Semi truck accident facts

Statistics reveal that there is at least one fatality in 98% of accidents involving semi-trucks. Realistically, then, that means in any accident in which one of the vehicles is a semi-truck, at least one person is killed. Moreover, there is an average of 130,000 persons injured in semi-truck accidents annually as well. Put in human terms, that means that every person within the city of Killeen, Texas, would have suffered an injury if the statistics were condensed to a single locale.

If the reader finds that information to be unsettling, the following is even more disturbing. According to one esteemed source:

* Driver fatigue accounts for nearly 30 percent of all commercial truck accidents.

* Nearly 75 percent of commercial truck accidents are caused by drivers of other smaller passenger vehicles, rather than the truck driver.

*A whopping 90 percent of commercial truck accidents are caused or worsened by some human error. This may be due to the truck driver, other drivers, other vehicle passengers, cyclists, or pedestrians. In other words, the accident was preventable.

The real problem with semi-truck accidents is that an 80,000-pound vehicle is usually meeting a 5,000-pound passenger car, and even at lower speeds, the potential for injury is significant. The odds of being in a fatal accident rose very quickly when the vehicle’s impact exceeds 10,000 pounds.

There is great value in statistics. When they are extrapolated, they can be used to create safety programs that increase motorist awareness and/or lead to engineering and manufacturing designs that will decrease accident injuries and fatalities.

As always, drive defensively.

Greg Baumgartner is a semi truck accident lawyer and also the founder of the Baumgartner Law Firm, which is located at 6711 Cypress Creek Parkway, Houston, TX 77069, 281-587-1111. Follow us on Twitter.