Charlotte Personal Injury And Workers' Compensation Blog

Some North Carolina drivers are nervous on the road near large trucks. This is a valid concern considering that these huge commercial vehicles are capable of causing catastrophic damage. While there are many reasons for truck accidents, a study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration established the top three causes.

In 2007, the FMCSA released the Large Truck Causation Study that included in-depth investigations into 963 cases pulled from 120,000 fatal and injury incidents that included 141,000 trucks. The study revealed the main factors that led to trucking crashes, many of which were preventable. One factor involved in 22% of truck crashes was unfamiliarity with roads, usually a result of the driver's failure to plan their route. Another main factor was speeding based on the conditions, which was a factor in 23% of truck crashes. Depending on conditions such as wet or snowy roads, a vehicle that's going faster than the posted speed limit can be considered speeding. The FMCSA recommends that truck drivers should reduce their speed by one-third from the legal limit when going through wet roads and by half or more if they are on snowy roads. The third, and largest, factor was brake problems. These were involved in 29% of crashes.

Truck accidents are unfortunately common in North Carolina and the rest of the country, and they almost always end badly for those who were in a passenger vehicle. Big rigs, after all, weigh up to 80,000 pounds while the average car weighs 4,000 pounds. Drivers should be aware of the most common factors in truck crashes so that they can be more responsible on the road.

First, there are crashes that arise because of driver error: speeding, driving drowsy, intoxicated or drugged driving, etc. Studies show, however, that 81% of truck crashes that are due to driver error are actually the fault of passenger vehicle drivers. Second, crashes can occur because truckers do not drive safely over rainy, icy or snowy roads. Such weather will increase the stopping distance for heavy trucks.

North Carolina residents may have heard that the number of road users killed around the country fell slightly in 2018, but pedestrian and cyclist deaths rose sharply. Data released by the National Highway Traffic Administration reveals that 36,560 people died on the nation's roads in 2018, which represents a 2% decline over grim 2017 figures. However, pedestrian deaths rose by 3% to 6,283 and cyclist fatalities increased by 6% to 857.

The worrying pedestrian and cyclist fatality figures are likely to increase calls for more thorough crash-test standards. Accident survivability tests are currently not as rigorous in the United States as they are in Europe. NHTSA says that it plans to publish a proposed update to its crash-test standards in 2020 that will better determine how vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists would fare in an accident. Updates the agency is said to be pushing for include formal ratings for pedestrian detection and emergency braking systems.

While accidents happen simple because it was an accident, others are caused due to negligence. South Carolina has not had a great year when it comes to the number of motorcycle accident related deaths. A recent crash that happened on a Midlands road became the 102nd death this year involving a motorcyclist or moped driver. The state had only 88 of those same death in the entire year of 2018.

In the most recent accident, the rider of a 2000 Honda motorcycle struck a 2007 Ford Edge at approximately 4:15 p.m. on Sprinkle Avenue in Orangeburg County. While making a left turn, the north bound vehicle was struck by the South bound motorcycle. The rider was not wearing a helmet and was pronounced dead at the scene. Both parties in the vehicle were uninjured. The accident is still under investigation. It remains unknown whether criminal charges, such as drunk or distracted driving, are possible.