There are some major differences between semi-trucks and passenger cars. One of them is weight. A fully loaded semi could weigh up to 80,000 pounds. This isn’t to say that every truck you pass on the highway is loaded to maximum capacity, but this is the top-end weight limit for the vehicles that you may encounter.
It is significantly higher than the weight you’re going to find with most passenger vehicles. For instance, a Honda Accord weighs around 3,200 pounds. Even with multiple people in the vehicle at the same time, it’s probably not going to exceed 4,000 pounds. This means that the average semi could be as much as 20 times heavier.
Why this matters in an accident
This is a very important fact to consider when looking at semi-truck accidents. In a crash, there is a transfer of energy. A vehicle that is moving more quickly or that has more mass contains more potential energy. This energy is transferred from that larger vehicle into the smaller one at the moment of impact. The people in the smaller vehicle are more likely to have severe or even fatal injuries because they are absorbing the energy.
So, while fatalities are possible even in accidents involving two passenger cars, they are more likely when one of the vehicles is a semi-truck. Specifically, it is those in the passenger car who could suffer these serious injuries, even if they did not cause the crash. As a result, injured parties need to know how to seek financial compensation for medical bills and more.
