Sometime ago, people usually said that commercial truck drivers were the most experienced and well trained drivers on the roads of the United States. Today, this idea is obsolete, and may not be so true after all. The trucking industry has grown very fast and because of the high demand of freight trucking, companies need more and more new drivers in their fleets every day. A statistic of the Department of Transportation (DOT) says that almost 5,000 citizens die from traffic accidents involving trucks on it and less than 20% of these accidents include occupants of them.
A curious note is that theses drivers receive additional economic incentives to make long distances in the shortest time possible; actually it has been demonstrated that some drivers use drugs that help them stay awake to drive more time without sleep. Sometimes the companies penalize them if they arrive late to pick up or deliver a load. Another important fact is that many companies are hiring young and inexperienced drivers. Since the moment this began, the accidents stats include a big number of these new drivers.
In case you have had an accident involving a truck and you want to make a claim against it, there are some aspects you must to know before act. Some factors that are part of a legal responsibility are: driver qualification, careless hiring, driver tiredness, use of drugs, defective equipment and others. If you have suffered damage because a traffic accident with a truck you can make a claim, contact your attorney and ask for the possibilities to be compensated for the injuries.