Preventing Chicago Tractor-Trailer Accidents and Other Illinois Large Truck Collisions
Large Illinois truck crashes injure and kill too many people each year. In 2007 alone, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 1,710 motor vehicles were involved in deadly Illinois truck accidents—just 148 of those vehicles (8.7%) were large trucks.
While truck accidents can happen due to other motorists’ negligence, many large truck accidents occur because of negligence on the part of the trucker, a trucking company, or another affiliated party. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers the following recommendations that truck drivers can implement to prevent large truck accidents from happening including:
• Inspect your truck daily before taking it on the road.
• Make sure all maintenance work on your truck is up-to-date.
• Know how to operate your truck.
• Obey Illinois traffic laws.
• Don’t drive when you are exhausted.
• Take frequent breaks to walk and stretch.
• Don’t drive on soft shoulders.
• Inspect your semi-trailer’s breaks on a regular basis.
• Check your blind spots for vehicles.
• Honk your horn when backing up.
• Watch out for pedestrians.
• Know how to deal with the particular load you are transporting.
• Make sure you use wheel chocks when you are loading your trailer or truck.
• Don’t overload your truck.
• Activate the parking brakes when your truck is parked.
• Make sure that your load isn’t piled too high that it might strike bridges, power lines, and overpasses when you are on the road.
• Make sure that your trailer is properly secured to the towing vehicle.
• Properly secure all loads and load your trailer correctly, distributing the weight in a manner that will allow you to travel safely.
There may be more than one party that can be held liable for your Chicago truck accident. This is where an experienced Chicago, Illinois truck crash law firm can step in for you. If you’ve been injured in a tractor-trailer crash because a truck driver, a vehicle manufacturer, the shipping company, the trailer owner, the truck company, and/or another party was negligent, your Chicago personal injury attorney can gather all the evidence for you to prove your claims.
Truck Safety: Preventing Accidents with Trucks and Trailers, CDC
Related Web Resources:
FMCSA
Contact Chicago truck crash attorney Steve Malman today.
