Car accidents kill more than 42,000 people per year in the U.S. In California alone, car accidents kill 4,000 people and injure an astounding 300,000 people per year.

Truck accidents (especially semi-trucks and tractors with trailers) are an even more serious problem because few car drivers and passengers survive.

There are many reasons why trucks are dangerous:

• Aggressive drivers
• Unrealistic schedules
• Failure to inspect tires, brakes and lights
• Tailgating
• Illegally long work-shifts
• Driver fatigue, boredom and cell phone usage
• Failure to install blind spot mirrors to avoid dangerous lane changes
• Jackknifing
• Speeding and ignoring California's 55 mph truck speed limit

A big rig traveling at 70 mph has twice as much force as one traveling at 50 mph. In addition, cars are designed under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to encounter similar- size vehicles, not 72,000 pound trucks.

Added hazards include the absence of rear and side bumpers and high front bumpers that punch into car passenger compartments. Together, these factors account for the high percentage of serious injuries and deaths in these crashes, while the driver of an 18-wheeler walks away from the crash and the sorrow suffered by occupants of cars.

Additionally, rollovers of SUVs, passenger vans and passenger trucks kill 10,000 people and injure another 27,000 each year. Rollovers occur in sports utility vehicles when a driver attempts to avoid an emergency with a quick steering movement or when a tire fails. Because of their high center of gravity, SUVs and 15-passenger vans will "trip" over a front wheel or the rear wheels will break loose, causing the vehicle to over-steer. In either situation, the result is a total loss of control and a rollover.

Heavier is not better. Vehicle instability is aggravated by a full load of passengers, cargo, roof and bicycle racks. Worse, roof pillars are not designed to prevent massive crushing that causes deaths, traumatic brain injuries and severed spinal cords, even for belted passengers.

Because pickup trucks, SUVs and passenger vans are not classified as "passenger vehicles" they are not required to meet all of the federal motor vehicle safety standards for crash worthiness imposed on cars and station wagons.

Juries have concluded that Ford Broncos and Ford Explorers have specific design defects that make them much more likely than other vehicles to roll over. Other trucks, vans and SUVs are just as dangerous.

The attorneys at Alexander Hawes, LLP have a record of winning complex cases and obtaining maximum recoveries on behalf of their clients.

If you or someone close to you has been injured in an accident, call us for a free and confidential evaluation of your case, 1.888.777.1776 or send us an email (info@alexanderlaw.com).

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