With today's high-pressure economy, where everything needs to be instant, truck drivers are put under enormous amounts of pressure, oftentimes in an attempt to save time and meet quotas. You see, to these big trucking companies, time is money. And sometimes money can be worth breaking a few rules. And a few broken rules may damage or take a few lives.
According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, thousands of motorists are killed each year by large trucks -- those weighing more than 10,000 pounds. 18-wheelers, semi-trucks, tractor-trailers and semis fall into this category.
In 2003 alone, large trucks accounted for 8 percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and 4 percent of all vehicles involved in injury and property-damage-only crashes.
Some of the most common causes of trucking accidents are:
- Tire Failure
- Speeding
- Sleepy drivers
- Fatigue caused by strenuous schedules imposed by trucking companies
- Brake failure, brake over-heating
- Faulty mechanical components
- Poor safety and road-worthiness tests performed on the trucks.
New regulations require that truckers drive no more than 18 hours a day and require time in the sleeping compartment be logged. Of course this doesn't mean that they always follow these laws. Drivers are often asked to work beyond these hours, and silently told… or out-right told through the companies' stipulation of speed and quick transport:
"This load needs to be there by 'X' day, or there will be consequences."
Other than driver error, often it is the actual rig that malfunctions or fails causing 18 wheeler accidents. Some examples of potential failures are brake failure or malfunction, faulty mechanical components and disproportioned loads.
All of these things make these 18 wheelers a potential danger on our roadways. However, they can be avoided in many cases, if the trucking companies would enforce proper methods and procedures for safe trucking. This may slightly impact the bottom line of the trucking companies, but in the long run would save many lives. And after all, who can put a value on life!
