Truck Accidents Attorney Tulsa

As we mentioned above, a number of parties could be liable for the bad truck accident that left you injured. Likewise, a number of factors may have caused the accident, the most common of which are:

• Driver fatigue – Truckers are held to strict time regulations for hours spent on the road. In most cases, they cannot exceed 10- to 11-hour driving shifts; however, they are often encouraged to by their managers to skip breaks or power through fatigue in order to make a speedier, timelier delivery. Drowsy driving is dangerous under any conditions, but when operating a large commercial vehicle, the risk of catastrophic consequences can increase dramatically.
• Improperly loaded cargo – Truck carriages haul tens of thousands of pounds of cargo on every trip. When this cargo is not properly stored and secured within the carriage, it can shift or spill, altering the truck’s center of gravity and consequently causing it to overturn while on the road. It’s for this reason that truckers are limited, by law, as to how much cargo they can carry at any given time. Furthermore, they are required to adhere to specific positioning of anchor points and meet the minimum number of tie-downs needed to properly secure the cargo.
• Speeding – Like all drivers on the road, truckers are expected to drive defensively, which can be difficult (if not impossible) to do while speeding. When traveling at high speeds, it is more difficult to quickly come to a stop, take a curve, correct loss of control, and/or react to poor weather conditions. And when a trucker is unable to do any one of these things, they put everyone else on the road at risk.
• Improper maintenance – When proper maintenance protocols are not met, an accident is much more likely to occur due to brake failure or another mechanical issue that could have been caught and corrected ahead of time had a routine inspection occurred.
• Improper training of truck drivers – Operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle does not come naturally. Truckers must be properly trained on how to maneuver these vehicles and what to do in the event of an emergency. When their training is insufficient, their driving skills will be as well.
• Alcohol / drug intoxication – Given the difficulty of operating a large commercial vehicle, truckers are held to higher standards of care when it comes to driving while intoxicated. The laws are so strict, in fact, that they cut the legal limit in half to just .04% for truckers. Furthermore, they may not operate the vehicle within 4 hours of consuming a mind-altering drug/alcohol and they will be placed off duty for 24 hours if this has occurred.