Increase in NC tractor-trailer crashes puts drivers at risk

State statistics show crashes involving tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks are three times more deadly than crashes involving passenger vehicles.

The physics are simply frightening. The data is backed up by math: A fully loaded tractor-trailer weighs about 80,000 pounds versus a 2,000-pound to 3,000-pound car or pickup truck.

"I do not remember anything until maybe four or five days later in the hospital," Bridgett Nicole Brown told WRAL Investigates.

Brown, of Sampson County, was waiting to turn left last year with her twin daughters Riley and Raegan in the front seat of their Chevrolet S-10 truck. That’s when an 18-wheeler going about 55 mph slammed into the back of them.

"A lacerated spleen, liver, kidney, crushed trachea, 12 rib fractures, collapsed lung [and] several vertebrae fractures," Brown said about her injuries.

That was just her recovery. Her daughters suffered less serious physical injuries, but the emotional trauma still lingers for them all.

"Getting in the car now makes you very anxious being on the road," Brown said.

The growth of online shopping produced the need for more haulers and more road risks. The latest statistics show 18-wheeler crashes rose coming out of the pandemic, with more than 9,100 in 2021.

That’ up 5% from pre-pandemic numbers and up 67% from 2011, according to annual reports released by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

So what’s behind the dramatic increase?

"We’ve been seeing a lot of that distracted driving," said Raleigh attorney Stacy Miller.

According to the American Truck Business Service, the median age of a private fleet driver is 57, compared to 35 for new drivers who grew up around more distractions.

"So, we theorized the younger the truck driver, the more likelihood they’re on their cell phone," Miller told WRAL Investigates.

Miller and his law partner, Kurt Dixon, represent truck crash victims. Dixon even went through training to get his Commercial Driver License (CDL) to help him better understand the dangers on the road.

"The biggest thing I’m seeing out on the roads is people don’t put enough space between their vehicles," Dixon said.

Dixon adds it’s a two-way street between big rig drivers and the rest of us, "Simply not paying attention or being on a cell phone."

WRAL Investigates visited the Carolina Trucking Academy, where driver distractions are top of mind. During the intensive five-week training program in Raleigh where students learn to safely maneuver big rigs, cell phones are barred from the site.

"When they walk in the door on Monday morning, ‘Do you have a cell phone on you? Turn right around and put it in your vehicle,’" Carolina Trucking Academy president Michaela Underhill told us about the first day of training for many drivers.

Underhill bought the trucking school from Charlie Gray, who says the lessons learned on the test track make a big difference on the road.

"What our training provides is an understanding of the total dynamics of weight, stopping distance and how that pertains to a heavier vehicle," Underhill said.

Prior to February 2022, truck safety training wasn’t even required to get a CDL. Big-rig drivers now face more scrutiny, but combining trucks, traffic and distraction makes for a dangerous road.

"Catastrophic injuries, death is what you see," Miller said. "More of it in every county"

It puts everyone at risk, as Brown experienced.

"These are not little fender benders," Brown said. "These are life-threatening injuries. Me and both my daughters easily could have not walked away."

A study late last year estimated there were 80,000 fewer truck drivers than compared to 2021, meaning companies are struggling to hire.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for many drivers leaving the business, a national database that launched in January 2022 is also to blame. The computer system tracks drug and alcohol violations of drivers. There are estimates as many as 40,000 names are in that database and instead of going through training and testing to get reinstated, many drivers decided to put their trucking careers in park.