There are so many things that can go wrong when driving a tractor-trailer rig that trying to determine how a truck accident occurred is often extremely difficult. A driver of a truck in California recently died after a crash that caused the truck to go up in flames, but exactly why the truck crashed has yet to be determined.

A California Highway Patrol spokesperson was quoted as saying, "The truck straightened out a curve in the roadway for an unknown reason, before he collided into the embankment." Though weather was not alleged to have been a factor in the accident, the roadway was somewhat wet though not icy when the accident did occur.

The truck was found approximately 100 yards off of the road, and there was little left of the truck due to the flames. The accident occurred on a part of a roadway that otherwise was generally considered to be safe. The tire tracks did not in any way indicate that the driver had attempted to stop the vehicle, so it's possible that the driver either fell asleep or was incapacitated due to some medical issue. The flames that engulfed the truck continued on for a number of hours.

The sheer destructiveness of this accident indicates just how bad such accidents can be and why trucking companies need to be held to a higher standard for the injuries of others when such accidents do occur. Litigating such accidents is complicated and requires an attorney experienced in understanding and reconstructing such accidents.

It's certainly sad that a truck driver did lose his life. Amazingly, besides the truck driver who was found inside of the cab, nobody else was killed or injured in such a crash.

Source: KTVN News, "Driver Killed in Tractor-Trailer Rig Crash on 395," by John Potter, Feb. 11, 2012