As is the case with other parts of the country, West Palm Beach has lots of large trucks coming and going on its highways and other roads. While these vehicles and their drivers are doing the important work of hauling the products and other goods that the local economy needs to keep churning, large trucks also present risks to the other vehicles with which they share the road.
While of course truck drivers need to work hard to avoid any type of collision with another vehicle, one particularly scary type of truck crash is a jackknife. A jackknife entails a truck’s cab going in one direction while the trailer swings off in another direction, often sweeping other cars off the road in the process.
In reality, a jackknife is a type of skid that gets out of control. As such, one should think of a jackknife as preventable and something that a careful truck driver can stamp out before it occurs.
The best way for a trucker to prevent jackknifing is to make sure not to apply the brakes of the truck too forcefully. This is particularly true when a truck is traveling downhill or is going through a curve. A driver also has to take special precautions to avoid braking too fast when the roads are wet or the weather conditions are less than ideal.
Additionally, a truck driver and his or her employer need to make sure that the truck’s equipment, especially the brakes and tires, are in proper working order. Likewise, if a truck isn’t full, the load in the truck needs to be properly distributed in order to avoid imbalance in the truck.
As one can hopefully see, careful truck drivers and trucking companies can take steps to avoid or at least greatly reduce the risk of jackknifing. As such, if another Florida motorist gets hurt in an accident related to a jackknife, they may be able to get compensation for their truck accident injuries.
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