Expert Witness Blog
Trucking accidents expert witnesses may write reports and testify on crashworthiness, truck maintenance, hours of service, and associated matters. In The Large Truck Crash Causation Study, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Office of Research and Analysis reports:
Motor vehicle crashes are complex events. Usually they involve two or more vehicles. Elements that influence the occurrence of a crash may take place hours, days, or months before the crash. They include driver training and experience, vehicle design and manufacture, highway condition and traffic signaling, and weather conditions. Other elements may take place immediately before a crash, such as a decision to turn in traffic, a tire blowout, or snow. Crash reconstruction experts rarely conclude that crashes are the result of a single factor.
Fatigue, drinking alcohol, and speeding are major factors in motor vehicle crashes overall. Although their presence does not always result in a crash, these three factors, as well as other driver, vehicle, and environmental factors, can increase the risk that a crash will occur. In the LTCCS, ?causation? is defined in terms of the factors that are most likely to increase the risk that large trucks will be involved in serious crashes.
Read more: www.fmcsa.dot.gov.