Blind spots are areas around a vehicle where the driver cannot see. Due to their massive size and shape, commercial vehicles have more blind spots and, therefore, more opportunities for obstruction of vision. The same factors that make blind spots more likely can also make the resulting accidents more devastating.
What Makes Trucks More Prone to Blind Spot Accidents?
Commercial trucks are bigger, longer, and higher off the ground than passenger vehicles. As a result, the parts of the road that a truck driver cannot visualize also tend to be larger. It is therefore easier for smaller vehicles to become lost in a semi-truck’s blind spots. Part of training for commercial vehicle drivers involves learning how to operate around known blind spots to drive safely. They are instructed to wait longer than would be necessary in a smaller vehicle after checking that the lane they wish to merge into is clear, for example. Because of this training, shipping drivers are expected to know their own blind spots and avoid sideswipe collisions of this nature. A knowledgeable attorney in Denton understands both the dangers semi-trucks pose to other drivers and the training their operators receive to mitigate these problems. These factors can be leveraged against a trucker who neglected to check their blind spots to hold them accountable for an otherwise preventable collision.
