Interstate Highway Merging Accidents – Houston Truck Wreck Lawyer

By Attorney Reshard Alexander on September 14, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Interstate Highway Merging Accidents – Houston Truck Wreck Lawyer

Successful merging requires good judgment. Unfortunately, due to negligence, merging accidents are common on many interstate highways.

It’s no wonder that interstates see a lot of accidents at the points where they merge with other roads. During rush hours, wrecks are increasingly common. Also, if there is an accident while merging onto the interstate it’s far more likely to be serious than an accident that happens on a local road.

Why is merging so dangerous? – Houston Truck Wreck Lawyer
The problem is that while merging you are changing speed, and you have to use your judgment. You must find that gap in the traffic to join the interstate. You have to join the interstate at the same speed as the rest of the traffic. Go too fast or too slow and you could cause a serious accident. The main causes of accidents when merging onto the interstate are:

Failing to give right-of-way to the oncoming traffic. If you don’t yield to the oncoming traffic, you can cause a merging driver to cut in front of the oncoming traffic. This is very dangerous and can easily end in a bad wreck.

Merging into the far left lane. When a merging driver immediately crosses lanes, they are passing in front of oncoming traffic which is incredibly dangerous and risky, however, it often happens.

Another cause of accidents is merging too slowly. If you are overly cautious when merging, you can enter the interstate at an insufficient speed and the can cause a rear-end collision with vehicles approaching behind you at speed.

Finally, perhaps the most common cause of accidents when merging is stopping in the merge lane. This happens when the driver is waiting for a gap in the traffic and rear-end collisions in this situation are common. Additionally, once you have stopped in the merge lane, it is very hard to get up to the needed speed to join the interstate.

18 Wheeler vehicles are extremely dangerous – Houston Truck Wreck Lawyer

18 wheelers are particularly at risk of an accident, and when these massive heavy vehicles are involved in an accident, it tends to be a pretty serious one. These trucks are prone to accidents due to a few reasons:

They have large blind spots. Other drivers can easily end up in their blind spot. It’s important never to drive in the center lane if there is an 18 wheeler either side of you. If you can’t see the driver’s mirror then he can’t see you.

They have longer stopping distances. Always keep your distance from an 18 wheeler. If they need to stop suddenly, it will take them longer to do this than most motorists.

Additionally, accidents can often happen due to an overloaded truck or a truck with goods that haven’t been properly secured. When these goods spill onto the road, it can cause a big accident.