Aurora & Denver Trucking Accident Injury Attorney

Trucking Accident Facts and Statistics

• There were over 4,200 fatal trucking accidents throughout the United States in 2008
• There were over 14,045 bus accidents and over 129,000 trucking accidents in the United States in 2008
• Approximately every 16 minutes a person is injured or killed in a large trucking accident.
• Large trucking accidents can involve 18 wheelers, tractor trailers, big rigs, semi trucks and hazmat trucks.
• These trucking accidents accounted for nearly 100,000 injuries
• The most common defective products on large trucks were brake defects and tire defects---and they directly contributed to trucking accidents across the United States
• Truck drivers who drove for more than 8 hours in a row were more than 2x more likely to be involved in a trucking accident
• Failure to keep in the proper lane and driving over the speed limit were the top two causes of trucking accidents
• A large truck is defined as any vehicle that weighs over 10,000 pounds.
• Because of their size, a large truck is more likely to be involved in fatal accidents
• The majority of fatal trucking accidents occur during the daytime and on weekdays
• When a large truck collides with a passenger vehicle, 98% of all fatalities occur to the people in passenger vehicles
• In Colorado there were 2,366 large trucking accidents in 2007
• In 2007, there were 92 fatal trucking accidents and 2,389 non fatal trucking accidents in the state of Colorado
• In 2008, 29.22% of all traffic violations concerning large trucks were moving violations such as speeding and improper lane changing.
• Every day there are over 800,000 shipments of hazardous material being transported throughout the United States.
• When a hazmat truck is involved in a trucking accident, the results are likely to be far more catastrophic, due to the dangerous materials involved.
• There are 2 U.S. Departments that oversee large truck safety. These 2 departments are the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.