Many truck accidents happen when a truck attempts a right-hand turn. If a truck driver fails to see you as he or she is making a right-hand turn, you could end up with devastating injuries as well as a totaled car. Knowing what a truck needs to do in order to make a right-hand turn, however, can help you avoid getting into an accident.
Because trucks are much larger than cars, they require much more space to make right-hand turns. Because the size of the road doesn’t change to accommodate the size of the vehicle, truck drivers then need to create that extra space themselves. To do this, they often swing far out to the left before making the right turn. Accidents of this sort can easily cause severe injury for the people in the car.
This leaves the drivers in other vehicles vulnerable both to the left and the right of the truck. Drivers on the left, for example, may not anticipate that the truck needs to make a turn; particularly if they are driving in the truck’s blind spot, where they may not be able to see the truck’s turn signal. As the truck swings to the left to make the right turn, the truck can sideswipe the car in the left lane. Drivers on the right of trucks, on the other hand, can get sometimes get caught in between the truck and the curb as the truck attempts a right-hand turn.
These cases are not always straightforward; an investigation can help determine fault for the accident in the course of a personal injury lawsuit. To avoid these kinds of injuries, the best policy may be to give trucks a wide berth at all times.
