There are quite a number of factors that lead to the increased risk of serious injury or wrongful death following an accident with an 18-wheeler as opposed to an accident with another passenger car. The first factor is incompatibility in disparity of maneuvering. Big rigs and tractor-trailers just do not dynamically maneuver the same as a passenger car. Both cornering issues and breaking compatibility and performance are key factors in many truck accident cases.
Not only do big rigs take much longer to stop but more room to turn and generally take more time to reach highway speeds than a typical passenger car. What are typical emergency maneuvers for passenger cars can lead to very serious consequences when the vehicle being driven is a tractor-trailer. Rollover propensity for 18-wheelers is very high and with heavy loads can be a real risk factor for truck driver. Rollover accidents account for 50 to 60% of fatalities by truck drivers mainly due to the higher center of gravity.
Some of the steering problems come from the articulated vehicle, which is a combination of the tractor plus the trailer. When articulated vehicles attempt emergency maneuvers stability of the semi truck is affected much quicker than a passenger car.
Stopping distance can be a huge risk factor in analyzing semi truck accidents. The stopping distance for a typical passenger car is less than 200 feet at 60 miles an hour. But the stopping distance for heavy commercial vehicles easily can exceed 300 feet and further depending on the specific makeup of the commercial vehicle. Factors such as the type of truck and whether it is loaded or unloaded can affect the actual stopping distance.
Increased risk of a fatal accident is a real and legitimate statistic when a commercial truck is involved. Generally, there is one fatality for every 500-passenger car to passenger car collisions. Unfortunately, the risk of fatality goes up seven times when a tractor-trailer is involved in the accident. About one out of every 70 car to truck accidents result in a fatality.
The biggest single factor in the increased fatality ratio of a truck accident is the sheer size and weight of the 18-wheeler. When 70,000 pounds meets 6000 pounds the passenger car is always going to be the loser. This is called the mass ratio and is the reason that the odds are so great that an occupant of a passenger car is so much more likely to be seriously injured or killed when struck by a semi truck.
Studies have shown that car-to-car collisions result in only 0.2% of fatalities while a car to a medium-heavy truck is 1.5%.
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston semi truck accident lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Houston semi truck accident accident attorney call the Baumgartner firm at 281-587-1111.
