Battle Born Injury Lawyers | November 8, 2022 | Truck Accident
The confluence of tourist traffic and commercial trucking routes through Las Vegas leads to a high risk of accidents and a greater chance of trucks moving at an unsafe speed in and around the city.
Commercial truck traffic is an issue that Las Vegas and Nevada state continue to grapple with, but local speed limits don’t do much to help the issue.
Las Vegas Truck Speed Limits
The city of Las Vegas doesn’t set any special speed restraints on commercial trucks or other large vehicles. Regulations aimed at reducing truck accidents are limited to using weigh stations and general speed limits.
Speed limits within the city reach up to 65 mph for all vehicles using the roads. Outside the city, rural routes in Nevada can have speed limits that reach up to 75 mph.
Truckers and other drivers must move out of the left lane to allow faster-moving traffic to pass, but only on controlled-access highways. Las Vegas also places no special restriction on lanes available for truckers. The city offers 20 miles of high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV), but this further bottlenecks all single-occupant vehicles into the remaining lanes — commercial trucks included.
Speeding Trucks Are a Greater Safety Concern
Congested highways create frustration and increase the risk of accidents for all drivers. However, commercial truckers are more likely to suffer financially from Las Vegas’s heavy traffic delays. Truckers who risk falling behind schedule after sitting in Las Vegas traffic have a higher incentive to speed to make up for lost time.
Speed limits are the result of extensive research by engineers and are set to help move traffic as fast as is safely possible given factors like terrain, road materials, and vehicle weight. Exceeding a Las Vegas speed limit increases any vehicle’s risk of an accident. However, a speeding commercial truck is more likely to end up in an accident than a smaller vehicle.
Large Trucks Can Cause More Accidents
The size and weight of large trucks lead to a much higher risk of speed-related accidents.
Speeding trucks are at risk of ending up in accidents, such as:
- Jackknife accident
- Rollover accident
- Overweight load accident
- Blown tires
- Mechanical failure
Smaller vehicles that don’t carry cargo are at much less risk of ending up in similar accidents. Many of these, like a jackknife accident, aren’t possible when cargo isn’t involved.
Las Vegas Continues To Struggle With Commercial Trucking Traffic
Commercial trucks mingled with local and tourist traffic has long been a safety issue on Las Vegas highways. The I-11 Hoover Dam and Boulder City bypasses were created specifically to address this concern and help route commercial trucking traffic away from downtown.
Although the bypasses have helped alleviate some of the congestion, Highway 93 still sees heavy congestion, which naturally contributes to the number of serious and fatal crashes.
The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) is still working on further reducing commercial traffic in the city by continuing the I-11 corridor around the western and northwestern portions of the city.
Although the future I-11 proposal will likely help to further reduce future crash rates, injuries, and fatalities, construction is not expected to be complete until 2026. In the meantime, speeding commercial trucks will likely remain a serious safety issue for Las Vegas drivers.
A Truck Accident Lawyer Can Help You After a Las Vegas Truck Accident
A Las Vegas truck accident can result in injury and death, and the financial consequences can be catastrophic for the victim or their loved ones.
When such a tragedy occurs because of a speeding truck driver, a Las Vegas truck accident lawyer can help build a case. Proving an accident that was caused by a speeding trucker can bring compensation to the victim.
Contact the Las Vegas Truck Accident Attorneys at Battle Born Injury Lawyers Today
If you or a loved one were injured in an accident in Las Vegas and you need legal assistance, contact our truck accident attorneys at Battle Born Injury Lawyers and schedule a free consultation with our legal team. We have four convenient locations in Nevada, including Las Vegas, Henderson, and Reno.
We proudly serve Clark County and its surrounding areas.
Battle Born Injury Lawyers – Downtown Las Vegas Office
400 S 4th St Suite 290,
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 357-4868
Battle Born Injury Lawyers – Las Vegas Office
10789 W Twain Ave #100
Las Vegas, NV 89135
(702) 570-9000
Battle Born Injury Lawyers – Reno Office
675 W Moana Ln #206
Reno, NV 89509, USA
(775) 535-7768
Battle Born Injury Lawyers – Henderson Office
8540 S Eastern Ave #200
Henderson, NV 89123
(702) 500-0287
