Truck Accidents Caused By Blind Spots

What are a Truck’s Blind Spots?

Knowing a commercial truck’s blind spots can help you drive defensively and allow you to react quickly to any mistakes a truck driver might make while on the road.

A truck’s blind spots are located:

• On the right, under the mirror and extending at least two lanes.
• On the left, under the mirror and extending one lane.
• In front of the cab, extending at least 20 feet.
• Behind the trailer, at least 30 feet.

A rule of thumb to help pinpoint a truck’s blind spots while driving is that if you can’t see a truck’s mirrors, the truck driver can’t see you.

How Often Should Truck Drivers Check Their Blind Spots?

To help avoid accidents, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recommends that truck drivers check their mirrors every 8-10 seconds and scan ahead on the road for about 15 seconds (or a quarter-mile) to be aware of vehicles in their blind spots.

If truck drivers neglect to follow these recommendations or operate their trucks recklessly, blind spot accidents can and do occur.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) states that “blind spot detection has the greatest potential for preventing large truck crashes of any severity.”

What are Common Blind Spot Accidents?

Rear-end and sideswipe collisions are typical truck crashes caused by blind spots. Since the truck driver has a large blind spot over the front of the cab and at the sides of the trailer, it’s common for the driver to miss vehicles in those blind areas.

Truck accidents caused by blind spots can lead to devastating injuries. Commercial trucks often weigh 20 to 30 times more than a passenger vehicle and may carry dangerous cargo that could crush a smaller vehicle or leak caustic, flammable, or other materials. ‘

This kind of truck accident could easily cause broken bones, burns, concussions, and severe injuries like spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, and fatalities.

How Do These Accidents Occur?

The causes of blind spot accidents with trucks can vary depending on the circumstances. Bad weather may lower a truck driver’s visibility and make blind spots wider, longer, and more treacherous.

Reckless, distracted, or inattentive driving by speeding, texting, or not checking mirrors makes blind spot accidents more likely.

Impaired driving is a significant cause of truck accidents, especially in blind spots. While drinking and driving is a well-known form of impaired driving, another type is driver fatigue.

Since truck drivers are on the road for many hours at a time, the likelihood of sleepiness behind the wheel and a resulting accident increases. Expert research suggests that “truck drivers behind the wheel for more than eight hours are twice as likely to crash.”

If a truck driver is not alert, proactive, and professional, there’s a higher chance of an accident while you’re driving in a blind spot.

How is Liability Proven in Blind Spot Truck Accidents?

Most accident cases with commercial trucks are based on negligence. After establishing whether the negligence of the trucking company, driver, or both caused your accident, we then compile evidence to prove liability.

Evidence in your accident could be anything from surveillance video, accident photos, witness testimony, medical records, accident scene reconstruction, and more. The court will then process all the evidence, determine liability, and award compensation.

Depending on the complexity and circumstances of your blind spot trucking accident, you may be awarded compensation for things like lost wages, medical expenses, ongoing medical care for disability or life-changing injuries, car replacement or repair, property damage, and more.