Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
In Hollywood and South Florida, squeeze play accidents are a serious type of trucking collision. This type of collision occurs because of the size and length of tractor-trailers. These vehicles are so large that when they are making a right turn they need to veer left first. To some motorists behind the truck, it may look as though the truck is just making a lane change. If the car tries to pass the truck on the right as the truck is making a turn, the truck will swing into the smaller vehicle, effectively crushing it or squeezing it into a curb, a wall, a barrier, or other cars.
Squeeze play accidents are terrifying. Passenger car drivers may be trapped in their vehicle with literally no place to go and a large tractor-trailer weighing tens of thousands of pounds careening towards them. If the truck crashes into the smaller vehicle, the impact and the crash may be enough to cause serious damage to the smaller vehicle and to the passengers inside.
There are many reasons why squeeze play accidents happen:
- A truck driver may misjudge the distance or may fail to check blind spots before starting right turn
- Passenger car drivers may assume that a truck is making a lane change rather than a right turn
- Passenger car drivers may be attempting to impatiently pass the truck rather than giving the truck space
- A truck driver may fail to signal the turn, confusing drivers on the road
- Passenger car drivers may pass a truck on the right rather than on the left
- Passenger car drivers may not fully understand the “caution: wide turns” stickers on trucks
- Passenger car drivers may not give trucks enough space
- Passenger car drivers may not pay attention to trucks at intersections and at turns
- Passenger car drivers might drive too closely behind trucks or may stay in a truck’s blind spots
When you’re sharing the road with tractor-trailers and other large commercial trucks, you need to keep in mind that these larger vehicles drive and handle differently than traditional cars. You may only need a few seconds of distance between you and a smaller passenger vehicle, but with a large truck you need to offer more space and you need to be prepared for trucks to maneuver differently.
If you have been injured in a squeeze play accident in Hollywood or anywhere in South Florida, one of the questions that will arise is whether you tried to pass the truck legally or whether you failed to drive responsibly around the truck. If you’re accused of causing the accident, you will want legal advice. An attorney can check to make sure that the truck driver was using his signal lights, was checking his blind spots, and was driving responsibly around smaller passenger vehicles.
If you have been injured in a squeeze play accident caused by someone’s negligence, you have the right to seek compensation through a civil claim. To find out more and to find out how much the case may be worth, contact Flaxman Law Group for a free, no obligation case review. Flaxman Law Group is a full-service South Florida law firm with offices in Hollywood, Miami, and Homestead. Our legal team has more than six decades of personal injury experience and we work hard every day to help people who have been injured in traffic accidents in South Florida.