Secondary Truck Accidents
While any type of vehicle collision should be taken seriously, truck accidents are notorious for being particularly dangerous. This is partly due to the fact that these kinds of accidents often involve more than one collision. Unfortunately, these secondary collisions can end up being as severe as the primary crashes, involving multiple vehicles and causing potentially catastrophic injuries.
What are Secondary Vehicle Accidents?
A secondary crash occurs as a result of an original collision, either at the scene of the accident itself or in the line of backed up vehicles that takes place in either direction as a result. Secondary car accidents don’t just occur on multilane highways or in busy urban areas, but can happen on any type of roadway, basically anywhere an accident took place. Furthermore, the primary accident doesn’t have to have blocked lanes or even be a serious collision in order for a secondary accident to occur. In fact, some secondary accidents are more serious than the original collision, especially when trucks are involved.
Why Secondary Truck Accidents Are Serious
While secondary car accidents can involve any type of vehicle, their level of severity increases significantly when they involve commercial trucks, like semi-trucks, box trucks, and delivery vehicles. The sheer size and weight of these vehicles simply cause a lot more damage than smaller vehicles upon impact. Larger vehicles are also more likely to cause chain reaction collisions with the vehicles behind them, which can cause more damage and potentially catastrophic injuries.
Preventing Secondary Truck Accidents
It’s not always possible to avoid a secondary collision, but there are steps that drivers can take to lower their chances of being involved in such a crash, including:
- Avoiding distractions, especially when nearing congested parts of the roadway;
- Leaving more space between vehicles;
- Slowing down or stopping when approaching the scene of an accident; and
- Being ready to drive defensively if approaching an accident scene to avoid debris, other vehicles, other drivers, and emergency personnel.
Those who are involved in car accidents can also take steps to help others avoid secondary collisions by:
- Moving their cars off to the side of the road and away from traffic;
- Turning their flashers on; and
- Making their vehicle visible with the use of triangles and flares.
Taking these precautions can go a long way towards preventing secondary accidents with other vehicles. They are not, unfortunately, a guarantee that such an accident won’t occur because of someone else’s negligence.
Call Boone & Davis After a Truck Accident
If you were involved in a secondary car accident or a subsequent chain reaction collision through no fault of your own, you should not have to end up on the hook for your medical bills and other losses. For help determining who is liable for your accident and damages, please call the experienced Florida truck accident lawyers at Boone & Davis or reach out to us via online message today. You can count on our dedicated and compassionate legal team to fight for the compensation you deserve.
Source
ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop23043/fhwahop23043.pdf
