New York Injury Talk Blog

This article about a truck accident that took place upstate, along the New York State Thruway, is a good illustration of why drivers need to be extremely aware of the large trucks around them. According to the Lower Hudson Online:

Jackson Julien, the driver of a tractor-trailer, said he was in the northbound middle lane about a mile north of Exit 15A when the driver of a sport utility vehicle attempted to move left from the right lane.
Julien said he tried to move into the left lane to compensate, but hit another car with his trailer. The truck jackknifed and crashed into the guardrail, taking the SUV with it, and burst into flames, sending plumes of black smoke high into the sky.
"The lady said she didn't see me," he said, referring to the SUV's driver.

Fortunately, everyone involved suffered only minor injuries. But this accident demonstrates that it doesn’t take a high-speed collision to cause a serious, life-threatening accident when there’s a large truck involved. This accident was just a sideswipe (well, two sideswipes), but the size of the truck gave it so much force that it carried the SUV with it into the guardrail, making it a potentially much more serious accident than it would have been if it had taken place between two vehicles of equal size. The SUV driver appears to have been partly or totally at fault, which means she wouldn’t have much of a truck accident claim against Julien, the truck driver -- in fact, he might have a claim against her, though it doesn’t look like he’s seriously injured. (We’d be interested to know how the third driver, who Julien sideswiped while trying to dodge the SUV, fared.) But this accident does underscore the need to be very, very careful around large trucks, not all of which are driven by people who are as alert and conscientious as Julien. Regardless of who is at fault in an accident, the bigger vehicle always “wins.”