Five Important Differences in a Chicago Truck Crash

Chicago’s strategic location, with port access coupled with major railways and its highways and interstates, ensures that the Windy City is a major, international freight hub. It is estimated that Chicagoland trucking companies haul over 50 million tons of freight through the area each year. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning confirms that “…some facilities in Chicago carry over 30,000 trucks each day.”

This huge number of commercial trucks rumbling along the roads of Chicagoland come in all types: dry vans; reefers; flatbeds; conestogas; containers; sprinters; decks; box trucks; dump trucks; cement mixers; tankers; auto carriers; and more. Some are more responsible than others, and anyone involved in a semi-truck accident in Chicago needs to understand some of the differences here. Read, “Top 68 Carriers in the Chicago Area,” written by Clara Flaherty and published by Carrier Source on May 16, 2024.

Also read: Semi-Truck Crashes in Chicago: Most Dangerous Routes, Riskiest Rigs.

5 Differences Between Commercial Truck Accidents and Car Crashes

Anyone involved with a serious commercial truck accident needs to know immediately that they are facing much different circumstances than if this was a motor vehicle collision involving two passenger cars (SUVs, minivans, sedans, etc.). These include:

1. Force of Impact Because of Size and Weight Differences

The size and force involved in the truck crash is much more dangerous because of the weight and height of the large truck. Consumer Affairs reports that the average small car weighs 2600 lbs; a Honda Civic, for instance, weighs 3004 lbs. See, “How Much Does the Average Car Weigh? 2025,” written by Alexus Bazen and published by Consumer Affairs on February 1, 2024.

A fully loaded semi-truck (tractor-trailer; reefer; flatbed; etc.) can weigh up to 80,000 lbs. That’s equivalent to 26 Honda Civics. Even when both vehicles are traveling at a slow rate of speed, people can get hurt. As speed increases, the likelihood of one or more catastrophic or deadly injuries rises.

2. Commercial Trucks Are Regulated Differently

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) oversees federal laws and regulations that govern the trucking industry in this country. Trucking companies and truck drivers must follow all sorts of special rules designed for the care and safety of everyone on the roads. Things like logbooks; driver rest periods (hours of service rules); repair routines for vehicles; and maintenance records for parts are all regulated. See, Title 49 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), specifically within 49 CFR Parts 300-399, which cover the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR).

Also read: Commercial Truck Crashes: FMCSA’s New Study Because of Rising Number of Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents; Fighting Against Fatal Truck Accidents and Deadly Truck Crashes: FMCSA Clearinghouse Registration Begins; and Truck Drivers and Drugs: Marijuana, Cocaine, and Meth are Top Three Drugs Found in FMCSA Commercial Driver Drug Testing

3. Truck Crash Injury Liability Is Different from a Car Accident

After any commercial truck accident in Chicago, several different investigations will follow to determine all the causes for the crash. The local police will investigate and file their reports; sometimes, there will also be investigative reports from the Illinois State Police on the legal causes of the accident. In Illinois, the county coroner may undertake an independent investigation to determine the causes of death in the traffic fatality.

There will also be investigations by insurance companies whose policyholders may be exposed to legal liability in the truck crash, and while these are also done in car accidents, things are different in a commercial truck accident.

In a Chicago truck crash, there may be several different companies and individuals who have legal responsibility for the truck accident and its aftermath. It may involve more than the trucker or the trucking company operating the truck. Cargo loaders, manufacturers of vehicle parts, lessors, and more may have breached legal duties of care and safety that create legal recompense after a truck crash.

Read, Liability for Chicago Semi-Truck Crashes Other Than the Trucker or the Carrier; and Chicago Truck Accidents: Liability after Serious Chicagoland Semi-Truck Crash.

4. Evidence is Different After a Severe Truck Crash

When one or more large commercial trucks are involved in a Chicago truck crash, all sorts of evidence will be found to determine exactly what happened and when. The types of evidence available to investigators will be different in a truck accident than in a car crash.

For instance, truck drivers must keep up with their hours of service regulations as well as things like inspecting the truck before driving. If the trucker drove over time limits, then that may show liability for the driver as well as the company supervising his work.

Also, each commercial truck will have digital data that may be used as evidence. This includes the “black box” found on the rig. There may be dashcams or external cameras on the truck that may have video evidence. There are usually Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) on the big rig. The ELDs will keep up with things like driving time; miles driven; when the truck is moving; and when the engine was running.

Also read: Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes and ELDs: Study Shows an Increase in the Number of Truck Accidents; Black Box Data in Semi-Truck Crashes: The Importance of EDR Evidence; and Evidence in Serious or Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes or Car Accidents: What is Crush Analysis?

5. Getting Evidence Before It Is Lost: Different in Truck Accidents

There may be more evidence to be located in a commercial truck accident, but there are also greater risks of losing vital evidence after a truck crash than in a car accident. ELDs and dashcams, for instance, can be overwritten or rotated off their servers before the accident victim’s experts have the chance to review them.

For truck crash victims, it is important to send a “preservation letter” as soon as possible to the companies with possession, custody, or control over aspects of the commercial vehicles involved in the crash.

These are formal legal requests to have all recorded data as well as physical evidence involved in the accident preserved and protected. These can be sent to more than one potential defendant. They can cover not only ELDs, dashcams, and driver logs, but things like the vehicle or its component parts; GPS records on all vehicles; maintenance records; repair records; inspection records; driver employment history, qualifications, and licensure; and any post-accident test results they have performed.

Read: Accident Reconstruction Experts and Injury Claims; and Bad Faith Insurance Claims in Personal Injury Cases: Indiana and Illinois.

Injury Claims and Justice for Victims of a Chicago Truck Crash

Throughout Chicagoland, most of us drive cars, SUVs, minivans, or pickup trucks alongside all kinds of fully-loaded 18-wheelers, big rigs, semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, reefers, tanker trucks, flatbeds, box trucks, or construction site concrete mixers or dump trucks. It’s part of our daily life.

And, sadly, it is also a part of Chicago’s reality that there will be severe or fatal truck accidents involving these commercial vehicles. Truck crashes where the trucker and rig occupants may be hurt, as well as those drivers and passengers in other motor vehicles, or pedestrians in the roadway.

It is very important that anyone involved in these life-altering, tragic accidents know as soon as possible the differences that come with a commercial truck accident and seeking justice from those who are liable for it.

Having experienced advocates to help in these situations can be a stress-reducing blessing as well as a vital support in getting the evidence needed to prove up civil injury claims.

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Chicago is recognized around the world as a busy, important freight hub. An amazing volume of huge trucks carry all sorts of goods and products along our roadways, and with that truck traffic comes an increased risk of a truck crash where people are hurt or killed. Please be careful out there!