Throughout the United States of America (USA), the number of commercial trucks on the road has increased greatly over recent years; this is despite the fact that much quicker and cleaner methods of transporting goods across the country now exist. Around 70 percent of all goods and products in the USA are transported via large semi trailer trucks.
With so many trucks on the country’s highways and freeways, the trucking industry has, because of there being lots of careless truck drivers out there, gained a certain level of notoriety during recent years. It is the actions of these careless drivers that cause road accidents and why by the year 2030, truck collisions will be the 5th biggest killer in the entirety of America.
Truck collisions are on the rise
Each and every year on America’s roads there are around 130,000 people injured as a result of truck accidents. Most crashes that involve semi trailer trucks result in injury given the fact that the vehicle is so big and heavy. Some of the injuries caused to the human body include head trauma, broken bones, whiplash, internal bleeding, damage to the spinal cord and neck, plus many other things. Most of the time, these types of injuries require medical attention immediately and in some instances, it can require expensive surgery also.
Where this happens to you, you may want to consider hiring a specialist semi-trailer truck accident lawyer so that they can represent your claim against a third party’s insurance company in order to get you the financial compensation that you deserve.
Freeways and interstates are not to blame
Contrary to what many people think, the vast majority of semi trailer truck collisions actually occur away from interstates and freeways, on major roads throughout the country. These types of roads are actually responsible for some 52 percent of all accidents involving commercial trucks. In comparison to this, freeways and interstates were responsible for just 32 percent of all crashes involving trucks. Minor roads only saw around 15 percent of all truck collisions happening on them.
Out of all of the days of the week, it appears that travelling at the weekend is the safest thing to do if you want to avoid being involved in a collision with a semi trailer truck. This is backed up by the statistics, which show that just 6 percent of all commercial truck accidents occurred on a Sunday and only 10 percent on a Saturday.
It is Thursday that is the most dangerous day of all, with in the region of 18 percent of all collisions with large trucks happening on that day. Monday and Wednesday are also fairly dangerous days also. Along with Thursday, these three days account for in excess of 50 percent of all truck crashes on America’s roads.
The greatest number of semi trailer truck collisions happen between the hours of 12pm and 3pm. Although many happen at this time, the exact reason as to why this is the case is still actually unknown.
