Sharing the road with large trucks can be nerve-wracking because they are so much larger and heavier than regular sized vehicles. In Kentucky, we have plenty of tractor trailers on our roads because we rely on them to transfer goods within our state and to other parts of the country. While most truck drivers are careful and qualified, some make mistakes and cause serious accidents.
When you’ve been involved in a truck accident in Kentucky that wasn’t your fault, you could use the help of a lawyer to defend your rights and ensure that you get compensation for your injuries and other damages. At Golden Law Office, we understand how intimidating legal claims can be. That’s why we’re here to guide you through the process every step of the way.
Kentucky Truck Accident Statistics
Truck accidents can happen anywhere that a truck is on the road. Even though truckers have to go through extensive training and certification to legally drive a rig, they also can make mistakes that lead to collisions. Truck accidents can cause serious damage and debilitating injuries to people in regular sized motor vehicles.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), trucks weigh up to 30 times more than passenger vehicles. When tractor trailers and regular sized vehicles collide and cause fatalities, the passengers of the regular vehicles are killed 67 percent of the time, while the truckers are killed 16 percent of the time.
In 2018, the Kentucky State Police reported that there were over 10,500 trucks involved in collisions that year. That comes out to nearly 30 truck accidents a day for a year, showing that they happen pretty often in our state.
Of those collisions, over 1,500 caused non-fatal injuries, and 116 of them were fatal. Most of these large truck collisions occurred on state-numbered routes, and only a small percentage occurred on city streets. Only 31 percent of the truck drivers involved in these wrecks were not Kentucky residents. The rest were from our state or local to the area.
What Causes Truck Accidents in Kentucky?
The police report of truck crash statistics from above also lists the different causes of truck accidents in our state, and how prevalent each is. Let’s take a look at the most common factors that lead to collisions between trucks and other vehicles, ranked from the highest incidences to lowest:
- Load securement
- Tire failure
- Defective brakes
- Tow hitch failure
- Oversized load
- Lighting defects
- Steering failure
When it comes to fatal collisions, however, there are three members of that list that were more likely to cause them than the others. Defective brakes, tire failure, and tow hitch failure were the factors that caused the most fatal collisions compared to the other causes of regular collisions.
These all are more likely to cause fatal injuries in an accident because of the weight and speed that comes with them. For example, if a truck has defective brakes and can’t stop their rig in time, they will collide with the car in front of them. When they do this, it’s called an override accident, and the truck ends up driving over the car and crushing it beneath it. This is deadly for the passengers in the regular sized vehicles.
No matter how careful you are while driving around large trucks, an accident could happen at any time. That’s why it’s important to always be vigilant, stay out of their blind spots, and leave them enough room to maneuver and brake if they need to. However, some accidents are unavoidable.
Our Lawyers Can Represent You
When you get into a truck accident that wasn’t your fault and suffer from serious injuries and other damages, you likely want to receive compensation for the costs that you shouldn’t have had to pay. One of our truck accident lawyers from Golden Law Office can help you with that. We’ll fully investigate what happened to cause the collision, look at the extent of your injuries and how they impact your life, and determine what you’re owed in compensation.
We have experience in these cases and will fight to ensure that you get justice for the harm that was done to you. Contact our office today so that we can get started right away. You shouldn’t have to wait to get your life back on track—you deserve justice right away.
