Trucks play a vital role in delivering goods around the country and beyond. Most of the food that we consume has been in a truck at some point.
Nonetheless, trucks have limits on the amount of cargo they can carry at any given time, particularly concerning the weight of that cargo. What happens if a truck exceeds cargo weight limits?
The truck becomes more difficult to control
Truck drivers require a lot of training because heavier vehicles are more difficult to control. A loaded truck requires much more space to operate and turns and maneuvers need to be thought through carefully. Overloading a truck makes it almost impossible to control. A heavily loaded truck can jackknife easily and even roll over at higher speeds.
It takes much longer to stop
Even a truck loaded within the limits takes a significant amount of time to come to a stop. An overloaded truck takes even longer. Should the driver need to brake quickly, there is little to no chance of them stopping before running into another vehicle.
Too much strain on the vehicle
The components of trucks are only designed to hold a certain amount of weight. The suspension can become overly strained when overloaded, and if it breaks, an accident is very likely. The same can be said of the truck’s tires. An overloaded truck is much more likely to suffer tire blowouts. At high speeds, a tire blowout makes injuries almost inevitable.
If you have been injured by an overloaded truck, you may be able to hold the driver and/or trucking company to account. It’s important to seek as much legal information as possible before initiation a personal injury compensation claim.