Overloaded trucks are a growing risk on the highways and byways of Southern Ohio as supply-chain shortages and the pandemic economy continue to pressure the nation’s trucking industry. The risks are further exacerbated by the nationwide trucking shortage of more than 80,000 drivers and record high diesel fuel prices, which have risen to more than $5 a gallon in much of the nation.
Trucks can legally weigh as much as 80,000 pounds on most highways in the United States – or about 20 times more than the 4,000-pound weight of the average passenger vehicle. Experienced Chillicothe trucking accident attorneys know poorly loaded and overloaded trucks are a leading cause of serious and fatal collisions involving tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles.
The shortage of drivers, unprecedented demand, and record gas prices continue to push trucking companies to cut corners. Overloading trucks is the most common way to ensure profitable, on-time delivery.
Overloaded Trucks Increase Accident Risks
Overloaded trucks increase the risks of accidents in a number of significant ways:
- Poor control: Overweight trucks are more difficult to control, especially during sudden maneuvers. Overloaded trucks significantly increase the risk of jackknifing, which can result in deadly side-underride collisions involving passenger vehicles.
- Mechanical Failure: Overloaded trucks place undue strain on many components, including axles, and make a truck harder to control.
- Increased stopping distance: Trucks already take more than a football field’s distance to come to a stop at highway speed. Overloaded trucks can take twice as long to stop, substantially increasing the risk a truck will be unable to avoid a collision.
- Force of impact: The laws of physics mean both speed and mass exponentially increase the force of a collision. Overloaded trucks become even more dangerous during a collision.
- Brake failure: Overloaded trucks put more stress on the complex braking system of a truck than any scenarios except downhill grades. Overloaded trucks going downhill are a double dose of bad news.
- Stressed infrastructure: From bridges, to guardrails, to retaining walls, roadway infrastructure is not designed to handle large, overweight commercial vehicles, which can result in increased risk to other passenger vehicles on the road.
Chillicothe trucking accident lawyers know the risks of overweight and overloaded trucks represent a hidden safety epidemic on the nation’s roads. Even before COVID and the recent supply-chain shortages, as many as one-third of the nation’s dump trucks and tractor-trailers were overweight at any given time.
Determining all of the factors of causation is critical when it comes to building a case for damages and winning the comprehensive compensation victims deserve. Weigh-station records and other information should be gathered during a thorough and independent investigation of all potential factors of causation. In some cases, an overloaded truck may also result in identifying other parties liable for a collision, including the loader or owner of the freight.
If you’ve been injured with a collision with a tractor trailer or other commercial vehicle, contact the Warren Law Firm today for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. Call 740-774-4357.
