It’s easy to get so used to getting in a car and driving to and from work, school or other locations with no issue that one can all but forget about the risk of being involved in an accident. However, that risk is ever-present for Connecticut residents and it claims more lives that most people would want to know. CNBC reports that there are an average of 11 fatal accidents involving large trucks like tractor-trailers every day, claiming as many as 4,000 lives across the country each year.
What causes these crashes? The factors can be varied and include issues with drivers directly such as fatigue, impairment and speeding. Truck crashes can also be impacted by vehicle malfunction such as brake failure. Either way, it’s a problem that is causing alarm among many. Between 2009 and 2012, as the number of fatal car accidents dropped, the number of fatal truck accidents rose by 18 percent. While truck volume can impact accidents, it is important to note that both the number of trucks and the average distance travelled by these vehicles dropped during this time.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows a drop in the number of truck fatalities from 2010 to 2011 followed by an increase in deaths for three consecutive years. From 2010 to 2013, truck accident fatality counts numbered 23, 14, 16, and 20, respectively. The 2013 number remained unchanged in 2014 yet the picture looked bleaker that year as the number of traffic fatalities overall dropped, thereby making truck fatalities a greater percentage of all vehicular deaths.
Motorists in passenger vehicles must continually be aware of the risks that large commercial vehicles pose on the roads as it appears these dangers are not going away any time soon.
