No matter what type of vehicle you’re driving, you—along with everyone else on public streets and highways—have a duty of care to pay attention to your surroundings and keep your focus entirely on the road. Part of this duty is using your mirrors and anything else at your disposal to check the blind spots immediately around your vehicle before turning or changing lanes since you generally can’t see cars and people in those spots just by looking toward them from the driver’s seat.
Given how much bigger they are than any other type of vehicle, tractor-trailers have especially big blind spots. Truckers who fail to check their blind spots properly can end up causing serious and even life-altering collisions. If you were hurt in a blind spot truck accident in Reading, you have help available from a seasoned truck collision lawyer with taking legal action against everyone to blame.
How Big Are the Blind Spots on a Semi-Truck?
There are four main blind spots on the average tractor-trailer, all in roughly the same locations as they would be on a standard commuter car but much wider and longer. Broadly speaking, the dimensions of a semi truck’s blind spots are as follows:
- From the cab’s front bumper to about 20 feet in front of the truck
- From the trailer’s rear bumper to about 30 feet behind the truck
- From under the driver’s side door back to about two-thirds of the way along the trailer and stretching diagonally about ten feet—or one full traffic lane—out from the truck’s left side
- From under the passenger’s side door to about 10 feet behind the trailer’s rear bumper, stretching diagonally about 20 feet—or about two full traffic lanes—out from the truck’s right side
Modern tractor-trailers have very large mirrors and sometimes electronic collision detection systems to help truck drivers in Reading check and avoid causing accidents in their blind spots. As you may have unfortunately learned, though, not every truck driver uses those safety devices as they should.
How Blind Spots Can Play into a Truck Crash Lawsuit
Any person who causes a traffic accident and injures another through a reckless or careless act behind the wheel is legally negligent. A truck driver not checking their blind spots is a breach of their duty of care. An accident stemming directly from such a breach can generally serve as the basis for an injury lawsuit against the trucker and potentially their employer as well.
People driving near semi-trucks also have a duty to know where the blind spots on those trucks are and stay out of them as much as reasonably possible. Anyone who negligently stays inside a truck’s blind spot for too long may be considered partially at fault for an ensuing blind spot truck accident and lose out on much-needed civil compensation as a result—something which a skilled Reading lawyer can provide crucial help preventing.
A Reading Attorney Can Help File Suit Over a Blind Spot Truck Accident
Not checking your blind spots while driving is much more dangerous than many people think—including, unfortunately, a lot of commercial truck drivers. Even worse, a crash of this nature can also be harder to sue over than you might expect, especially if you try to pursue your claim for compensation all by yourself.
Working closely with a winning truck accident lawyer will dramatically improve your chances of getting the positive case result you want following a blind spot truck accident in Reading. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to learn more.
