Delivery Truck Accidents: 3 Common Causes

Delivery trucks are used to transport different products from one place to another. Although these vehicles enabled employers to have successful business operations, their presence on the road has also increased the risks of an accident.

Delivery Truck Accidents

Delivery trucks are bigger and heavier compared to passenger vehicles because they are used to carry different goods or things like appliances, fruits, sugar, and wood. The size of trucks makes it more dangerous because it can cause significant damage to smaller vehicles like cars and motorcycles in the event of an accident.

Here are three common causes of delivery truck accidents which are connected to driver negligence:

• Failure to secure the cargo- The things that a truck carries might suddenly fall on the road if they were not properly secured by the driver. In order to avoid accidents caused by fallen cargos, drivers should be careful when loading these cargos and they should also make sure that the back door is properly closed before they start to travel.

• Driver fatigue- A driver may be required to work for long hours so that different clients will be able to receive their ordered goods immediately. However, he may no longer be capable of driving safely if he is already tired or stressed out.

Fortunately, even if driver fatigue is considered one of the common causes of accidents, it may be easily prevented if drivers and trucking companies will follow "the federal hours of service rules."

The house of service rules were created in order to make sure that all deliver truck drivers will be able to get enough sleep and rest before they begin their work shift. To be more specific, here are some examples of different rules which should be followed by drivers and trucking companies:

• Drivers are only allowed to drive for about 11 hours each day

• Employers should allow drivers to go home and rest for about 10 hours before the start of a working day

• Drivers are prohibited from driving if they have already worked for more than 60 hours in a seven-day period

• Driver intoxication- Alcohol consumption or drug use can impair a person's driving skills. This means that truck drivers who are already intoxicated may no longer have the ability to operate the vehicle properly and to see and react to sudden dangers that they might face.

In an effort to prevent accidents caused by drivers who are intoxicated, trucking companies were required by federal regulations to do the following:

• Require their drivers to undergo "periodic random tests" during their work hours and after a fatal accident happens

• Require drivers to undergo drug and alcohol test as one of the conditions of their employment

Micheal Dent used to be a campus journalist in a University and holds a degree in AB Mass Communication. he jumped-start his profession in web content writing and has written Delivery Truck Accidents articles to date.

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