18-wheeler accidents take place annually leaving grieving friends and relatives. One of the common questions in court is who to blame for such tragedies. Normally, trucking companies bear the entire responsibility for the 18-wheeler accidents by settling lawsuits outside the courtroom. Because of the high cost of settling these accidents, most trucking companies prefer to employ aggressive employees as well as biased insurance representatives in an attempt to reduce the amount of money the victim will receive in the name of compensation. Compensation amount is very crucial to the family of the victims because the medical bills can be too high for them the settle.
What causes 18-wheeler accidents?
As much as victims deserve compensation after accidents, it is not easy to define the exact causes of such tragedies. For instance, a truck can knock down someone because the driver was feeling sleepy while driving or bad weather combined with the dateline for delivering particular goods. In most cases, the trucking company bears responsibility for negligence. Some of the common causes for such accidents include the following
Driver fatigue
Just as we mentioned earlier drivers who spend more time on the roads without resting are likely to bring about such accidents. Driving for more than eight hours increases the probability of a driver causing fatal accidents.
Defective trucks
According to reports, a good number of trucking companies do not maintain their trucks properly because they want to save on money as well as time. The most sensitive yet neglected parts of the truck include lighting, brakes and steering equipment among others.
Wage and hour violations
Despite the limit in terms of hours that a truck driver should drive, most companies allow them to transport goods even when they should be resting. The possibility of such drivers causing accidents is very high simply because they want to make more money at the end of the month. To find out more about legal issues to do with trucks, you can visit this site regularly every time you go online.