The Major Causes of Truck Accidents
In the past decade we have seen an astounding increase in the number of low and heavy weight vehicles that ply on the roads. Although the four wheelers are at an all time high but the amount of rod space is still limited and increases at a slow pace. No matter how much the government tries to increase the road space by building flyovers the cars and trucks will always remain higher than the available roads. This is one of the major causes of accidents on the roads. Specially in the rainy days trucks and other heavy goods vehicles skit when they have to put hard brakes to bring the vehicle to a sudden stop in the heavily crowded streets of the cities like New York, Manhattan, Mumbai, London, Shanghai and others.The truck companies have tried their level best to make trucks as safe as possible but the number of road accidents is still increasing. Most of these accidents are because of the faulty driving. As per the report of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2006, one of every twenty drivers is involved in a crash. The same report also shows that every year there are approximately 141,000 accidents of which around 77000 are because of the fault of the drivers.
The following can be listed as the top 10 causes for truck accidents:-
- 26% - Use of Drug
- 23% - Speedy Driving
- 22% - Unfamiliarity with the roads and area in which they drive
- 18% - inadequate Surveillance
- 14% - Fatigue
- 13% - Illegal and rash driving
- 9% - Distraction outside the truck
- 8% - Evasion action is not adequate
- 7% - Aggressive Driving
- 7% - Over-taking other vehicles
Although there has been an improvement in the quality of truck driving but still there is a need of proper education of the drivers.