Vehicle Safety Tips for Avoiding Commercial Truck Accidents

Through appropriate vehicle safety, passenger car drivers may be able to avoid or reduce risk of commercial truck accidents. This is especially imperative because the risk of being seriously or fatally injured by such a large vehicle is significant. In the event of an accident in Colorado, a truck accident attorney in Denver can help victims pursue compensation for their damages.

Tips for Safer Driving

Before dealing specifically with commercial truck accidents, it’s important to understand how to be a safe driver in the first place. These vehicle safety tips could help avoid an accident of any kind.

Before getting behind a wheel, get enough rest. Fatigue can interfere with alertness and driving performance. But drowsiness can also be caused by other factors, such as certain medications. So, avoid those medications before driving if possible, or avoid driving if the medications impair safe driving.

Put away all electronic devices. This eliminates the temptation to answer a call or check a text message. According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), distracted driving was the cause of 18 percent of injury crashes in 2010 – if another driver was distracted and caused the accident in Colorado, a truck accident attorney in Denver can use this evidence to establish negligence in a claim.

Drive according to weather conditions. If the roads are wet or slippery, slow down. If possible, avoid driving in severe weather conditions.

Tips to Avoid an Accident with a Commercial Truck

Now that these general vehicle safety tips have been covered, it’s time to consider some of the unique encounters passenger vehicles can have with trucks.

Some vehicle safety tips that could help prevent a passenger vehicle and commercial truck accident include:

 

• don’t slow down when changing lanes or merging in front of a truck;
• don’t pass on the right when a truck is making a right turn;

 

• keep out of the truck’s blind spots (if a driver of a passenger vehicle can’t see the truck’s mirrors, the truck driver can’t see the motorist);
• put on turn signal when changing lanes or turning;
• avoid making abrupt lane changes in front of a truck;
• maintain a consistent speed if passing a truck;
• don’t make an unsafe left turn in front of a truck at an intersection (as a result of misjudging the oncoming truck’s speed);
• when a truck driver signals to make a turn, don’t assume that is the intention (allow enough time to be sure the intended turn is actually being made);
• don’t speed up when a truck is attempting to merge or change lanes;
• do not follow trucks too closely;
• avoid driving in between large trucks; and
• never cut off a truck in order to make a turn or take an exit.

Legal Help in Colorado with a Truck Accident Attorney in Denver

When a commercial truck accident does happen, it can sometimes be difficult to establish who is at fault. With the likelihood of sustaining serious or life-threatening injuries, it may be in the injured person’s best interest to seek legal counsel in Colorado with a truck accident attorney in Denver.

A lawyer can go over details of the commercial truck accident or any violations of trucking regulations or failure to follow vehicle safety measures, and whether they may have caused the accident.