According to a recent report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Hawaii is among the states where one is least likely to die in a collision with a large truck. Along with Rhode Island, trucks are involved in about 3.4 percent of fatal crashes, a fairly small number when compared to North Dakota, which topped the list with 20.2 percent.
The numbers listed in the report are based on data from 2012, during which there were a total of 3,802 fatal truck crashes nationwide. One of the things the report pointed out was that almost 75 percent of the individuals who died in fatal truck crashes in 2012 were occupants of other, smaller vehicles. Because of the sheer size of large trucks and the speed at which they travel, this makes sense.
There are a variety of reasons, of course, as to why truck accidents occur. One common reason truck accidents occur, though, is driver fatigue. Truckers often spend long hours behind the wheel without adequate rest, and their level of alertness consequently fails. Federal law, through specific hours-of-service requirements, has tried to address the problem, but such accidents still occur. Sometimes this is because trucking companies and individual truckers are cont in compliance with hours-of-service regulations.
When a trucker causes injury or death as a result of his or her negligence, he or she needs to be held accountable and the victim deserves to be compensated. For victims of such accidents, it can help to work with an experienced attorney when pursuing such a case.
Source: Cars.com, “Where Are You Most Likely to Die in a Truck Crash?,” Matt Schmitz, March 3, 2013.
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