Pennsylvania Attorney Discusses Key Facts about Truck Accidents
Every 16 minutes a person is killed or injured in a truck accident. In fact, in crashes involving a tractor trailer and a passenger vehicle, the occupants of the passenger vehicle are 50 times more likely to be killed than the truck driver; stated differently, 98% of the deaths are to those in the passenger vehicle.
If you are coping with a serious injury or death in the family resulting from a truck accident in Pennsylvania, contact Mikus Law Associates, P.C. to schedule a consultation.
The trucking industry earned more than $600 billion last year. Revenues are expected to double by 2015. The growth in commercial trucking is good news for the trucking industry but bad news for the rest of us that share the road with these lethal giants.
Semi tractor trailers can weigh up to 80,000 pounds when fully loaded. The truck cab frame is much stiffer and higher than the frames of passenger vehicles, causing the truck frame to punch through the passenger vehicle shell and into the passenger compartment. A tractor trailer may be driven 150,000 miles in a single year. Parts (especially tires and brakes) wear out. Maintenance of a tractor and trailer is expensive and time consuming. Some drivers skip the thorough inspection of their tractor and trailer (including the load ) that they are required to make before every trip. Some trucking companies will try to get “one more trip” out of their equipment before making repairs that have been requested by a driver.
Tractor trailers have deadly blind spots on both sides, in front and behind the truck. Large commercial trucks are not as maneuverable as cars due to their weight and bulk, and take much longer to stop. Discuss load weight and other key facts of your truck accident case with a Pennsylvania lawyer with an engineering background. Contact us by phone or e-mail.
