Our South Florida Truck Accident Attorneys Explain Causes of Delivery Truck Accidents
More and more Floridians are using the internet to do their shopping, and as a result there is an ever-increasing number of package delivery trucks on our South Florida highways. The package delivery trucks that you’ll most often see are those from United Parcel Service (UPS), Amazon Prime Federal Express and DHL. Each of these companies are involved in hundreds of package delivery truck accident each year in Florida and the US. These accident range from simple, minor fender-benders to catastrophic collisions where innocent people are killed due to the truck driver’s negligence.
There are many reasons package delivery truck cause traffic accidents and most of the reasons are build into their job description. While most of us practice safe, defensive driving habits, package delivery truck drivers do just the opposite.
Causes of Florida Package Delivery Truck Accidents
1. Impossible Schedule to Meet
The benchmark to making the most efficient schedule possible and holding drivers to the highest possible productivity standard is to make the schedule “just barely impossible” for the driver to achieve. This way drivers are always under the gun to cut corners wherever they can to speed up delivery. Drivers often speed, fail to obey hazard warnings, and park and stand illegally in order to make up time and meet their quotas.
2. Driver Fatigue
A package delivery truck driver could be forced to work a 60-80 hour week in order to make all of their required deliveries by the close of business on a Friday evening. There’s nothing to say that a package delivery driver hasn’t worked several 10-12 hour days during the week and driver fatigue is sure to effect their ability to operate their motor vehicles safely.
3. Stopping and Standing Hazards
Sometimes the driver of a package delivery truck, in an effort to speed up deliveries, doesn’t obey the designated parking requirements of city streets. Instead they will merely stop in front of their destination and just “run in” and deliver the packages. This stopping and standing presents a hazard because traffic must now maneuver around the stopped box truck and often directly into oncoming traffic. The size of these stopped vehicles also presents a visibility hazard to pedestrians that may be trying to cross the street at an intersection and will not be able to see fast approaching oncoming traffic.
Contact the Maus Law Firm After a Delivery Truck Accident
These are just a few of the menacing situations that package delivery trucks cause every day on our city streets from Jupiter to Miami. If you have been injured or had a loved one killed by the negligence of a United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express (FedEx), Amazon Prime, a DHL or any other package delivery truck give the Maus Law Firm a call. We have experience in suing these companies and know how to secure the company records and other evidence that could help to prove their negligence.