Tractor Trailer Truck Accidents Increasing
Monday, December 1st, 2008Tractor-trailer truck accidents are among the most common truck accidents in the United States. According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Crash Avoidance Research, there were 1.6 million truck tractors and 3.6 million trailers in use in the motor carrier industry.
Heavy duty trucks are considered those with a weight greater than 10,000 pounds. Heavy trucks are involveved in an array of traffic accidents, with this number ever increasing. They are also involved in rollovers accidents as well. Although rollover accidents are not as frequent, they can result in more damage to the vehicle and more injury to the driver.
Attempts are being made to improve the technology used within the tractor-trailer truck industry and with the development of commercial vehicles. Due to unavoidable constraints among current combination-unit truck trailer electrical powering and communications systems, there is becoming an increase in mechanical failures causing truck crashes.
The NHTSA has developed the Truck Multiplexing (TruckMux) project to better equip truck drivers with communications and technology between the tractor and the trailer, because truck accidents can frequently occur due to a loss of control between the two units.Other items that are also being worked on to better improve tractor-trailer trucks and thus decrease the number of accidents associated, include:
- advanced lighting multiplex modules
- trailer air brake reservoir low pressure
- brake status
- air suspension pressure and height
- tandem axle load
- rear object detection
- side object detection
- trailer door open
These are just a few of the technological issues that can cause a tractor-trailer truck accident, however, there are a plethora of reasons that a tractor-trailer accident can occur.
