Left turn truck Accidents

Left turn truck accidents are preventable because many left turns by tractor trailers should be avoided.  Turning left across multiple lanes of traffic are some of the most dangerous driving maneuvers that a tractor trailer driver faces. The training received for a CDL on left turns is far more involved than the training used to secure a regular driver’s license. Tractor trailers are long and slow. These large and slow vehicles take a much longer time to clear an intersection or cross a road than a small agile passenger car. Some types of trucks and trailers are difficult to see from the side by approaching motorists. This is particularly true at night. A left turning tractor trailer will block oncoming lanes of traffic with a trailer that might not be easy to see.

Left-turn truck accidents at night often involve multiple mistakes by the truck driver and the trucking company.  Was the driver able to accurately assess how much time he had to complete a left-turn by looking at approaching headlights?  Should a route without a dangerous left-turn been selected for or by the truck driver?  Was a pre-trip inspection completed to verify that the tractor trailer would be easily seen by approaching traffic?

Pre-trip vehicle inspections are exceedingly important to make sure that all lights are operational and reflective tape is clean. Left turns are particularly dangerous at night when motorists may not readily appreciate that a trailer being pulled across a roadway is blocking the road. Motorists routinely see red and white stripped tape on the backs and sides of trucks. When properly used and maintained this is an important safety feature. Unfortunately, many truck drivers do not regularly clean the reflective tape. Dirty reflective tape is less effective. Reflective tape is reflective and follows simple laws of physics. Headlights from a following car will hit the reflective strips on the back of commercial trucks and the light will reflect towards the driver. If that same truck decides to make U-turn the reflective tape will not always be perpendicular to approaching traffic. A flatbed trailer making a U-turn at night may be nearly invisible to approaching traffic because the reflective tape is reflecting the light from approaching headlights toward the side of the road.

It is important that clearance lights on the trailer work and are turned on because reflective tape is not sufficient to render a trailer visible in certain conditions.

SOME TURNS CAN’T BE SAFELY MADE WITH A TRUCK

Truck drivers must select a safe route.

Some legal turns may be unsafe for large trucks. A commercial truck driver has a responsibility to identify safe routes to and from stops that are required. For example, many gas stations are located on busy roadways with intersections close to exits and entrances from the gas station. Truck drivers make deliveries to these gas stations in long slow-moving tanker trucks. If the most direct route for the truck driver to take is a left turn from the gas station, is the truck driver permitted to take that left turn?  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act requires a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) recipient to demonstrate the ability properly position a truck to safely make left turns.  A CDL driver must also demonstrate the ability to choose a safe gap for crossing or entering traffic.  The purpose of these requirement is to help reduce or prevent truck and bus accidents, fatalities, and injuries.

Whether a left turn for a truck is safe depends on whether the truck driver is making a turn with the benefit of a traffic light or whether the intersection is uncontrolled. If the driver determines that he can safely make and complete a left turn without interfering with cross traffic he may do so. A CDL driver is trained to look much further ahead for traffic than a car driver. This is particularly true when making a left turn.  A CDL driver must look far enough ahead to make sure that a left turn may be made safely.  Before making a left turn a truck driver should be able to see about 12-15 seconds ahead.  This is because it takes a tractor trailer about 7-15 seconds to complete a left-turn.  It may take more time for a tractor-trailer pulling a heavy load that slowly accelerates or one that is attempting to turn left across a large intersection. How far that distance is depends on the speed of traffic.   In a congested area where cars may be approaching from multiple different directions the truck driver should identify a safe alternative route. If the left turn is to be performed at night the driver should make certain that his reflective tape is clean and any lights on the side of the vehicle are operational.

Tractor-trailer drivers are trained to make sure that the gap of approaching traffic is large enough for the tractor and the trailer to get all the way across before traffic reaches the vehicle.  A CDL driver is trained not to take a left turn if that maneuver will force approaching traffic to swerve or slow down to avoid a crash.  Truck drivers are instructed to assume that approaching drivers might not see their vehicles.  The left turn should not be started until there is enough time for the rear of the trailer to clear the intersection without forcing opposing drivers to slow down or swerve. A left turn should not be taken by in a truck if the maneuver forces approaching traffic to stop or slow down. 

Route selection is the process that a commercial motor carrier and commercial truck driver takes to choose a safe route.  If a particular left turn cannot be made because it is impossible for the truck driver to see if he has 12-15 seconds of time to complete the left-turn that left turn should be eliminated from the route.  Many commercial truck companies such as UPS make it a policy to select routes that eliminate as many left turns as possible.  The negligence in a left turn case can rest entirely on the decision to include the left turn in the selected route.  For the same reason we expect truck companies to select routes that bypass overpasses that are too low for a truck to clear we expect companies to select routes that eliminate left-turns that cannot be safely completed. 

Fact: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act considers an accident to be preventable “If a driver, who exercises normal judgment and foresight could have foreseen the possibility of the accident that in fact occurred and avoided it by taking steps within his/her control which would not have risked another kind of mishap, the accident was preventable.” Appendix B to Part 385.

NIGHTTIME DRIVING IS DANGEROUS

Turning trucks can be difficult to see at night.

Drivers have trouble seeing turning trucks at night. Fortunately, an experienced truck accident lawyer will understand the reasons why a driver may fail to see a tractor-trailer at night. It is one thing to miss a motorcycle, but an 80,000-pound truck is a much harder sell. How visible a truck is to approaching drivers depends on conditions at the time of the crash. The following are some examples of nighttime and of left turn truck accidents:

● An illegally parked truck fails to place the required warning devices behind the truck and turns the truck’s lights off. The geography of the roadway at night, the poor condition of the reflective tape renders the truck difficult to see with enough time to react.

● A tractor trailer attempts a left turn across multiple travel lanes at night. The trailer was at an angle when it was crossing the road and the reflective tape on the side of the trailer reflected the light to the side of the road. The trailer was relatively high off the ground so the driver in the small car could see the taillights of cars ahead while looking under the trailer. At night this created an illusion that the nearest traffic in the driver’s lane was past the truck. The car driver collides with the trailer resulting in catastrophic facial and brain injuries.

● A left turning tractor trailer with dirty reflective tape on the side of the trailer causes a crash. An approaching car driver did not notice the cab of the truck because it had already crossed the road. The tractor-trailer had to stop for a car slowing to turn right leaving the trailer across two lanes of approaching traffic. Even though the reflective tape was perpendicular to the approaching driver the tape was not reflecting because it was old and filthy. The red lights on the end of the trailer were not in the approaching car’s travel lane and were not perceived as being part of a tractor trailer blocking all the travel lanes. The approaching car does not see the trailer in enough time to stop and hits the trailer.

● A rollback tow truck stops on the inner loop of the beltway and is almost entirely stopped within a narrow shoulder. The tow trucks lights are illuminated, and it is night. The rear corner lights are about 6-12 inches from the outer edge of the steel flatbed. A car driving in the left lane is unable to change lanes due to heavy traffic and the front corner of his car is clipped by the unlit edge of the steel flatbed.

These examples are not uncommon types of left turn and nighttime truck accidents. The federal government has incorporated required training for commercial truck drivers to avoid predictable types of accidents. These standards are found in CDL manuals, the federal motor carrier safety regulations, company handbooks, accident preventability manuals and other industry materials. Companies that operate certain types of commercial vehicles are required to have safety directors. These individuals are supposed to know all the rules and to make sure that their drivers know and abide by these rules.  A safety director should make certain that their drivers know how to safely make a left-turn and that the company chooses routes that eliminate dangerous left turns.