According to the National Safety Council, 5,218 large trucks were involved in a fatal crash in 2024, an increase of 30% over the last 10 years. A collision involving a large commercial truck may, at first, look like any other motor vehicle accident case. But when an 18-wheeler, tanker truck, or other heavy commercial vehicle is involved, both the consequences of the crash and the investigation that follows can be considerably more complicated and require greater legal expertise.
The sheer size and weight of commercial trucks contribute to devastating injuries, particularly if the accident also involves a passenger vehicle, and navigating the aftermath of a serious truck accident requires specialized knowledge that looks beyond basic auto accident protocols. Lawyers seeking compensation for victims of trucking accidents must have a thorough understanding of the regulatory landscape, the type of evidence required, and the physics behind a major collision.
Key Takeaways
- Large commercial trucks can cause catastrophic injuries because of their size, weight, and the loads they carry. The greater the mass the greater the force.
- Truck accident investigations may involve maintenance records, braking systems, driver qualifications, speed, rest periods, vehicle monitoring data, and cargo loads.
- A driver’s actions may be only one part of the investigation; maintenance practices and trucking company operations may also be relevant.
- Commercial trucking policies generally carry substantially more liability coverage than ordinary personal auto policies.
- Experience with trucking cases matters because attorneys need to understand the industry, the applicable requirements, and the technical evidence that may explain why a crash occurred.
Why Do Truck Accidents Cause Such Serious Injuries?
It all comes down to basic physics. You may recall the following equation from high school:
Force = Mass x Acceleration
Put simply, weight and speed matter. A large commercial truck carrying a heavy load, such as oil, steel, or other commercial cargo, can weigh up to 20 times more than a passenger vehicle. When that much weight is moving at highway speeds, a collision delivers enormous destructive force and consequently, more serious or catastrophic injuries for people struck in smaller vehicles.
How the Economics of the Trucking Industry Contribute to Unsafe Driving
The way truck drivers are paid can itself create pressures that impact safety. Many long-haul drivers are paid by the mile or by the load rather than by the hour, which means time spent waiting for cargo to be loaded or unloaded, updating certifications, conducting safety inspections, waiting for repairs – or any other time spent not driving – means lost revenue. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Government Accountability Office have all examined how compensation structures and economic pressures affect safety, such as incentives to speed, postpone inspections or repairs, and work beyond allowable hours. In an industry where time can quite literally be money, the economic realities do not always result in the safest choices.
What Should Be Investigated After a Commercial Truck Accident?
Based on our experience, attorneys handling successful truck accident cases need to have a strong understanding of a number of different factors, including the mechanics of large commercial vehicles, required inspections, state and federal regulations, common equipment and maintenance failures, and the responsibilities expected of everyone from the driver to the maintenance team and company management. Some of the most common issues that need to be investigated include:
Brake and Equipment Maintenance
Because commercial trucks rely on highly complex mechanical systems, the FMCSA subjects carriers to strict maintenance and inspection standards to ensure vehicles are kept in safe working order at all times. Despite these requirements, equipment failures involving brakes, tires, lights, transmission, steering defects, defective safety equipment such as underride guards, and overall poor maintenance are potential issues that must be carefully investigated.
A fully loaded commercial truck must be able to safely slow and stop an enormous amount of mass and momentum, making brakes one of the most critical components for safely operating a commercial vehicle. Heavy trucks require significantly more stopping distance and functional braking power to bring the vehicle to a complete halt than passenger vehicles. In fact, trucks take about 40% longer to come to a complete stop than passenger vehicles, which, for those travelling at 65mph translates to up to two football fields. When required maintenance is deferred, worn or malfunctioning brake components can extend stopping distances and lead to serious consequences.
Tires are another critical factor in commercial truck safety. Commercial trucks travel tens of thousands of miles under heavy loads, putting enormous wear on tires. Neglected tire maintenance can lead to tread separations or catastrophic hub failures, creating serious hazards for surrounding traffic.
Federal regulations require carriers and drivers to maintain various inspection and maintenance records which can help establish whether brakes, tires, hydraulics, and other critical systems were properly serviced and if known problems were addressed. These records are a critical piece of evidence in any truck accident investigation, and an experienced attorney will know how to obtain, preserve, and analyze them to determine how maintenance failures may have contributed to the crash.
Driver Licensing and Qualifications
Commercial truck drivers are required to have special licenses and qualifications to operate the vehicles they drive. As defined by the federal government, these are known as Class A, B, or C licenses, depending on the weight and vehicle use standards, and require both in-classroom and behind-the-wheel training. Federal regulations also mandate specific driver certifications, endorsements, and strict operational limits for special types of commercial motor vehicles.
And yet, driver conduct is a major focus in many truck accident investigations. In the FMCSA’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study, the critical failures were assigned to the truck driver in the majority of crashes studied. Driver qualifications, therefore, deserve close scrutiny, particularly in an industry facing persistent pressure to recruit and retain drivers. But driver conduct does not tell the whole story: scheduling pressures, vehicle condition, cargo, and carrier practices may also contribute to why a crash occurred.
In a case involving the death of a Massachusetts State Trooper, Parker Scheer’s investigation revealed that the truck driver’s required endorsements were not current. And although a licensing or qualification deficiency does not, by itself, establish why a crash occurred, when that deficiency relates to the vehicle being operated or the circumstances of the collision, it becomes an important part of determining what went wrong and whether the driver should have been operating that vehicle in the first place.
Speed
Speed is particularly dangerous when a heavy commercial truck is involved since greater speed increases momentum and, therefore, the distance needed to stop safely. Simply put, going fast makes it harder to stop. The related issue of following too closely also puts other drivers at needless risk, leaving truck drivers with too little time and distance to react when traffic suddenly slows or stops.
Truck drivers often work within demanding and sometimes unrealistic delivery and logistics schedules and the pressure to reach a destination, transfer a load, or complete a delivery on time contributes to driver stress and unsafe driving decisions, such as speeding. For a vehicle carrying significantly more weight than an ordinary passenger car, excessive speed can make an already dangerous situation considerably worse.
Driver Fatigue and Required Rest
Fatigue is another common factor in serious trucking accidents. Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that truck drivers who have been behind the wheel for more than eight hours are twice as likely to crash, and yet federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations set the daily driving limit for long-haul carriers at 11 hours. Even so, demanding delivery schedules and pressure to reach a destination on time can create pressure on drivers to extend their drive time even further.
Determining whether exhaustion contributed to a crash can be difficult, but modern technology can provide important evidence. While drivers once recorded their hours using paper logs, which could be altered or falsified, today most truck drivers are required to use Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) which automatically record driving time and capture data tied to the vehicle’s operation. Combined with other onboard telematics, these systems can provide an objective digital record that helps investigators determine how long a driver had been on the road and what was happening in the hours leading up to a crash.
Driver Distraction
Distracted driving, which involves anything that takes your eyes or attention off the road, is a significant contributing factor in many motor vehicle accidents, including those involving trucks. Distractions come in many forms, including:
- eating
- built-in touchscreens
- looking for something in the vehicle
- adjusting the climate or radio
- using the phone
While the FMCSA prohibits truck drivers in interstate commerce from sending and receiving text messages while driving, a skilled attorney can help determine whether driver distraction was a contributing factor in the accident.
Improperly Loaded or Overloaded Trucks
The cargo itself may also warrant investigation in the aftermath of an accident. Commercial trucks and their braking systems are designed to operate within specified limits and if a truck is carrying too much weight, its brakes may not be rated to safely handle the additional load, causing the driver to underestimate the distance required to stop safely.
Improperly loaded or balanced cargo can make the truck unstable: shifting cargo increases the risk of rollovers, uneven distribution makes it more difficult to maintain control of the vehicle, and improperly secured cargo can fly off and strike other vehicles. Determining what the truck was carrying and whether it was overloaded can be an important part of understanding why the driver was unable to safely control or stop the vehicle.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Truck Accident?
One of the major differences between a passenger vehicle accident and a commercial trucking accident is that driver conduct might be only one piece of the puzzle.
Depending on the circumstances, an investigation may also raise questions about:
- trucking company standards and policies
- driver training and certification providers
- cargo loaders
- maintenance providers
- safety inspectors
- vehicle manufacturers
For example, consider a situation in which a truck driver was unable to stop in time because the brakes failed. The immediate cause of the collision could appear to be the driver’s inability to stop in time, but a deeper investigation might reveal an underlying maintenance problem that existed before the driver ever got behind the wheel.
Is Insurance Different in a Commercial Truck Accident?
In many cases, yes. Commercial liability policies covering large trucks generally provide substantially higher liability limits than insurance carried on an ordinary passenger vehicle. Catastrophic truck injuries can generate medical expenses, lost earnings, long-term care needs, and other damages that may substantially exceed those associated with a more typical auto claim.
A serious trucking claim requires determining which individuals or companies bear responsibility for the collision, understanding what insurance coverage is available and how it affects your claim.
Why Does Experience Matter in a Truck Accident Case?
Truck accident claims are not simply a larger version of a car accident claim. Because commercial trucks and their drivers are subject to federal regulations governing driver qualifications, hours of service, vehicle inspections, maintenance, and other safety requirements, hiring an attorney who “speaks the language” of trucking experts and understands what to look for when investigating how and why a crash occurred is crucial to a successful outcome.
Driving data, maintenance records, inspection histories, driver background, and other evidence must be gathered quickly and efficiently. Previous experience handling trucking cases helps your attorney know what evidence to look for, where to find it, and when specialized trucking or accident reconstruction expertise may be needed.
Contact an Experienced Trucking Attorney
If you or a family member has been seriously injured in an accident involving an 18-wheeler or other commercial truck, understanding what happened requires rigorous investigation.
The personal injury attorneys at Parker Scheer have extensive experience investigating complex motor vehicle and trucking accidents, identifying potential causes, and working with appropriate experts to determine how a collision occurred and who may be responsible.
Contact Parker Scheer to discuss your case and learn more about your legal options.
Frequently Asked Questions About Truck Accidents
What are common causes of commercial truck accidents?
Based on the trucking cases Parker Scheer has handled over the past thirty years, such issues may include excessive speed, driver fatigue, inadequate rest, brake or equipment problems, poor maintenance, tire problems, improper driver qualifications, and overloaded vehicles. The cause of any particular accident requires thorough investigation.
Can a trucking company be responsible for an accident?
Potentially. A trucking accident investigation may extend beyond the driver’s actions to maintenance practices, driver qualifications, company operations, and other factors that contributed to the collision.
What records may be important after a truck accident?
Depending on the accident, relevant evidence may include truck inspection and maintenance information, driver licensing and qualification records, rest and driving information, vehicle monitoring data, and information about the truck’s cargo and weight.
Are commercial truck accident claims different from regular car accident claims?
Trucking cases can be significantly more complex than those only involving passenger cars. In addition to the driver’s conduct, a truck accident may require investigation of equipment, maintenance, licensing, rest periods, cargo, company practices, and commercial insurance coverage.
