Driver fatigue blamed for two Ohio trucking accidents

Large trucks and tractor-trailers are common sights for Ohio motorists. The growth of shipping and delivery industries ensures that passenger car drivers must constantly share the road with much larger commercial vehicles. And while car accidents are sometimes an unfortunate reality, the danger is often much higher when they involve bigger trucks.
Driver fatigue

The act of safely driving a commercial vehicle requires constant focus. The larger mass makes trucks less maneuverable and harder to stop when things go wrong. Insufficient sleep can make safety an impossible goal as truck drivers lack the focus and response times necessary to avoid accidents.

In the past few days alone, two different accidents in two different locations occurred because their drivers suffered from fatigue. Outside of Dayton, a tractor-trailer crashed and forced the closure of eastbound US-35. According to reports, driver fatigue caused the driver to lose control of the semi-truck late at night, where it crashed on its side. The second accident happened near Youngstown, when a box truck crashed into a guardrail and injured one person. This accident took place in the morning, with the driver falling asleep at the wheel.

Shipping and delivery companies can put enormous pressure on drivers to deliver goods quickly and on schedule. As a result, proper rest and safety become subordinate to profits. Anytime and anywhere, a commercial vehicle can become a danger to every nearby vehicle when the driver succumbs to a lack of sleep and loss of focus.

If you’re injured in an accident involving a commercial vehicle, hiring the right attorneys to do an immediate and thorough investigation is key to holding responsible those who were at fault. It’s not always just the driver to blame – their employer or another company may have helped create the circumstances leading to the accident. Determining exactly what happened, and why, is critical to you being fully compensated for the injuries you sustained.