How is a Truck Accident Different From a Car Accident?

Since cars and commercial trucks are both motor vehicles, it can be easy to think that car accidents and truck accidents would be pretty similar. In reality, accidents involving semis, tractor trailers, and large commercial trucks can be very different from ordinary car accidents.

First of all, since trucks are so much larger than regular cars, they have the potential to cause more severe, long-term injuries and greater amounts of property damage. It’s also much more likely that a truck accident will result in a fatality. Because of their potential to cause so much more damage, truck drivers are required to carry higher amounts of insurance than drivers of regular cars are and their insurance companies often put up a fight about having to pay for the damages.

The size of the truck can also lead to accidents being caused for reasons that don’t happen as often with ordinary cars. Car accidents very commonly happen for reasons like distracted driving or an inattentive driver. While those sorts of things can absolutely cause a truck accident, trucks also have larger blind spots, can jackknife if its front brakes are removed or de-powered, and can easily rollover for a multitude of reasons. The size of a truck also means it’s more difficult for them to properly handle maneuvers like making turns, which would be much easier for a smaller vehicle to handle.

Figuring out exactly who is liable for a truck accident is also a lot more difficult than it is with car accidents. When the driver of a car is involved in a car accident with a driver in another car, they’re most likely only going to have the driver of the other car to deal with and their insurance company to deal with. But since truck drivers are generally working as an employee of someone, the employer is inevitably going to get involved, along with their insurance companies and lawyers.

Depending on the cause of the truck accident, it’s possible the driver’s employer would be considered legally responsible for the accident rather than the truck driver. Truck drivers operate under very strict government regulations so if the accident was caused by the employer disregarding these rules, they could end up being held liable.

In some cases, even more parties could possibly end up being held liable for the accident. For example, if an accident is caused because the truck was loaded improperly, the person or company who loaded the truck could be legally responsible for the accident. Or if an accident is caused because of a defective part in the truck, liability could fall to the manufacturer of the defective part, the owner of the truck, or the party who was in charge of maintaining the truck.