The Truck Accident Law Firm Blog

Trucks play a major part in the economy of the United States. They are a major source of interstate commerce, and even commerce with Mexico and Canada. When we go to the grocery store to buy our essentials, we often fail to think how those products got on the shelves, but in all likelihood, they were delivered by a tractor-trailer.

Tractor-trailers are, however, very large, very heavy vehicles, that can be involved in accidents. And when truck accidents do occur, they are almost always catastrophic.

In 2003, the state of California had the most fatal accidents, totaling 5,725, in the country. Of those 5,725, 332 were fatal truck accidents.

According to the United States Department of Transportation, there are over 5,000 fatalities attributable to truck accidents every year. It is not surprising that truck accidents often result in fatalities, simply considering their size and weight. More often than not, however, the accident is not caused by the truck driver, but by the driver of the smaller, passenger vehicle.

Trucks are also often overloaded in an effort to deliver more goods as fast as possible. Again according to the DOT, in 2003, 608 truck accidents were caused by rollovers. There are reasons that the DOT restricts the weight of tractor-trailers, but sometimes those regulations are ignored, which can result in fatal truck accidents.

If a loved one has been killed in a tractor-trailer accident, please contact an experienced truck accident attorney in your area today.