Northeast Wisconsin residents will be fully aware that large trucks can be dangerous. These vehicles are common on the roads and while they perform an important service of transporting goods across the nation, there is no denying how much damage they can do when there is a truck crash. Those who suffer semitruck accident injuries can face long recovery time and permanent damage. Families can be left without a loved one after a crash with one of these large vehicles. While most truckers operate their vehicles in a safe manner and follow all the rules of the road, there are many who do not. Studies examine the risk these vehicles carry with them and new results indicate that several factors are present lending to the damage they can do.
SmartDrive Systems collected data of truckers and formulated its SmartIQ Speeding Drivers Snapshot for Truckers. Its goal is to assess the link between truckers who speed and other dangerous behaviors. According to the data, truckers who speed were 45 percent likelier to be in a near crash. They were 54 percent likelier to go over the center line of the road or cross the median. And they were three times likelier to follow other vehicles at an unsafe distance.
The CEO of SmartDrive, when discussing the numbers, stated that speeding is still a major problem for commercial drivers. But it is other behaviors that accompany speeding that place people in serious jeopardy of being injured or losing their lives in a crash with a truck. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data sparked SmartDrive’s conclusion that speeding costs $203 billion. The NHTSA shows that 27 percent of fatal crashes have speeding as an issue.
While speeding is a statistical and anecdotal problem on the roads in Wisconsin and across the nation, there are other reasons why a semitruck accident can come about. Truckers might be under the influence, be too fatigued to drive safely, drive while distracted and speed. After a crash, it is imperative that those who were injured or lost a loved one understand their rights and have assistance in investigating the case. Northeast Wisconsin semitruck accident injury lawyers can help with a case from the start. Those who have been affected by a truck accident should contact an attorney immediately.
Source: trucknews.com, “Drivers who speed more of a risk, according to SmartDrive data,” April 30, 2018