Types of Truck Accidents in Illinois

A jackknife occurs when a semi-truck's trailer swings out at a sharp angle to the cab — usually after a sudden brake application or on slick pavement. Jackknife crashes often block multiple lanes of traffic and produce secondary collisions. Causes include excessive speed, improper braking, and mechanical failures.

Rollovers are typically caused by excessive speed on a curve, shifting or improperly-secured cargo, mechanical failure, or evasive maneuvers. Concrete mixers, tankers, and dump trucks are especially prone to rollovers due to their high centers of gravity.

When a truck rear-ends a smaller vehicle, the outcome is almost always catastrophic. Commercial drivers are trained to maintain significantly greater following distances than passenger vehicles, so rear-end crashes usually imply a breach of duty. When a passenger vehicle rear-ends a truck, federal lighting and conspicuity regulations can shift fault — particularly for trailers with worn or inoperative lights.

In an underride collision, a smaller vehicle slides under the trailer — shearing off the passenger compartment and producing devastating or fatal injuries. Federal rear underride guards are required on many trailers but are often structurally inadequate, and side underride guards remain optional. We investigate defective or missing guards as a separate product-liability claim where appropriate.

Head-on truck crashes usually trace back to a driver falling asleep, driving impaired, crossing a median in an evasive maneuver, or a mechanical failure. Head-on crashes are among the most lethal crash types and require immediate evidence preservation — particularly ECM data and dashcam footage.

Commercial trucks have large blind spots ("no-zones") in front of the cab, along both sides, and directly behind the trailer. Lane-change and merging crashes are disproportionately represented in this category. Modern trucks with side and rear cameras have reduced these crashes — but only when carriers install and maintain them.

When a truck makes a right turn, the driver often swings wide to the left first. Cars that try to pass on the right during this maneuver can be crushed between the truck and the curb — a "squeeze play" that is almost always the truck driver's fault because the maneuver is taught specifically to prevent it.