Common Causes of Delivery Truck Accidents
As you go about your daily business, don’t be surprised if you see more and more delivery trucks in Columbia. The closer the holidays get, the more people ramp up their online shopping. It’s not uncommon to drive down a residential street and see houses with four or more packages stacked outside their door. However, an increase in delivery drivers also means an increase in car accidents. Learn more about the risks of delivery trucks and why accidents are more common at this time of year.
If you or someone close to you has been injured in a commercial truck accident, find out how Peake & Fowler can help you. Call us at 803-788-4370 to set up a consultation with our team right away.
Frequent Stops on Busy Streets
Delivery drivers have their routes set up to minimize unnecessary driving. That means that their company will pack as many stops in a single drive as they can. If you’re behind a delivery driver, you may see them stop every couple of houses on their busiest days. In the best-case scenario, this is just annoying to the people behind the delivery truck—it takes longer to get to their final destination, and trying to pass them can be challenging when traffic is heavy.
In the worst-case scenario, the delivery driver will end up in front of someone who is texting and driving or otherwise distracted. This means that they’re at serious risk of being hit when the other driver doesn’t realize they’ve stopped. Many delivery drivers are injured in this exact fashion every year.
Unfamiliarity With Roads
Companies often send delivery drivers wherever they are needed, which may mean they end up in areas they are unfamiliar with. Navigating new roads can be challenging even for professional drivers. They may end up going the wrong way on one-way roads, driving too fast or slow for the road they’re on, or making unsafe turns when they’re lost. All of these mistakes make an accident much more likely.
Inclement Weather
Although South Carolina generally has mild winters, the occasional snow flurry can throw the entire state into a panic. In some ways, mild snow flurries in warm states can be more disastrous than a foot of snowfall in other states. Drivers from areas that always get snow know how to adjust their driving, but that isn’t the case in warm areas. Delivery trucks take much longer to come to a complete stop than smaller vehicles, and their top-heavy design makes them prone to rollovers. Both of these issues are worsened when you add in a little bit of ice and snow.
Distracted and Fatigued Driving
Many companies require delivery drivers to work eight-to-ten-hour shifts—being in a car that long can take a toll on your mental stability and alertness. The longer a delivery driver is on the road, the more susceptible they are to distractions and fatigue. Both fatigued and distracted driving dramatically increase the risk of an accident. It’s important that drivers get plenty of time between shifts and have time for breaks, especially during long shifts. Many employers don’t put drivers’ safety first, choosing instead to focus on profits and efficiency.
Heavy Delivery Loads
Delivery drivers are under an enormous amount of pressure at this time of year. Delivery companies tend to enforce unreasonably high quotas and punish drivers who fall short. It doesn’t matter if they are driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, have an unusually high amount of extremely heavy packages to move, or hit red lights—the company just wants them to hit those numbers. This type of pressure can lead drivers to take unnecessary risks, slide through stop signs, ignore right-of-way laws, and otherwise put themselves and others in danger.
Hurt in a Delivery Truck Accident? Reach Out to Peake & Fowler Now
The sooner you connect with a Columbia car accident lawyer, the sooner you can begin fighting for the compensation you deserve. Let’s start with a free consultation to discuss your case in greater detail—just call us at 803-788-4370 or get in touch online to set up a time to talk to our team.
