The number of fatal truck accidents in California per year has been decreasing over the last half-decade, according to data from the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Unfortunately, the number of injuries suffered in truck crashes each year has climbed slightly.
Many hardworking San Jose truck accident attorneys see many cases each year in which a truck crash causes serious injury or death to another motorist, pedestrian, or other person sharing the road with large trucks. When a full-size truck – which may weigh up to 80,000 pounds – collides with a much smaller passenger vehicle or an unprotected pedestrian or bicyclist, the results can be devastating.
In 2010, California saw a total of 214 lives lost and 5,065 injuries in large truck accidents. While this fatality number is lower than 2009’s count of 236 lives lost, the injury numbers are higher, up from 4,874 injuries in 2009. More recent data from the CHP is not yet available.
By far, the most common cause of truck accidents across all age groups in California is speeding, according to the California Highway Patrol. Either a truck or another vehicle can easily cause an accident if safe speeds for conditions aren’t observed. Improper turns, unsafe starting or backing up, and failing to yield to pedestrian or automobile right of way were also top causes of truck accidents in 2010. However, attempts to combat truck driver fatigue may be working: not a single truck crash death in California in 2010 was caused by a truck driver falling asleep at the wheel.