Truckers cover an estimated 140 billion miles annually transporting valuable goods across the country. There are approximately 2 million semitrucks on the road in the United States with nearly three times that number of trailers for the trucks.
These large vehicles have special considerations for operating them, so driving one requires a special license. The majority of semitruck trailers are 53 feet in length, and they can weigh up to 80,000 pounds when they’re fully loaded.
One factor that truckers and others on the roadways must take into account is that these semitrucks will need a longer stopping distance than the average vehicle. Rigs that are fully loaded will need the longest. And, that distance increases when the roads are slick.
A semitruck that’s fully loaded will need approximately two football fields of distance to come to a complete stop if it’s traveling at average highway speeds on dry roads. Because of this, drivers should never try to cut off these large vehicles.
When a vehicle cuts in front of a semitruck, they are putting others on the road at risk. The trucker might have to make a split-second decision about how to handle the situation. This could mean that they swerve into another lane to avoid hitting the car in front of them, but they might slam into a car that’s in their blind spot.
Individuals who suffer injuries when they’re struck by a semitruck might opt to pursue a claim for compensation. The parties they name as defendants are determined by the circumstances of the crash, so determining the root cause is important. By naming the appropriate defendants, victims can increase the likelihood of a successful claim.