When commercial trucks are involved in highway accidents, the outcomes for passengers and motorists are often far more severe than typical car crashes. A number of key factors make truck accidents fundamentally different and more dangerous. Here is how truck collisions differ and why it is critical to have experienced legal counsel if you end up injured.
Massive Size and Weight Disparity
The first major difference between trucks and passenger cars is their sheer size, length, height, and weight. Per federal regulations:
- Large semi-trailer trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds fully loaded.
- Their maximum length is 65 feet from bumper to rear.
- They stand up to 14 feet tall.
Compare this to the average sedan weighing just 3,000-4,000 pounds and only 15 feet long. Standard cars are absolutely no match for these huge, heavy commercial vehicles. The extreme size and weight imbalance in truck crashes translates to catastrophic impact forces against smaller vehicles and unprotected occupants. Occupants of passenger vehicles are likely to suffer extensive injuries when trucks crash into the side of their vehicle or crush the smaller car from behind or above. The health outcomes and survival rates for car occupants are markedly worse when big rigs are involved, compared to crashes solely between passenger vehicles.
Greater Kinetic Energy and Momentum
Not only are trucks exponentially bigger in physical size, but their kinetic energy and momentum when traveling at highway speeds dwarf passenger cars. Kinetic energy equals 0.5 times the mass of the vehicle multiplied by the velocity squared. Doubling the speed actually quadruples the energy!
Due to their heavy cargo loads, large trucks have incredible mass. And even if they are traveling at legal speeds, the sheer momentum of 80,000-pound trucks is devastating compared to 3,000-pound cars. Hitting a parked vehicle or slamming into slower traffic, trucks cannot slow down or stop like cars. They plow through collisions, pulverizing smaller vehicles and often continuing to crash through median barriers or other obstacles. The extreme kinetic forces involved cause catastrophic damage.
High Center of Gravity Risks Rollovers
In addition to huge size, weight and momentum disadvantages, large trucks also have an inherently high center of gravity. This makes them far more susceptible to rollover crashes, unlike lower-profile passenger cars. When trucks turn too quickly, hydroplane, have abrupt direction changes, or leave the roadway, their high center of gravity leads to a tipping motion and rollovers. Unsecured cargo or tank contents shift, exacerbating the problem.
Rollover wrecks are especially dangerous as occupants are thrown around violently inside a tumbling truck cab. They also more frequently eject occupants compared to frontal or rear crashes. Rollover truck accidents tend to cause severe injuries like traumatic brain injuries, spinal damage, paralysis, and death. Surviving a truck rollover is difficult given the extreme forces.
Frequent Jackknife and Multivehicle Pileup Scenarios
Given their challenging maneuverability, length, and braking abilities, large trucks are also more prone to cause chain reaction pileup crashes on highways. A truck may jackknife across lanes or be unable to stop quickly, causing sequential rear-end collisions with multiple vehicles. Cars struck by a jackknifing trailer have little chance to react or avoid the crash.
Major pileups also occur when collisions send vehicles spinning out of control across traffic. Trucks often leave extensive wreckage across all lanes and the shoulder when losing control. The chain reactions and multivehicle nature of truck accident injuries cause exponentially more people harmed per incident compared to typical two-car crashes. Damages and liability become extremely complex.
Catastrophic Damage to Passenger Vehicles
Whenever commercial trucks strike smaller passenger vehicles, the damage to the car is maximized while damage to the heavy truck itself is often minimal. Like hitting a massive steel wall, cars that swerve into oncoming trucks or get hit head-on typically suffer total loss. Vehicle cabins crush like tin cans, with occupants suffering extreme blunt force trauma injuries throughout their bodies. With little to absorb the truck’s huge mass and momentum, survival is challenging. Head-on truck collisions have some of the highest fatality rates.
Even sideswipe or rear-end truck collisions that may seem minor can sandwich cars against barriers, rip off vehicle rear frames, roll cars, or push vehicles hundreds of feet down the highway. While trucks drive away, passenger cars experience catastrophic structural damage that puts occupants at grave risk. There is simply no room for error around these heavy commercial vehicles.
Complex Legal Claims and Major Financial Damages
Due to the extreme size mismatch, violent forces, and multivehicle accidents, legal claims and recouping damages after truck crashes become extremely complex. With severe, lifelong injuries involved, medical bills stack up quickly into the hundreds of thousands or millions. Lost income and disability accommodations further escalate the financial losses.
Identifying and proving liability across multiple corporate entities like trucking companies, shippers, maintenance providers, and insurance carriers becomes challenging but essential. Only experienced truck accident attorneys in California have the resources and knowledge to build these intricate cases and fight for maximum compensation for all damages sustained. Truck crashes require legal teams who know the industry and regulations inside and out.
Higher Rates of Trucker Negligence
Commercial trucking is also often plagued by dangerous industry practices that contribute to accidents, including:
- Overloaded trucks exceeding legal weight limits
- Drivers speeding and driving aggressively to meet tight delivery windows
- Lack of driver oversight and hours of service violation
- Inadequate truck inspections and faulty maintenance
- Companies pushing unsafe, unqualified drivers
- Fatigued driving and stimulant abuse among drivers
These systemic negligence factors cause a disproportionate share of wrecks compared to attentive passenger vehicle drivers. Holding trucking companies and contractors accountable for safety failures is necessary to help compensate victims. Powerful legal advocacy can also catalyze reform.
Seeking Justice After Truck Injury Trauma
What truck accidents are more dangerous than car accidents? All of them. The devastating physical and emotional trauma inflicted by truck accident injuries requires experienced legal guidance to recover damages, lost income, and justice. The accomplished truck accident lawyers in Los Angeles at Karns & Karns Truck Accident Attorneys have successfully represented countless truck crash victims in Los Angeles and secured record-setting verdicts and settlements. We know how to thoroughly investigate liability, compel trucking companies to pay, and help you move forward after unimaginable loss. Let us help you – you deserve justice. Call today for a free case review.
