When a tractor-trailer blows out of nowhere from behind us on a dark, rainy night, we count our blessings we didn’t get slammed into and wonder how many unfortunate souls suffer that fate. Well, those numbers have been compiled, and they are staggering.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a study based on 2017 data for injuries caused by large truck crashes nationwide. The FMCSA is a branch of the federal government charged with regulating the trucking industry in an attempt to keep our roads safe. The study defines a large truck as “a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds.” That includes all types of big rigs: 18-wheelers, semi-trailers, tractor-trailers, highway monsters, or whatever we call them.
But it also includes other huge vehicles you might not think as part of this category: dump trucks, concrete mixers, plus business or commercial trucks and vans, like UPS or FedEx delivery vans and trucks, and even some landscaping company trucks towing large equipment trailers.
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Now that you know what trucks we’re talking about, here are some numbers on the damage they cause to people.
Shocking Facts You Should Know About the Prevalence of Trucking Injury Crashes
The FMCSA study reveals:
- In 2017, there were 344,000 injury crashes involving large trucks.
- Fifteen percent of those crashes involved a single vehicle, including crashes that involved a bicycle, pedestrian, or non-motorized vehicle.
- Nighttime might not be as treacherous as you think. Twenty-two percent of trucking accident injury crashes occurred at night, from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am. That means the vast majority of injury wrecks took place during daylight hours. Still, few things are more unnerving than attempting to share the road with these lethal beasts in the dark of night.
- Weekdays are the most threatening. The vast majority of injury-causing wrecks—88 percent—occurred Monday through Friday.
- Construction zones are especially dangerous. In 2017, 12 percent of work zone injury crashes involved at least one large truck.
If You’re Hurt by a Large Truck, Don’t Let Yourself Be Just a Statistic
When you’re hurt by a large truck, you’re just a statistic—another number in a legion of victims whose claims get handled by the trucker’s insurance company. Let me assure you the only statistic that matters to the insurance company is, “case closed, real cheap.” When you’ve got serious injuries with a potentially lifelong need for medical care, mountains of medical bills, and lost income you should be repaid, don’t let anyone get away with forcing you into a cheap settlement.
But that’s exactly what trucking insurance company claim representatives are trained to do, and they are professionals at it. You need a professional of your own to level the playing field and help you obtain a settlement reflecting the harm and loss in your life. You’ll never get another chance to do it.
There are two things I can offer you that most lawyers don’t. I’ve actually written a book on these cases, including a chapter on tractor-trailer crashes and how they are way more complicated than a standard car accident, which you can download for free. If you want to open the book on what my clients say about me and my team, then look no further than these reviews from real clients telling what it was like.
To get started getting your questions answered, call me toll-free at 888-230-1841 or fill out a Get Help Now form. You’ll get answers from an experienced trucking accident attorney.
