Kentucky Truck Accident Statistics

Kentucky truck accident statistics are very revealing. They dispel some of the common myths that people have about truck accidents, but they also provide insight into the causes of many of the incidents. These details can be important whether you are planning to drive in Kentucky or you have had an accident in Kentucky and are looking for some kind of explanation as to why it happened. Of course, it’s a good idea to have someone like the lawyers at Harville Law Offices look over the statistics and compare them to your situation, especially since truckers tend to have corporate lawyers to back them.

Kentucky Accidents

To see how truck accidents sit in the overall view of things, you need to know a bit about the numbers when it comes to accidents in general in Kentucky. In 2014 alone, there were 76,901 collisions. The majority of them took place during the daylight hours. Surprisingly, most of them weren’t on one of the many interstates in Kentucky, but on state routes. These accidents resulted in 672 deaths.

Kentucky Interstates and State Routes

Kentucky has quite a few interstates that run through it though most of the accidents that take place in this state don’t involve these routes. What’s important is the point of the interstates. Louisville is so centrally located that it sees a great deal of traffic from other states, much of which involves semi-trucks that carry goods through Kentucky to other states. The real problems seem to occur when the traffic leaves the interstates to go to state routes.

Louisville Kentucky Truck Accidents

Louisville is one of the most active cities in Kentucky. As such it gets a lot of traffic. One report states that there are daily truck accidents in Louisville alone. This data indicates, at least, one a day, but often more than one occur.

Defects and Driving

The Kentucky State Police reported 9,309 accidents involving trucks in 2014. This doesn’t include farm equipment and small trucks either, yet this number includes 7.15% of all the accidents in the state for 2014. The number one cause of these accidents was load securement, meaning that whoever secured the load, be it driver or material handler, did not secure it well enough to keep it from shifting. A drastic shift in high weights can cause a truck to completely lose control. However, this doesn’t even compare to the sum total of accidents because of defects. Tire failure was the number two reason for accidents, but if you include this as a defect, the sum total of defects that caused truck accidents in Kentucky is a staggering 483. This includes seemingly simple defects like “other lights”. Tow hitch defects alone caused 73 accidents.

Kentucky truck accident statistics don’t lie. They reveal much about the causes of truck accidents in Kentucky and would lead one to believe that something needs to change with the assessments done by the DOT or the regulations that govern manufacturing of truck parts. Either way, the numbers certainly indicate that any time there is an accident involving a truck, every little detail needs to be examined, including the headlights. If you or a loved one is in a truck accident, call Harville Law Offices immediately at (502) 245-2333 or contact us online.