The Hidden Dangers of Trucking Accidents
The Hidden Dangers of Trucking Accidents
Some of the biggest risks in a truck accident aren’t the obvious ones. Beyond raw size and weight, several specific hazards make commercial trucks more dangerous than most drivers realize — and understanding them can also matter for how a case gets proven.
Underride crashes
When a passenger vehicle collides with the side or rear of a trailer and slides partially underneath it, the results are often catastrophic — the trailer’s height can strike a car’s windshield or roof rather than its bumper. Federal rules require rear underride guards on most trailers, but side underride protection is far less consistently required, which is why these remain some of the deadliest truck crash types on the road.
No-Zones and blind spots
Large trucks have substantially bigger blind spots than passenger vehicles — directly behind the trailer, along both sides, and immediately in front of the cab. A car that’s invisible to the truck driver is at serious risk during lane changes and turns, particularly on multi-lane highways like I-35 through Austin.
Wide turns
A semi-truck needs significantly more room to complete a turn than most drivers expect, sometimes swinging wide into an adjacent lane before turning. Drivers who pull up alongside a truck at an intersection, not realizing it’s about to make a wide right turn, are at real risk of being sideswiped or crushed.
Jackknife and rollover risk
When a truck brakes hard or loses traction, the trailer can swing out from behind the cab and fold at an angle — a jackknife — that can span multiple lanes and strike other vehicles. A high center of gravity, especially with an unevenly loaded or top-heavy trailer, also makes rollovers more likely during sudden maneuvers or on curves taken too fast.
Cargo shift and improperly secured loads
Cargo that isn’t properly secured under FMCSA’s securement standards can shift during transit, throwing off the truck’s balance and contributing to rollovers, or in the worst cases, spilling directly into traffic. Improper loading is one of the recurring causes FMCSA’s crash research has identified as a real, preventable contributing factor.
Tire and brake failure
A blown truck tire at highway speed, or brakes that weren’t properly maintained or adjusted, can cause a sudden loss of control. FMCSA’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study found vehicle-related factors, including brake problems, were the critical reason in roughly 8% of the crashes studied — a smaller share than driver error, but still a meaningful and often preventable cause tied directly to inspection and maintenance records.
Why these dangers matter for your claim
Each of these hazards leaves a distinct evidence trail — inspection records for brakes and tires, load manifests for cargo securement, dashcam and black box data for jackknife and blind-spot crashes. Identifying which of these actually caused your crash is often what separates a driver-only claim from one that also reaches the trucking company or a maintenance provider.
Hurt in a truck accident?
Whatever the cause, our team investigates what actually happened and who’s responsible. Call the Traub Law Office at (512) 246-9191 or contact us online for a free consultation.
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