Tennessee SUV Rollover Crashes
SUV Roll-Over Crashes
The majority of people that I speak with about highway safety believe that the bigger the vehicle the safer they are in a collision. The thinking seems to be that SUVs are safer than other vehicles on the road. As an experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney I can tell you that they are absolutely wrong in their assumption. Reference a brief article on the website of Knoxville TV station WVLT which reported on a crash on I-40 in which a man and his 7-month-old daughter suffered minor injuries after a roll-over crash in his SUV.
Understanding the risks involved in driving a sport utility vehicle may help prevent unnecessary SUV rollover accidents. A high center of gravity/narrow track width is one of the most important factors in determining a potential SUV rollover. Since SUVs have a higher center of gravity than other vehicles on the road it makes them top heavy. A corrective action puts an SUV in a rollover position.
SUVs are supposed to be able to carry a heavy load of people, equipment, etc, over any type of terrain. This fact has made SUVs a family car, rather than for simply off-roading. More weight increases the chances of an SUV rollover accident occurring, despite the belief that added weight will add stability.
There are about 280,000 rollover accidents in the US each year, resulting in about 10,000 fatal accidents. SUVs with a high center of gravity, are more likely to involved in rollover accidents than typical sedans. About 35 percent of fatal crashes in SUVs resulted from a rollover crash, compared to 16 percent of fatal passenger car accidents resulting from rollovers. This percentage indicates fact that SUVs are much more likely to rollover and result in a fatality.
An SUV without roll protection is what makes an SUV rollover accident so dangerous. Although SUVs were made for the purpose of off-roading manufacturers realized the use of SUVs as a family car and did not include roll bars. While the body of an SUV remained the same as it would if used for off-roading, the removal of the roll bars combined with the high clearance and high center of gravity make rollover accidents that much more fatal.
Studies of real-world single-vehicle crashes show that more than 90% of rollovers occur after a driver runs off of the road. This is not referring to vehicles trying to negotiate difficult trails away from public roads, rather it refers to vehicles rolling over off of the pavement after the driver has lost control of the vehicle. The pavement, a ditch, soft soil, curb or other tripping mechanism usually initiates the rollover accident once the vehicle slides off.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. Primary causes of driver inattention are distracting activities, such as cell phone use, and drowsiness.
If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee roll-over accident contact the experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorney’s at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.
Phillip Miller is a Tennessee Accident Attorney specializing in
Phillip has an AVVO rating of 10.0 (Superb), has been designated as a “Superlawyer”, and is the President Elect of the Tennessee Association for Justice.
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