18-wheeler Accident on I-55 in Hinds County, Mississippi

Truck Accident Lawyers in Mississippi

Truck Traveling South Crashes After Crossing Northbound Lanes on I-55

HINDS COUNTY, MS- According to wjtv.com, an 18-wheeler transporting medical supplies hit the median on I-55 while the vehicle was moving south. The truck then crossed all northbound lanes before finally crashing into a ditch near Tank Road.*

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred at about 4:20 p.m. on April 18, 2018. The driver suffered minor injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident but suggest it might have been the result of distracted driving.

Distracted driving covers a wide range of behaviors that motorists sometimes engage in behind the wheel that take their attention away from the road. Fiddling with a radio, programming a GPS unit, eating, drinking or even talking to passengers are all ways of engaging in distracted driving. The most common form of distracted driving nowadays is likely cell phone use. Drivers who text while driving are putting themselves and everyone else on the road at risk. Also, drivers talking on cell phones often fail to pay attention to the important task of operating their vehicle.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,450 people were killed by distracted drivers in 2016. Despite efforts to make drivers more aware of the risks that these behaviors present, an estimated 481,000 people are using their phones while driving during daylight hours in the United States.

Distracted driving in a vehicle as massive as a truck presents additional dangers. Trucks weigh an average of 20 to 30 times what a passenger vehicle weighs. This means that trucks take a lot longer to stop in an emergency. A distracted truck driver will not have the same amount of time to react as a driver in a car. Also, because of the long drives truckers engage in, they are often facing fatigue.