Posted in Wisconsin Workers Compensation Related News
Personal Injury Lawyer
Semi-trucks are large and in charge of almost any road they traverse. Their size and weight make them a real force to be reckoned with, and one that you do not want to encounter on a personal level.
While truck accidents can occur for several reasons, the type of accident may help predict the outcome. While almost all crashes involving semis are near catastrophic, some are more likely to cause fatalities than others. Familiarize yourself with these four common accident types involving tractor-trailers.
- Jack-Knife
When you hear the term jack-knife and semi together, it isn’t good. When a trucker hits the brakes too hard, the trailer may move sideways at a 90-degree angle to the cab. When this happens, the trailer strikes anything in its path. It may also jump lanes and go into oncoming traffic. A jack-knifed semi can shut down an entire highway between clearing the scene of other vehicles or removing the truck. Since it ends up in an unusual position, removing it from the road may prove difficult.
- Rear-End
A truck plowing into the back of a vehicle often has deadly consequences. When a semi fails to stop in time, it may strike the car in front of it. Since it takes trucks much longer to stop, if there is not enough room between the truck and the vehicle in front of it, or if the traffic ahead stops short, there may be nothing else a truck driver can do. The damage depends on how fast the truck was traveling at the time of impact.
- Head-On
When two cars collide head-on, the results are often devastating. Imagine what happens when a semi-truck hits another vehicle head-on. If a trucker tries to avoid a stopped vehicle or fall asleep behind the wheel and swerves into oncoming traffic, a head-on collision may claim the lives of everyone involved. It is the most deadly kind of crash with a tractor-trailer.
- Rollover
A tire blowout or other mechanical error may cause a driver to lose control of the truck suddenly. Depending on the weight of the load, the trailer may start to sway back and forth and wobble. When this happens, the rig is one wrong move away from a rollover. A rollover can sweep away vehicles across a highway and cause substantial damage to cars and the people occupying them. Truck drivers may wind up with catastrophic injuries in this type of crash.
If you ever find yourself dealing with a car versus truck crash, a truck accident lawyer in Memphis, TN may be able to help you recover damages.
Thanks to Patterson Bray, for their insight into personal injury claims and common truck accidents.
