Truck Rollover Accidents

Light Truck & Pickup truck rollover accidents have become a daily occurrence as the numbers of these vehicles continue to climb. A rollover in a pickup usually involves the same hazards as a SUV rollover. Pickup truck rollovers are not confined to off road or rural accidents as they once were. Today pickup trucks are found in very city and county in the nation and are used to haul more than just cargo. In fact, truck manufacturers sell and market these vehicles as passenger vehicles with all the comforts found in high end luxury passenger vehicles with many quad cabs and extended cabs seating up to six adults. With the increased number of these trucks on the road today with increased seating capacities, there is the reason for the high number of serious pickup truck rollover injuries and deaths By their very design, pickup trucks have a higher center of gravity than cars, resulting in a higher rollover rate than passenger vehicles. Further drivers of light trucks have increased rollover rate and rollover risks due in part with cargo and loads in the bed of the truck, making the vehicle more unstable due to raising the center of gravity.

Why do Trucks Rollover?

Like SUVs, emergency braking and avoidance maneuvers often result in truck rollovers. In many rollover cases, driver has had to exit their lane of travel onto the shoulder of the road or into median in order to avoid contact or impact with another vehicle, debris in the roadway, a deer, a cow or another animal or even a large pothole. Unfortunately, when the driver attempts to re-enter the roadway, they often have difficulty in handling the truck and sometimes the rear end or back of the vehicle starts to swing sideways or perpendicular to the direction of travel. When this happens, the driver is no longer able to effectively control the truck and a rollover quickly occurs when the truck trips on the gravel shoulder, grass in the median, a curb, a guardrail or even on the flat surface of a road or highway. When a truck rollover occurs, serious injury and death are not far behind.

Injury to Truck Rollover Occupants

Pickup truck rollovers are also more likely to cause occupant partial or full ejection resulting in severe head injuries and neck and spinal cord injuries including paralysis. Individuals in a truck roll over have a significantly lower survival rate, possibly due in part to minimal amount to structure (the roof & roof pillars) available to withstand the violent nature of a rollover. Severe roof crush accidents with trucks are usually deadly. The roof pillars of a truck are not designed to prevent massive roof crushing. When a pickup truck rolls over, the roof pillars often collapse and crush and the roof pillar separate from the door jamb allowing extra space resulting in door latch openings and door lock failures. Roof crush and an ejection from a truck during a rollover often results in death, traumatic brain injury (TBI), paraplegia, quadriplegia, severed spinal cord injuries, suffocation and death. The roof crush injuries in a pickup truck rollover can also be a death sentence for even for belted and short & tall 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, even though they are advertised, marketed and sold to drivers to haul passengers on a daily basis.

Truck Rollover Lawsuit Evaluation - Talk to a Lawyer

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured or a loved one killed in a pick up truck rollover or other light truck rollover or any other serious rollover accident and you have questions about whether a defect in the design or manufacturer of the truck / vehicle may caused or contributed to the accident or injuries, then call us now.