Tractor-trailer accidents claim the lives of approximately 5,000 people per year and cause injury to hundreds of thousands more. These injury victims are almost always occupants of the other vehicle because of the enormous difference in size and mass between tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles. Although the trucking industry plays a critical role in logistics in the U.S., many collisions termed as accidents are really the result of purposeful decisions to disregard important trucking industry safety regulations. The most tragic aspect of these trucking collisions is that the accidents could have been avoided had the truck driver and trucking company put compliance with safety regulations above profits.
A thorough analysis conducted by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration identified mistakes by truck drivers as the lead cause of trucking accidents. The role of mistakes by truck drivers dwarfed other causes of trucking accidents, including defective trucks, unsafe roadways, substandard tractor-trailer maintenance and other factors that contribute to trucking accidents. What we find most interesting about the study is a conclusion that was not expressly provided but could be implied from the data. The report indicated that errors by the driver were the primary factor in accident, but the data in the report could be read differently.
The most common causes of trucking accidents included driver fatigue, excessive speed and impairment by both legal and illegal drugs. Cumulatively, these three factors played a role in a staggering number of trucking accidents. Drivers who operated their motor vehicle when fatigued were a contributing factor in almost half (44 percent) of all trucking collisions. Truck operators that failed to drive at a safe speed given road and traffic conditions account for almost 25 percent of trucking accidents while fatigued drivers caused 18 percent of such collisions. The key point is that these types of unsafe driving practices involve the conscious choice by a truck driver to engage in risky behavior when operating a tractor-trailer.
It is important to understand the difference between collisions that are really accidents and those that are the predictable result of the conscious decision to pursue a hazardous course of conduct. A driver who misjudges distances or speed may legitimately be involved in a collision that can be characterized as a “tractor-trailer accident”. However, decisions to drive despite using drugs, ignoring hours of service rules and disobeying the speed limit are not mere errors or mistakes, they are decisions that reflect a conscious disregard for the safety of other motorists and pedestrians.
Sometimes commercial carriers are not only aware that their drivers are consciously engaging in this type of unsafe driving practice, but they even encourage drivers to explicitly or implicitly violate trucking regulations that prohibit these types of conduct. When San Francisco trucking accidents are caused by this type of behavior, the trucking company and the truck driver may be liable for the damages they cause. If the acts are egregious enough, a court may even impose punitive damages. When punitive damages are awarded in a trucking accident, they will typically be the largest measure of damages and exceed all other types of damages combined.
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If you are involved in a San Francisco tractor-trailer accident, you may suffer catastrophic life-changing injuries. If you or someone you love has been injured or a loved one has died in a San Francisco tractor-trailer accident, you should contact us as soon as possible because critical deadlines apply. Our San Francisco truck accident lawyers invite you to contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.