Truck Accidents: Overloaded Trucks
West Palm Beach, Florida
Most trucking companies have one common goal: to move freight as quickly and cheaply as possible. Commercial truck drivers also have the responsibility to examine their truck, as well as their load, to ensure that it is properly secured and safe for highway driving.
Trucking companies, freight loaders, and drivers can overload or improperly load cargo. A fully loaded 18-wheeler may weigh 80,000 pounds or more. When a driver loses control of freight this heavy, the result can be a devastating truck accident.
If you or a family member has been hit by a truck or otherwise involved in a truck-related accident, you should contact an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible.
Dangers with overloading trucks
While braking or turning, it is difficult to predict how the truck will respond to a load that is extremely heavy. Unbalanced or overloaded cargo can also:
- Make a truck more susceptible to rolling over
- Lead to a longer stopping distance in traffic
- Cause tire blowout accidents
- Increases the chance of break failure
- Shifts the gravity away from the steering wheel, affecting steering ability
- Slow the truck’s speed when climbing hills, endangering trailing vehicles
- Create excessive speed when traveling downhill, resulting in a loss of control and rear-end collisions
Weight regulations
Trucking laws limit how heavy the vehicle can be and the amount of weight a commercial truck is permitted to carry. Generally speaking, trucks may only carry 20,000 pounds per axle and 80,000 pounds total.
The load must be evenly distributed throughout the length of the trailer. The truck driver is responsible for adhering to these regulations. However, unrealistic schedules that trucking companies impose on their drivers can result in improper loading in order for drivers to save time and meet their deadlines.
Shifting Cargo
Improperly secured cargo can shift position during a turn or while accelerating or braking. Shifting cargo is one of the events most likely to cause a truck accident, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)'s Large Truck Crash Causation Study.
To prevent cargo shift, loaders must secure the cargo properly. It is a driver's responsibility to ensure that the cargo is properly secured before setting out, and must stop to check that the cargo is secured at several points during a day's drive. To save time, a driver may not inspect the cargo before setting out or may not perform all necessary inspections over the course of the day.
Enforcing weight
You have probably seen weigh stations along highways and state lines. These stations aim to prevent trucks from overloading freight and falsely reporting their cargo. These stations check the cargo and driver log to make sure truck driver fatigue is not an issue.
Weigh stations, however, can be ineffective for several reasons, including:
- Forged log books
- Issuing a ticket for overloaded cargo, and allowing the truck to return to the road
- Casually issuing overweight truck permits
- Closed or unmanned weigh stations
Lax enforcement allows overloaded trucks to return to the road and consequently endanger the lives of other drivers.
If you or a loved one lives in the West Palm Beach, Florida area and has been injured in a truck accident, please contact the Florida law office of truck accident attorney Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. We offer free initial consultations and will fight to get you fair compensation.
OFFICE LOCATION: 2090 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. Suite 402
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
1-800-GOLD-LAW
Call Toll Free 1-800-GOLD-LAW (465-3529)
The reader’s understanding of the information on this website about personal injury law does not constitute a formal legal relationship with the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. Please do not assume this content to be formal legal advice. If you would like to know if you have a valid personal injury case, please contact a attorney in Palm Beach County at the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. today for a complimentary consultation regarding personal injury law in Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Port St. Lucie and Palm Beach County, Florida.