People are shopping more online today than ever. As a result, it’s not uncommon to look out your window at any given time of day and see delivery trucks making multiple stops in your neighborhood. While this convenience can make life a little easier, these trucks also pose a risk. They can easily be involved in an accident with other vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians, any of which can cause not only extensive damage, but also severe injuries.
But how do these accidents occur? Let’s take a look at some of the common causes of delivery truck accidents:
- Distraction: As is true for any other motorists, delivery truck drivers can be impacted by distraction. But while they might have their attention taken off the road by their phone, they’re also oftentimes looking at navigation devices and for roads and addresses. As a result, these drivers can end up being even more distracted than other motorists who are on the roadway. This, in turn, can lead to a serious accident.
- Speeding: Delivery truck drivers often work long hours, and their day isn’t done until they’ve delivered all packages on their route. In order to get done sooner, these drivers might speed and disregard other traffic laws. When they do, you could be put in harm’s way.
- Lack of training: Although companies that hire delivery truck drivers should be sure to give them adequate training, sometimes that just simply isn’t the case. Far too often these drivers are left with unsettled skills that render them dangerous when they’re behind the wheel.
- Improper maintenance: Delivery trucks rack up the miles quickly, which results in an extensive amount of wear and tear. When these trucks aren’t adequately repaired, they can pose a safety risk on the road.
- Poor cargo securement: Have you seen delivery trucks or vans driving with their rear or side doors open? It’s pretty common. Drivers do this so that they can more quickly access packages when they reach their next delivery address. But if the cargo within the truck is poorly secured, then those packages can fall out while in transit, forcing other motorists to take evasive actions to avoid hitting them. When this happens, a vehicle may swerve into oncoming traffic, hit a pedestrian, or run off the road and strike some other object.
- Abrupt movements: Delivery truck drivers oftentimes make quick movements with their vehicles in order to get where they’re going as fast as possible. Therefore, they might slam on the brakes or abruptly turn, taking motorists like you by surprise.
- Unsafe reversals: These delivery trucks have to back up a lot in order to maneuver out of driveways and to turn around. But when their drivers don’t properly assess their surroundings and reverse too quickly, they can hit a nearby vehicle, pedestrian, or bicyclist.
Hold delivery drivers and their employers accountable
As you can see, there are a lot of different ways that these accidents can occur. And they can leave you with significant damages that are physical, emotional, and financial in nature.
You don’t want to sit back and accept these losses. Instead, you should take action to protect your interests. This may mean filing a personal injury lawsuit in hopes of recovering compensation for your losses.
But if you hope to succeed on one of these claims, then you need to be prepared to gather relevant evidence and craft compelling legal arguments. If you think that you could use some help in that regard, then please consider reaching out to a legal team like ours for assistance.