
• Truck driver was traveling too fast for conditions
• Truck driver overcompensated, panicked or performed poor directional control

According to the study, there were many other associated factors that are believed to have contributed to serious large truck accidents. The top ten associated factors include:

• Brake problems with the truck
• Traffic flow interruption
• Driving too fast for conditions
• Use of prescription drugs by the truck driver
• Roadway unfamiliarity
• Problems with the road
• Stop requirement (traffic signal, crosswalk) before the accident
• Use of over-the-counter drugs by the truck driver
• Inadequate surveillance
• Truck driver was fatigued

Truck wrecks are often devastating and can leave the injured victims with permanent injuries and life-altering conditions. If you or a family member has been injured in a Louisville large truck accident, contact the experienced truck accident lawyers at Gray and White Law at (502) 637-6000 or (800) 637-6033 for legal advice. We are experienced in handling large truck crash cases in Kentucky.