Truck accidents in the United States are
nothing uncommon. In fact, in 2011, there were some 635 fatalities recorded in
which large trucks were involved. Said figure was a 20-percent increase from
the previous year. Incidentally, a large drop in large truck accident deaths
happened from 2008 to 2009. Nearly 23,000 more were injured, which was a
15-percent increase from the previous year.
Such road occurrences happen mostly because
of fatigue, especially on the part of truck drivers. With truck drivers feeling
lethargic behind the wheel, it increases the risk of other motorists of getting
entangled with those large vehicles, therefore resulting in serious injuries
and untimely death.
However, there are other reasons why truck
accidents happen, and one of them is the occurrence of so-called “blind spots.”
Basically, every vehicle has its own blind spots. But where are they located?
Imagine you are seated on the driver’s side of a sedan and your friend is
standing behind it. You can see him on the rear-view mirror, but you will not
see him anymore as he moves towards the side-view mirror. The vehicle’s blind
spot is where you cannot see a moving object with your peripheral vision glued
straight ahead on the road.
Large trucks have the same blind spot as the
one example above, only it is much larger. Not only does it apply on the left
side of the truck, but also on the right side. Since trucks are huge, drivers
are unable to see if there are smaller vehicles passing through that blind
spot. When that happens, any maneuver going to the left or to the right may catch
the smaller vehicle off guard, therefore causing an accident.