Two Crucial Secrets for Avoiding North Carolina Truck Accidents
North Carolina truck accidents can be devastating – far more so than typical auto or motorcycle accidents – due to the sheer size of the vehicles involved and the force differentials.
An 18-wheeler going up against a standard Sedan is in many ways the equivalent of a battle between David and Goliath… in which David inconveniently forgets his sling shot!
So what can you do to protect yourself and your family from dangerous encounters with big rigs and other scary vehicles? Here are two interesting concepts that can be food for thought – ideas that have not been necessarily explored at length on the internet.
1. Buy a bigger car or truck!
Car and truck accidents in North Carolina and beyond are dangerous because, during an accident, the force of the collision indirectly creates forces on your body, which causes injury. This is obvious enough. But the implication is very interesting. If you have two vehicles that are mismatched with respect to their masses, the larger massed vehicle will almost always “win” the fight. Not always but the odds are for it. So if you have a massive 18-wheel truck against a Honda Civic, the Civic is going to be the underdog. And the statistics bear this out. In a collision between trucks and lighter vehicles, the truck drivers often (not always, but often) come out more okay than do the auto drivers or auto passengers. By getting a larger vehicle with more mass, you, at least theoretically, might be at less of a physical disadvantage in an encounter with a truck.
2. Strategically reduce how much driving you do overall – particularly with respect to how much driving you do around trucks.
How much time do you spend really analyzing your driving behavior and patterns and proclivities? Do you keep a driving journal? Do you do this once a month, once a year? Have you ever done it? Most people have never ever thought to think about their driving!
But as the great management thinker, Peter Drucker, once said, what gets measured gets managed. If you don’t know when you might be at most risk for a collision — which highways that you take are the most dangerous, etc. — how can you know when you are most at risk? The answer is you can’t! Unless you track your driving habits.
So make a science out of it. You might think that it’s not worth your while. But consider that some statistics say that as many as 1 out of every 15 Americans will be involved in a serious car accident at some point in their lives. 40,000 people die every year on the U.S. roads. This is a very real and present issue. It’s worth your time to think about your driving habits.
Of course, there is always a degree of randomness and even unfairness when it comes to accidents. That’s why it’s important to protect your rights as quickly as possible after an event by calling a North Carolina truck accident law firm and getting good, actionable, advice from seasoned professionals.
More web resources:
Keeping a journal about your driving habits
What gets measured get managed
