Roughly 5,000 people are killed in truck crashes each year in the United States. Commercial trucking is a huge industry that transports all sorts of goods around the country. The unsafe operation of commercial trucks results in far too many tragedies. Trucking companies have a responsibility to train their drivers carefully and ensure that their drivers make conservative and safe choices on the road.
18-wheel commercial trucks make exceptionally wide right turns. In order to make a right turn, truck drivers are often required to swing their vehicles out into other lanes of traffic to avoid rolling over or riding off the road. When right turns are not completed with caution and care, a truck accident can result in a Missouri trucking accident lawsuit. A wide right turn trucking accident may directly involve the truck, as when a large truck cuts off vehicles in other lanes of traffic, or may involve only secondary vehicles, as when other cars swerve to avoid a collision with a turning truck or a truck that has rolled over. Whether direct or indirect, truck accidents related to wide right turns do lead to serious injuries and even death among other travelers on the road.
In order to become a professional truck driver, a person must complete training and undergo evaluation on their ability to safely drive a large truck. One aspect of their driver training is learning to safely maneuver their vehicle through turns. Whether an intersection is very congested or it requires a tight turn, commercial drivers are trained to complete the turn safely. Drivers must slow appropriately in order to make a safe turn, and must also watch for and yield to other traffic in the lanes they must cross. It is also vital that commercial truck drivers indicate their turn carefully to warn other drivers around them, and display legible signs on their truck reminding other drivers of the truck’s need to make wide right turns. If a trucking company fails to adhere to federal regulations related to warning signs for wide right turns, the company may face a Missouri truck accident lawsuit. And if a driver fails to yield to other traffic while attempting to make a right turn, the driver may be found negligent.
Trucking accidents related to wide right turns can take several forms. First, the truck may actually collide with cars, bicyclists or even pedestrians because of a failure to wait for other lanes to be clear before turning. If a large truck makes a turn too tightly, the truck may roll over and crush other vehicles. Finally, trucks may cause secondary wrecks among other vehicles that swerve to avoid a collision with the turning truck. If a commercial driver fails to turn widely enough or turns too widely, any accident that results may be blamed on the driver’s in ability to make a turn. Missouri truck accident attorneys often face arguments from trucking company lawyers that other motorists were to blame for not yielding to a turning truck. However, if a right turn results in an accident, it usually means the turn was not made as carefully as it should have been.
