Two Common Reasons Why Semi-Truck Accidents Happen
There are so many aspects of a semi-truck accident that make it much more complicated than your typical car accident. It helps to know how they are different in these two ways so you can understand how the driver of the semi-truck could be held liable.
Exhaustion
One factor that makes semi-truck drivers different from your typical driver is that they are driving as part of their job. It is possible that they are exhausted from driving and not paying attention to the road as well as they should. There are situations where drivers are allowed to drive up to 16 hours straight when making short hauls. Drivers are supposed to keep logbooks so that all their hours are tracked and they are working within the legal limits, but those limits may not be followed as well as they should.
A semi-truck accident lawyer is going to know how to prove that a driver is responsible for the accident due to exhaustion. This will be done by taking a deep dive into the driver's logbook and verifying if the information is accurate. There is always a possibility that hours have been altered so that they appear below legal limits, which means that further investigation must be done to prove that those rules were violated.
Lack of Inspections
Semi-trucks require stricter inspections than a standard vehicle. It is important that those safety standards are followed when semi-trucks to verify that the truck is ready to be taken out on the road. If you are not familiar with what those safety requirements are, it will be difficult to identify what was not done properly that could have caused your accident with a semi-truck.
For example, there are rules regarding the reflective tape on a semi-truck so that the vehicle can be seen in the dark. The requirements go far beyond simply having the tape on the vehicle since they even measure the reflective quality of the tape so that it can be seen in difficult driving conditions. Sometimes something as simple as a dirty truck with reflective tape that is not working properly can be enough to cause an accident because another driver doesn't see the full length of the vehicle.
These are only two ways that a semi-truck could be responsible for causing an accident. If you're involved in a crash with a semi-truck, meet with a lawyer that is experienced with these types of crashes so that you are not held responsible due to a lack of knowledge of the situation.
To learn more, reach out to a truck accident lawyer today.