The Most Deadly Types of Truck Accidents

All types of truck accidents can be lethal, but there are several categories of collisions that lead to fatalities more frequently than any other. Learning more about these high-mortality crashes can help you avoid them in the future, driving all the more safely while armed with knowledge.

Head-On Collisions

Over 30% of all fatal truck accidents in America involve a head-on collision with a large truck, while another 24% involve vehicles being side-struck instead. As trucks weigh exponentially more than the average passenger vehicle, they tend to exert proportionally more force on anything they strike, often resulting in catastrophic collisions in which smaller cars are crushed and torn from their path of travel simultaneously. This mass difference is also to blame for the drastically higher rollover rate of vehicles involved in truck accidents, which can be just as deadly if not more so.

Rollover Accidents

Rollover truck accidents can crush the passenger cabins of victims’ vehicles, often as a result of secondary, top-down collisions with roadside barriers and curbs. Even if a cabin remains relatively intact, the constant rolling can toss passengers about mercilessly, resulting in severe whiplash, traumatic brain injuries, or other such wounds brought about by repeatedly impacting the interior of the vehicle.

Trucks are likely to flip or roll smaller vehicles when striking them, yet are also highly susceptible to rollovers themselves due to their high profiles and large, flat sides. This is often exacerbated by a truck’s lengthy deceleration time, making trucks all the more liable to roll depending on roadway conditions and negligent trucker tendencies.

Truck Underride

The mass differences between vehicles may lead many to believe that striking a truck from the rear or side would be akin to hitting a brick wall, yet matters are far worse in practice. While it’s true that you’re not going to displace a truck much during a crash, recall that truck trailers aren’t flush to the ground. This often leads to what’s known as an “underride” accident, in which a smaller vehicle is shunted underneath a trailer, crushing the car’s relatively unprotected driver’s cabin in the process.

Jackknife Accidents

If a truck suddenly decelerates or is struck from the side, a truck’s cabin and trailer may cease acting as a unified whole as the trailer swivels wildly to one side or the other. This often looks much like a folding pocketknife or jackknife, hence the name. When a truck jackknifes, the trailer may rotate outwards and directly strike other cars, or alternatively, create a multi-lane obstruction that unprepared motorists may run into, causing a complex pile-up accident.

Who’s Liable for Arizona Truck Accidents?

The question of who’s liable for a truck accident can be a difficult one to answer, but an Arizona truck accident attorney has the tools necessary to prove things one way or the other. Depending on the details of your case, liability could fall to the trucker, truck company, cargo loaders, maintenance personnel, or all manner of other parties, but regardless, we can secure you the compensation you deserve. Give the personal injury attorneys at ELG a call (623) 877-3600 to schedule a free consultation with a knowledgeable attorney who can evaluate your case and answer any questions you may have about the truck accident claims process.