Key Takeaways
- Truck-crash claims in Georgia have a two-year filing deadline under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. Evidence preservation letters to the carrier should go out within days to avoid logbook destruction.
- Hours-of-service violations, drug/alcohol test results, dashcam footage, and electronic logging device (ELD) data are unique categories of evidence in truck cases — preserved under FMCSA record-retention regulations.
- According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, occupants of passenger vehicles account for 71% of deaths in two-vehicle crashes involving a large truck, due to the mass and stiffness mismatch.
- Georgia's modified comparative negligence rule (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) applies, but liability can extend beyond the driver to the carrier, broker, shipper, and maintenance contractor.
In a 10-year period from 2009 to 2019, semi truck accidents got a lot more deadly. In fact, that period of time accounted for a 31 percent increase in fatalities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Serious injuries were on the rise as well. In the following article, we’ll be discussing the seven leading causes of these, particularly dangerous auto accidents. We’ll also be sharing some next steps should you find yourself involved in one.
1. Not Paying Attention
One of the most common causes of truck accidents is the simple act of not paying attention. Drivers can become distracted by any number of things. That’s true whether you’re driving an SUV, sports car, or semi-truck.
Inattentiveness behind the wheel is a mistake that can lead to life-altering, maybe even life-ending, circumstances. When it does, you or your family will need a Georgia truck accident lawyer on your side who knows how to look for evidence of inattentive driving to best argue your case.
2. Driving While Impaired
Driving while impaired is another major cause of truck accidents. Often this occurs because of drivers who are either intoxicated or high on mind-altering drugs at the time of the accident.
Commercial drivers face a stricter standard than everyone else: they are over the limit at a blood-alcohol content of .04%, half the .08% that applies to other drivers, and federal rules put them out of service at .02%. They are also subject to random and post-accident testing, and a conviction costs a CDL for a year on the first offence and for life on the second. Impairment is not only alcohol. Prescription medication, over-the-counter sedatives and stimulants used to stay awake all show up in these cases, and the carrier’s own testing records are where the proof usually sits.
3. Speeding
Speed is one of the first things a truck accident lawyer establishes, because it determines both fault and how bad the outcome was. Speeding is a factor in roughly a third of traffic fatalities nationally, and a loaded tractor-trailer travelling even slightly too fast for the conditions needs far more distance to stop than the driver has. It is also one of the easier things to prove. Most carriers govern their trucks to a set maximum and record speed continuously through onboard telematics, so a driver running outside those parameters leaves a data trail — and that data is discoverable in litigation.
4. Trying to Overtake
Overtaking is where cars and trucks come closest together at the worst moment. A driver may try to squeeze past a semi or slot between two of them without leaving any margin; if anything goes wrong at that point, nobody has room to correct. It runs the other way too. A truck changing lanes into a car it never saw is one of the most common patterns in these crashes, because the blind spots along a trailer are large enough to hide a whole vehicle. Whichever driver is responsible, the result is serious injury or death, and a claim for the victim or their family.
5. Fatigue and Hours-of-Service Violations
Fatigue is the cause that federal regulation exists to prevent, and it remains one of the most frequently cited factors in serious truck crashes. Federal hours-of-service rules cap a property-carrying driver at 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty, bar driving after the 14th consecutive hour of the duty period, require a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative driving hours, and set weekly limits of 60 on-duty hours in 7 days or 70 in 8. A tired driver does not swerve dramatically. They brake late, drift out of a lane, or fail to react to slowed traffic ahead — patterns that look like ordinary carelessness until the logs are pulled. That is why the electronic logging device data matters so much. It records driving time automatically rather than relying on what the driver wrote down, and it is retained for months rather than years. A preservation demand sent early is often what makes the difference between proving a violation and losing the evidence.
6. Lack of Securement
Federal rules make securement the driver’s responsibility before the truck moves — they require the load to be properly distributed and secured, and the driver to check it before departing and again during the trip. Responsibility usually extends beyond the driver, though, to the shipper or terminal that loaded the trailer and to the carrier that dispatched it, which is why a securement case often has more than one defendant.
Badly secured loads can break free and spill into traffic causing multiple-car pileups that threaten health and life. It’s a serious mistake that an experienced semi-truck accident attorney will focus on when arguing a client’s case.
7. Vehicle Maintenance Issues
One final catalyst to most semi-truck accident lawsuit cases is the quality of vehicle maintenance. This burden is particularly focused on the semi-truck because the size and weight of the vehicle present a much greater threat to passing motorists than a standard-sized sedan or pickup truck.
When a semi-truck driver has a blowout on the highway, it can pose much more of a risk to a higher number of motorists. Poorly maintained brakes are yet another factor that can cause a semi not to stop in time when coming up on smaller cars and needing to slow down.
Any motorist needs to maintain their vehicle and ensure it’s 100 percent safe for the road. Semi-truck drivers are especially beholden to this responsibility.
Next Steps After an Accident
Now that you understand what the leading causes of semi-truck accidents are, you must know what to do next if you find yourself involved in a crash. Your first obligation is the immediate health of you and everyone involved. From there, do the following.
Contact Your Insurance Company
Notify your own insurer promptly — your policy requires it, and failing to report can cost you coverage. Write down your own timeline of events before you speak to anyone, while it is fresh. What you should not do is offer an opinion about fault. You will not know at that stage what the truck’s data shows, what the driver’s logs say, or whether the carrier put an unfit vehicle on the road. Stick to what you actually observed. And when the trucking company’s insurer calls — which often happens within a day — you are under no obligation to give them a recorded statement at all.
Pay Attention to Your Body
Just because you don’t feel bad right away doesn’t mean you won’t in the next day or two. It can take a while for the adrenaline to wear off, so be mindful of this fact. If you notice anything off about your body, go see a doctor at once.
Keep Your Attorney in the Loop
An insurer is not working for you, and that is true of your own carrier as well as the other side’s. Their job is to close the claim for as little as the file supports, and long-term injuries are exactly where an early offer falls short — because the future medical care and lost earning capacity have not been documented yet. Tell your attorney what you are dealing with as it develops, particularly any new symptom or referral. That record is what turns a lowball offer into a negotiable one.
Semi Truck Accidents Can Be Life Changing
If you’re one of the thousands who are involved in semi truck accidents each year, then you know the ramifications can be life-altering. You deserve to have that impact accounted for in the size and fairness of the settlement or jury award.
Because knowing the seven leading causes of these accidents is not a guarantee of avoiding them, you’ll want to take some smart next steps for protecting yourself. If you were hurt in a Georgia truck crash, a truck accident lawyer at Georgia Auto Law can talk through where you stand. The consultation is free, and the evidence that decides these cases has a shelf life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue both the truck driver and the trucking company?
Yes. Under Georgia respondeat superior law, the trucking company is generally liable for the driver’s on-duty negligence. The carrier also has independent duties to inspect, train, supervise, and route — violations of those duties create direct claims against the company beyond the driver’s actions.
What evidence is unique to truck-accident cases?
Federal regulations from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration require commercial carriers to maintain driver logs, hours-of-service records, electronic logging device (ELD) data, drug and alcohol test results, maintenance records, and post-crash inspection reports. These records have short retention periods and must be preserved by formal demand.
How much insurance do trucking companies carry in Georgia?
Interstate commercial carriers must maintain at least $750,000 in liability coverage under FMCSA regulations — far above the Georgia auto minimum of $25,000. Many carriers exceed the federal floor and carry $1 million or more, which is why truck-crash recoveries can be substantially larger than passenger-vehicle cases.
What causes most large-truck crashes?
According to FMCSA crash data, the leading contributing factors are driver fatigue, unfamiliarity with the route, brake problems, speeding, and distraction. Many of these correlate with violations of federal hours-of-service rules — a logbook audit early in the case can reveal those violations.
