TRUCK DRIVER OR SHIPPER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSPORTING CARGO SAFELY
Truck drivers are trained to take the following safety measures to prevent truck cargo accidents:
Our truck negligence lawyers know all about hauling cargo safely. Truck drivers ruin lives and cause deaths when they don’t understand and follow basic cargo safety rules they learn when they get their CDL.
If you load cargo wrong or do not secure it, it can be a danger to motorists and the trucker. Loose cargo that falls off a vehicle can cause traffic problems and others could be hurt or killed. Loose cargo could hurt or kill occupants of passenger vehicles during a quick stop or crash. Trucks could cause property damaged by an overload. Steering could be affected by how a vehicle is loaded, making it more difficult to control the vehicle and keep from hitting other vehicles.
Whether or not trucker driver loaded and secured the cargo, the truck driver is generally responsible for:
If truck driver plans to carry hazardous material which requires placards on each side of the commercial vehicle, the truck driver will also need to have a hazardous materials license endorsement. Our truck accident law firm has written extensive information about hazmat trucking accidents for truckers to be safe over decades of handling trucking hazmat accidents handling.
Call 866-HIRE-JOE to find out your legal rights to financial compensation for personal injury or property damage after a cargo or freight related trucking accident.
Truck driver Accident Due to Failure To Inspect Cargo As part of Vehicle inspection
If the truck driver fails to make sure the truck is not overloaded and the cargo is balanced and secured properly, he will be at fault when cargo falls on passenger cars or causes a wreck on the road.
Truck Accident Due To Improper Truck driver behavior After Starting trip
Truck drivers must perform inspection of the cargo and all securing devices again within the first 50 miles traveled after beginning a delvery trip. Truck driver may fail to make the adjustments needed to secure a loosened load, which can lead to a tip over truck accident.
Truck driver Must Re-check the cargo in transit
Truck driver is responsible to re-check the cargo and securing devices as often as necessary during a trip to keep the load secure to prevent harming other motorists. Truck driver needs to inspect cargo:
Transporting Cargo Safely Federal, state, and local regulations for commercial vehicle weight, securing cargo, covering loads, and where they can drive large vehicles can vary from place to place. Truck drivers may fail to learn or keep up with knowing the rules where they will be driving.
Truck Accident Improper Weight and Balance
Truck drivers are responsible for not being overloaded. The following are some important definitions for weight truckers are expected to know.
Truck Accident Lawyers Need To Know Truckers Use Special Language
Most people that got hurt by a commercial truck don’t know that the Trucking industry has special language and definitions related to the activity. The following are important definitions for trucking accident cargo cases lawyers should know:
Truck Accident caused by Truckers Breaking Legal Weight Limits
Truck drivers must keep weights on a semi-tractor trailer within legal limits. Michignan and some other states have maximums for GVWRs, GCWRs, and axle weights. Often, states will set maximum axle weights based on a bridge formula. Michigan and other states use the bridge formula for issuing permits with less maximum axle weight for axles that are closer together. This is to prevent tractor-trailers from overloading Michigan bridges and roadways.
Serious trucking accidents can happen by overloading that can have bad effects on steering, braking, and speed control. Trucks overloaded with weight should go very slowly on upgrades. Worse, the tractor trailer combination may gain too much speed on downgrades. Stopping distance required to stop increases. Brakes can fail when forced to work too hard.
Truck accident during bad weather or in mountainous terrain, may occur if the trucker is unsafely operating over legal maximum weights. Some truck drivers may fail to take this into account before start drive on hills.
Truck Accident Caused By Being Top-heavy
The height of the commercial vehicle's center of gravity is very important for safe handling of the big rig truck. A high center of gravity (cargo piled up too high or heavy cargo on top) means that the truck is more likely to tip over and hurt a motorist. It is most dangerous in curves, or if you have to swerve to avoid a hazard while driving. It is very important to distribute the cargo freight, so it is as low as possible for stability on the road. The truck driver or shipper should make sure to put the heaviest parts of the cargo under the lightest parts of the cargo on the trailer.
Truck Accident caused by Improperly Balance Weight
Poorly weight balance can make vehicle handling unsafe. Truck driver puts too much weight on the steering axle can cause make steering difficulty leading to loss of control or a tractor-trailer crash with other cars on the road. Too much weight can damage the steering axle and tires leading to a personal injury truck accident. If the truck driver has under loaded the front axles, usually caused by shifting weight too far to the rear of the trailer, this condition can make the steering axle weight too light to steer the semi-truck safely. Truck drivers know that too little weight on the driving axles (axle where wheels are turning) can cause poor traction where the tractor trailer can get stuck in snow, ice, pavment, or gravel. The drive wheels may spin in place, especially if it encounter uneven surface. During bad winter weather, the truck may not be able to keep going safely leading to an 18 wheeler collision with cars. Truck drivers of freight shippers who stack freight cargo weight that is loaded so there is a high center of gravity causes greater chance of rollover truck accident putting passenger cars at risk of crash. On flat bed vehicles, there is also a greater chance that the trucks load has shifted to the side or fall off onto the road or other cars.
Truck Accident Caused by Improperly Secured Cargo – Blocking and Bracing freight
Truck drivers and shippers load cargo with blocking that is used in the front, back, and/or sides of a piece of cargo to keep it from sliding off the semi truck. Blocking is shaped to fit snugly against freight cargo. The blocking is secured to the cargo deck of the trailer to prevent cargo from moving off the trailer into traffic or other passenger vehicles. Truck driver or shipper is responsible for bracing that is also used to prevent movement of cargo in the trailer. Truckers typically use braces by putting them from the upper part of the cargo to the floor and/or walls of the cargo compartment to ensure a truck freight shifting accident does not occur.
Truck Accident Caused By Failed Cargo Tie-down
On flatbed trailers or trailers without sides, the cargo must be secured to the bed and frame of the trailer keep freight from shifting or falling off leading to a flatbed trailer truck accident on passenger cars or vehicles on the roadway. In closed truck vans, tie-downs can also be important to prevent cargo shifting that may affect the handling of the vehicle or cause the box truck vehicle to tip over on passenger cars or roadway. Truck drivers must use tie- downs of a proper type and proper strength to secure the freight. Federal regulations require the aggregate working load limit of any securement system used to secure an article of freight or group of articles of cargo against movement must be at least one-half the times of the weight of the article freight or group of articles of freight. Trucker is responsible to use proper tie-down equipment, including ropes, straps, chains, and tensioning devices (winches, ratchets, clinching components). Trucker or shipper must uses the tie-downs to attached to the trucking vehicle correctly (hooks, bolts, rails, rings).
When tie downs are used, the cargo should have at least one tie-down for each ten feet of cargo. Trucker is responsible to make sure you have enough tie-downs to meet the needs of the securement system. Sometimes, the truck driver may transport the cargo without using enough tie downs, which then leads to a trucking freight shift accident. Truck drivers need to be cautious that no matter how small the cargo, it should have at least two tie-downs securing the freight.
Michigan and federal law have special requirements for securing various heavy pieces of metal. Truck drivers and shippers of freight, need to find out what the requirement are if they are to carry such loads on roads and highways.
Truck Driver Header Board Accident
Truck drivers are familiar with front-end header boards ("headache racks") that protect them from cargo in case of a crash or emergency stop, where the cargo shift from behind them. Truck drivers must make sure the front-end structure is in good condition. The front-end structure should block the forward movement of any freight cargo that truckers carry for their own protection. For example, if cargo shifts and hurts the truck driver, an out of control truck accident will injury victims on the road.
Truck Accident Caused By Failing To Cover Cargo
There are two basic reasons for covering cargo or freight being transported by a trucking company:
The cover or tarp is designed to provide spill protection and is a safety requirement in many states, especially for gravel haulers to prevent gravel from hitting cars on the road. Truck drivers are required to be familiar with the laws in the states they drive the commercial truck safely. Truck drivers should look at the cargo covers in the side view mirrors from time to time while driving. You may have seen flapping cover that has torn loose, uncovering the cargo, and possibly block the truck driver’s view or someone else in a car behind the truck which can lead to a trucking incident.
Truck Accident Lawyers For Freight Or Cargo Accidents
If you or a loved have been injured or killed by a truck accident cargo or freight accident call 866-HIRE-JOE. The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm, P.C., has extensive experience and training for all kinds of trucking accidents and the better business bureau has us A+ rated for personal injury accident lawyers.
