Over the past year, with the pandemic sharply limiting people’s ability to go out shopping, online ordering has skyrocketed, as has the number of delivery vans and other vehicles on the streets of America. With the growing popularity of shopping online, delivery trucks have been an ever-larger presence on our roads, and neighborhood streets in particular, in recent years.
Most people associate incidents involving large commercial trucks with crashes on major roadways, such as interstate highways, involving 18-wheeler tractor-trailers. While there is a lot of truth to that, delivery vehicles are a growing part of the truck crash universe.
Delivery Vans are Bigger than Your Vehicle
Delivery vans and trucks come in different shapes and sizes, but none of them are smaller – or even as small as – the passenger vehicle you are driving. Passenger vehicles weigh an average of 4,000 pounds but as little as 2,400 pounds. Most delivery trucks and vans fall into the category of between 10,000 pounds and 26,000 pounds.
Almost all delivery vehicles are larger – usually much larger – and heavier than passenger vehicles. When the two collide, size matters, and it’s a safe bet which vehicle suffers the most damage. Think about your midsize sedan colliding with an 11,000-pound Mercedes Sprinter, used by Amazon, FedEx, UPS, Purolator, and others. The odds are that your car will sustain more damage, putting you at risk of injuries.
Federal statistics for 2017 show commercial vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds were involved in 1,885 fatal collisions, leading to about 5,000 fatalities, as well as more than 22,000 crashes that resulted in injuries. Federal data makes it difficult to sort out how much local delivery vehicles contribute to those collisions, but the statistics indicated that about 20 percent of large-truck crashes involve vehicles the size of delivery trucks and vans.
When these crashes are the fault of the delivery driver, you should be able to recover for your losses from the driver and/or their employer. This is a complex process, so you want the right legal help.
Contact Our North Dakota/Minnesota Truck Crash Lawyers For Assistance with Your Case
If you have been injured in a collision with a delivery vehicle in the Fargo Moorhead area, you should explore your options for recovering damages from the liable parties. Talk to the personal injury legal team of O’Keeffe O’Brien Lyson Attorney. Our lawyers have the experience to recover the compensation you deserve for your injuries. You can set up a free consultation with one of the firm’s experienced personal injury professionals by emailing Tatum O’Brien, Tim O’Keeffe, or Sara Monson directly, or call the firm at 701-235-8000 or toll-free at 877-235-8002.
