Since they are professional drivers with special training and licenses, one would think that truckers should hardly ever cause an accident on the road through carelessness.

Unfortunately, truck accidents which are the fault of the truck driver still happen too often in Colorado. To a large extent, truck drivers get into accidents when they commit the same mistakes as do other drivers.

For instance, financial pressure may influence drivers to push through even if they are getting too tired to operate a vehicle safely. The same financial pressure may also mean that drivers make an unwise decision to travel too fast for traffic conditions.

In some cases, a driver may have just not had adequate instruction on how to operate his or her vehicle safely, particularly in an emergency situation.

Some older research from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, confirms this.

In that research, the FMCSA determined that of those truck accidents examined, 28% happened because a truck driver was inattentive or distracted while on the road.

Additionally, 38% of these accidents happened because a driver was traveling too fast for the conditions or, on a related note, was following the vehicle in front of it too closely to be able to stop suddenly and avoid a rear-end collision.

The FMCSA’s study also suggested that trucker fatigue, as well as the unwise use of prescription drugs or even over-the-counter medicine, frequently contributed to truck accidents.

These sorts of accidents are preventable, and truck drivers and their companies must take care to avoid them. If they do not, then those injured as a result can seek compensation for their losses.