Highway construction zones can be dangerous places to encounter large commercial trucks, whether on Interstate 40 in the Triangle, I-95, or on roads and highways elsewhere in North Carolina. Because of its size and weight, a large truck requires more room than other vehicles to slow down when entering a construction zone. A truck driver who is fatigued or distracted when approaching a work zone can easily cause an accident involving other vehicles and drivers, workers, and others.
Tractor-trailers, flatbeds, tanker trucks and other large trucks hauling goods across North Carolina can cause serious injuries and fatal injuries in construction zone accidents. When a truck driver or others have acted carelessly and caused an accident, those who have been injured should be properly compensated for their losses and suffering.
The truck accident attorneys of Younce, Vtipil, Baznik & Banks, P.A., in Raleigh, provide quality legal representation and hands-on attention to people seriously injured in truck accidents and their families. If your future has been upended by a serious truck crash, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys of Younce, Vtipil, Baznik & Banks, P.A. at 919-661-9000 or online today. Our legal team includes staff members who speak Spanish as well as English.
Road Construction Truck Crash Fatalities
The greater size and weight of tractor-trailers and other large trucks generally mean more destruction and injury when there is a truck collision. People in smaller vehicles are more likely to sustain the brunt of the injuries in a collision with a large truck. Federal statistics show that 72% of the individuals killed in large-truck crashes in 2017 were occupants of other vehicles.
Highway construction zones are dangerous because they are likely to require closing sections of traffic lanes and diverting vehicles to temporary routes. This creates a bottleneck that inevitably causes a slow-down as well as confusion among drivers, particularly during rush hours and periods of reduced visibility.
Typically, a highway construction zone has four distinct areas:
- Advance warning area, with signs and/or workers (flaggers) who alert drivers. Sometimes lead vehicles will control the start, stop, and flow of full lanes of traffic.
- Transition area with barriers, channeling devices, and/or lights to alter traffic flow.
- Protected area for workers, equipment, storage, etc.
- Termination area where traffic resumes normal route and speed increases.
The danger for commercial trucks and construction zones is the need for the truck to transition from highway speed to what is required to safely enter and go through a work zone. On a dry, level road, a large truck (80,000 pounds fully loaded) traveling at 55 mph requires about 50% more distance to slow down than a passenger car needs. At 40 mph, a braking truck needs about 35% more roadway.
The National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse says there were 672 fatal crashes in work zones across the country in 2018, of which a third involved trucks. Fatal truck accidents in construction zones caused 228 deaths in 2018 and an average of 236 each year from 2015 to 2017.
Commercial trucks and buses are involved in almost 40 percent of fatal construction zone accidents on interstate highways in urban areas and over 50 percent of fatal work zone crashes on rural stretches of interstates. Commercial motor vehicles are also more likely to be involved in fatal construction zone accidents on other principal highways in rural areas.
In North Carolina in 2018, there were five fatal truck crashes in construction zones.
