If North Carolina drivers are like most Americans, they might feel a bit nervous sharing the road with commercial trucks. According to a recent survey by Verizon Connect, 67% of U.S. drivers believe that commercial truckers are more concerned with meeting their delivery schedule than with traffic safety. Meanwhile, 81% of drivers claim they’ve seen commercial truckers and other professional drivers speeding, improperly changing lanes, driving erratically, swerving off the road and taking turns too quickly.
Statistics from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show that there were 164,529 accidents involving large trucks across the U.S. in 2018. Those crashes led to 4,708 deaths and 79,879 injuries. To help prevent these types of accidents, more trucking companies are turning to advanced safety technologies, including video monitoring systems, automatic emergency braking systems, and lane departure warning systems.
For example, Schneider National was able to reduce rear-end collisions within its trucking fleet by 69% by installing emergency braking collision mitigation systems on its trucks. Meanwhile, other companies are using artificial intelligence, or AI, to monitor and improve driver performance and safety compliance. For instance, the Driveri vision-based AI system has reportedly helped truck drivers reduce non-stop events at intersections by 61% and rolling stops by 51%. Experts say these safety systems are reducing accidents, fatalities, injuries, citations and insurance premiums.
When a big rig strikes a passenger car, the occupants of the smaller vehicle often suffer serious injuries. If the accident was caused by a negligent truck driver, injured victims might have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation for damages. An attorney familiar with commercial truck accidents could evaluate a victim’s case and help prepare a claim.