You might have been involved in a car accident before at some point in your life. You might even have been injured because of it, and you might have needed the assistance of car accident lawyers devoted to your best interests. You might think that, because you drive for a living and you’ve seen – maybe experienced – what can happen during a car accident, that you understand everything there is to know about road safety. 

Yet the difference between a car and a lorry is stark, and what you experienced in a car could be very different when you’re in a truck. The size of the HGV is the main thing that is going to cause the most problems; after all, a lorry weighs about a lot more than a car, on average about 70 tonnes, whereas a car is closer to two tonnes (and often not even that). So clearly, the injuries and accidents that might come about are going to be different, and it is important to understand this and be both aware and prepared for it.

Image from Pixabay

HGV Versus Car 

Of course, what takes place during the accident and how it occurs is going to have a significant impact on the injuries that come from it. If an HGV is in an accident with a car, it is likely that the car driver and passengers will be much more severely injured than the truck driver. This is mainly to do with the vehicle’s size and weight, as mentioned above, but also because a lorry driver is specially trained to deal with adverse road conditions. In contrast, a standard car driver may not have this additional training.  

This will make the lorry driver’s job a much harder one. Rather than simply driving from one place to the next, the driver must be hyper-aware of what is happening around them, particularly when the weather is bad, or the road conditions are unsafe. 

What Injuries? 

Due to all of this, the injuries that an HGV driver might sustain would, assuming the accident was with a car and not a building or another lorry, be less severe than those they might sustain in a car accident. These include:

• Lacerations 

• Sprains 

• Bruises 

• Broken bones 

• Muscle soreness

• Back pain 

This does not take into account the potential for mental health to be affected. Being in an accident is frightening, even if there is very little damage and no injuries. A more major accident will potentially cause the driver to suffer from depression, anxiety (particularly when getting back behind the wheel), even PTSD (which includes panic attacks and flashbacks). 

So although the initial injuries that are most common after an HGV accident might seem minor, that should never be taken for granted, and there are plenty of hidden injuries that could need time to heal. 

If you have been in an accident when you were driving an HGV, and you are still experiencing trauma now, don’t hesitate to contact a doctor for help. There should never be any stigma when it comes to mental health. 

FATJoeHGV accident

About the Author: John Loughran