Main Causes of Truck Rollover Accidents

Truck rollover accidents are known for producing some of the most devastating and life-threatening injuries. With help from a dedicated truck accident attorney, you may be able to hold the liable party accountable and recover the compensation that is rightfully yours. 

To determine who is at fault, your personal injury lawyer must thoroughly investigate the rollover accident’s cause. Fortunately, data provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) allows your legal advocate to explore potential causes and reveal the identities of anyone and everyone who may have contributed to the injuries you sustained.

Top Causes of Truck Rollover Accidents in the U.S.

Rollover accidents most frequently occur due to some type of event that increases the roll movement of the longitudinal axis of a commercial truck. Turning too quickly, for example, might allow one side of the truck to drop or rise, causing a rollover accident.

The FMCSA reports truck driver negligence is the most common cause of rollover accidents. In a large truck crash causation study by the FMCSA,  the most common causes of rollover truck accidents involved:

• Speeding
• Defective motor vehicle parts
• Negligent driving
• Oversteering
• Improperly loaded trucks

According to the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, other factors include truck driver inattention and loss of control over the truck.

Speeding

According to the FMCSA crash data, speeding is involved in nearly 50 percent of all rollover truck accidents. Rollovers can frequently occur when the truck’s front wheels turn more quickly than the cargo being carried within the truck. Since many commercial trucks use large interstates and highways to transport cargo, they often travel at higher speeds that are safe for the roads, the type of truck, and the cargo the truck carries.

When speeding, truck drivers may ignore speed limits, fail to notice posted speed limit signs, or improperly handle curved roadways. FMCSA data suggested nearly two-thirds of rollover accidents involved curved on and off ramps. This misjudgment at the speed of a curve is responsible for causing a substantial number of injuries and deaths.

Worse, truck drivers understand the safety threats of curves in speeding while pulling cargo, and may fail to take necessary precautions such as breaking earlier or downshifting before traveling downhill. Truck drivers can also be held accountable for driving over the speed limit when they are pressured to deliver loads in unrealistic amounts of time, causing them to speed because they are in a hurry and worried about their position at work.

Negligent Driving

It is not only speeding by negligent truck drivers that motorists need to be cautious of. Other types of negligent driving truckers have been known to engage in can cause commercial trucks to roll over in several ways. Some of the most common of which include:

• Road rage by other motorists or truck drivers
• The inattention of other motorists on the roadways
• Lack of alertness
• Falling asleep at the wheel
• Failure to maintain control of the vehicle
• Inappropriate maneuvering of the truck
• Failure to search far enough ahead
• Breaking or downshifting problems
• Failure to maintain a stopping distance
• Lack of steering control, including oversteering or understeering
• Failure to search to the side
• Overcorrection
• Visibility issues
• Failure to check blind spots

These are just a few examples of unsafe or negligent driving by commercial truck drivers. It is important to remember that other motorists on the roadway can also cause rollover truck accidents. Having an experienced tractor-trailer accident lawyer working for you can help ensure you identify the actual cause of your accident and hold all parties who contributed to your injuries accountable.

Improperly Loaded Tractor-Trailers

Another top cause of rollover truck accidents is improperly loaded cargo. Trucks are sometimes overloaded beyond weights acceptable by FMCSA law. Other times, cargo loaders have improperly fastened cargo, mounted cargo too high, or made other mistakes.

Improperly loaded cargo can shift within the truck’s trailer, causing it to roll over, even at seemingly safe speeds. Trucking companies should ensure cargo loaders understand how overloaded trucks can impact vehicle stability to reduce the number of rollover accidents, injuries, and deaths.

Defective Truck Parts

Malfunctioning motor vehicle parts are another common cause of rollover truck accidents. Malfunctioning breaks cause many rollover trucks. The impact can be catastrophic when brakes cannot correctly slow down the vehicle to avoid a rollover accident. 

Brake failure rollover accidents often occur on steep downgrades, curves, and intersections. Sadly, in many rollover truck accidents involving defective brakes, truck drivers had been operating the trucks long enough to know there was a problem and failed to take action.

Truck rollover accidents may be more common when trucking companies fail to make necessary repairs and truckers fail to conduct pre-operation inspections. Not only do truckers fail to make note of our address defective parts, but they may also fail to notice when loads are not properly secured, which is another top cause of rollover accidents. Other types of truck part malfunctions that have the potential to cause rollover accidents include:

• Steering malfunctions
• Tire blowouts
• Defective airbag inflators
• Shifting problems
• Faulty suspension systems

Options for Victims of Truck Rollover Accidents

If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck rollover accident, you may be suffering severe injuries, missing work, and fearful of how you can recover. You have the option to file an insurance claim against the truck driver’s policy or that of the trucking company. 

Trucking companies often have extremely high coverage policies but are reluctant to admit any guilt or pay out claims. If they refuse to meet your demands and pay for your losses, you have the right to file a lawsuit.

A truck accident lawsuit will give you a chance to recover every penny of the damages you have suffered, including the subjective losses such as your pain and suffering. You will benefit from hiring a skilled truck accident lawyer to manage your case on your behalf, so you can concentrate on getting better and getting back to your life. 

Get Help from a Georgia Truck Accident Attorney Today

Once your experienced Georgia truck accident lawyer has figured out what caused the truck to roll over, we will better understand who should be held accountable for your losses. With our team of personal injury attorneys advocating for your rights, you can rest easier knowing we will maximize your financial compensation wherever possible. 

Learn more about what caused the truck in your case to roll over and who should be held accountable when you contact John Foy & Associates for a no-cost, risk-free consultation. Fill out our quick contact form or call our office to start working on your rollover truck accident claim as soon as today.