According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, truck and bus accidents involving professional drivers are a leading cause of death and accident-related expenses on the nation’s roadways. In 2012 alone, says the CDC, such accidents accounted for $99 billion in costs. That same year, approximately 317,000 accidents involving large trucks made it into police reports.
Large truck accidents are dangerous to the drivers of the trucks as well as those on the roadway around them. The CDC says road accidents are a leading cause of death for truck drivers across the country. In 2012, the CDC reports, 700 large-truck drivers or passengers died in accidents road accidents. Another 26,000 were injured, according to estimates.
One of the reasons the fatality rate is so high might be that truck drivers aren’t wearing seat belts, says the CDC. One report indicates that a third of the drivers who died in accidents weren’t using a seat belt at the time of the collision.
Truck drivers aren’t the only ones at risk when big-rig operation goes wrong, though. Other drivers on the roadway can experience serious injury when involved with a large truck collision. Drivers can wear seat belts to increase overall safety on the roadway, but that doesn’t always reduce injuries when a car is pitted against a big-rig.
Whether you are the driver or passenger in a large truck or you are in a smaller vehicle at the time of an accident, you might have a claim for compensation to cover your injuries. Compensation claims require that someone else might be liable in the accident; if someone is liable, you can work through the law to hold them accountable for the accident.
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