Causes of Truck Accidents

Accidents involving large commercial trucks typically lead to devastating outcomes. Like automobile accidents, there are many causes of truck accidents involving large commercial trucks — those tractor-trailers, semi-trucks and delivery trucks. On the Kansas City roadways, that includes unsafe driving behaviors, equipment failures, weather conditions and more.

Unsafe Driving Behavior of Passenger Vehicle Drivers

Drivers of passenger cars do not always consider or think about how a big rig truck performs on the roadway. They often treat tractor-trailers and semi-trucks the same way as another passenger vehicle, which can be dangerous to their smaller vehicles.

Common unsafe driving behavior that often results in truck accidents includes:

  • Driving in a truck’s “No-Zone.” This refers to blind spot areas behind and beside a commercial truck where the truck driver has limited or zero visibility.
  • Changing lanes abruptly in front of a truck.
  • Moving to the right of a truck that is making a right turn or making a left turn in front of a truck.
  • Merging improperly into traffic, causing a truck to brake quickly.
  • Unsafe passing.
  • Pulling into traffic from the roadside in front of a truck without accelerating sufficiently.
  • Driving between large trucks.

Truck Driver Error

Unsafe driving behaviors are not limited to passenger vehicle drivers. Any of these factors can lead to unnecessary risks and a truck driver’s inability to react quickly.

  • Overworked or overtired drivers, making them prone to mistakes on the road.
  • Driver error caused by inattention, distraction or substance abuse.
  • Speeding and other bad driving practices.

Truck Equipment Failures

Equipment failures relate not just to the design and manufacture of the truck, but also to mechanical issues. This might include:

car accidents rainy weatherWeather Conditions

Bad weather — rain, snow, ice, fog – can hamper a truck driver’s ability to stop quickly and steer the truck to safety. Most weather-related accidents occur because the driver was driving too fast for the road conditions.

Improper Loading

Overweight or overloaded trucks can result in loads becoming unbalanced. This can cause a truck to topple over. If the cargo is not secured properly, it can also fall off the truck into the lanes of traffic causing accidents.

Truck Driving Industry Practices

  • Inadequate training of drivers on driving techniques, safety concerns and defensive driving.
  • Violating the FMCSA Hours of Service regulations by encouraging more hours of consecutive vehicle operation than is allowed.
  • Unrealistic schedules and expectations.

Rollovers: One of the Major Causes of Fatalities

When accidents involve big rigs, one of the risk factors is that it may roll over. Often rollovers are caused by driver error, such as:

  • Taking a curve too fast
  • Speeding
  • Fatigue
  • Inexperience
  • Improperly loaded cargo

Establishing Fault in Trucking Accidents

In the Kansas City area, the truck accident attorneys at Nash & Franciskato have the resources needed to fully investigate your truck accident. We gather evidence from things such as the truck’s electronic data recorders, on-board computers and global positioning systems, which help tell the story of how fast the truck was going, patterns of speed, how long the driver has been on the road and more. This information helps determine what caused your accident.

Our goal is to help you and your family put your lives back together by obtaining the compensation you deserve to restore your health, pay medical bills, regain a sense of security, recover lost wages, and take care of other serious consequences.


Proven Results

  • $1.1 million total settlement for a driver struck from behind by a tractor-trailer whose driver had violated federal regulations for driving and logging hours
  • $500,000-plus settlements in cases involving inattention and fatigued truck drivers

More Case Results


Receive a Free Evaluation from Experienced Truck Accident Attorneys

In the Kansas City area and across Missouri, when you have been seriously injured in a trucking accident you need a trusted resource who will fight for your rights. Contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at Nash & Franciskato for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your case.

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