Mahoning County Ohio Truck Accident Attorney | Dangers Posed by Trucks Illustrated by Recent Truck Accident in North Lima

Yesterday, May 23, a 44-year-old North Lima man was seriously inured on State Route 7, just south of State Route 164, when a truck went left of center and hit him head on.  In my legal practice, I see this accident occurs time and time again, day after day in Ohio.  This collision illustrates the dangers posed by trucks on the road and the simple precautions that can be taken to reduce your risk of serious injury or death.

I have often discussed the dangers that trucks pose in Ohio motor vehicle collisions.  The average truck can weigh 80,000 pounds as compared to a 3,000-pound car. Since physics tells us that force of impact equals mass of the vehicle times acceleration, the force of the truck on the occupants of the car is enormous, and is sufficient to cause catastrophic injuries in even low impact accidents.  As Sir Isaac Newton would tell you, you don’t need a high acceleration to have high force when the mass is huge.   Truck collisions occur for many reasons, such as loss of control and failure to stop in time or what is known as failure to keep an assured cleared distance.  It takes a long time to slow down heavy trucks, much longer than the lighter cars. 

It is important to give trucks wide birth while driving, and not to take actions that would require the truck to stop on a dime.  In the above example, the truck could have gone left of center for any of several reasons, including driver fatigue, driver inattention, problems with the truck, attempt to slow down or turn to quickly, etc.

Ohio truck accidents are very different than car-to-car collisions, as any experienced Ohio truck accident lawyer across the state from Toledo to Youngstown to Canton to Columbus knows. In my experience, a much larger majority of truck accidents end up in death or serious personal injury than simple car on car accidents.

Truck accidents can be complicated compared to car accidents. Many times both state and federal rules and regulations are involved in such cases.  Thankfully the man in the above accident was not seriously hurt.  Many Ohioans are not so lucky, as recently released 2009 crash statistics from the Ohio Department of Transportation show. 

The man in the above example may not have been able to avoid the oncoming truck.  However, in general, some helpful hints while driving around trucks include:

• Do not cut off a truck

• Do not slam your brakes on suddenly when traveling in front of a moving truck

• Do not dart out in front of a truck. You may avoid an accident, but the truck driver may lose control of his truck and harm someone else. 
  

• Do not take any action that would require the truck driver to stop suddenly

These hints are even more important when the roads are wet or slippery, and the stopping distance of a truck is much greater and the maneuverability is much less.

Treat the truck like the king of the road that it is, and don’t play “chicken” with your life.  This hint alone can save your life.


If you have lost a loved one in a North Lima truck crash, call the Mahoning County car accident lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled “The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims” at www.chesterlaw.com.