The reason truck accidents are so much worse than car accidents is not complicated. It is size. A fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. The car it hits weighs maybe 4,000. That is a 20-to-1 weight difference, and the people in the smaller vehicle absorb almost all of the impact.
Federal and state governments regulate how big and how heavy commercial trucks can be. But even a truck that is perfectly within legal limits is still enormous, and when a driver makes a mistake or a company cuts corners on maintenance, the results tend to be catastrophic for everyone else on the road.
In 2024, crashes involving large trucks killed 5,340 people across the country and injured more than 161,000 others. Seventy percent of the people who died in those crashes were not in the truck. They were in the other vehicle.
Federal Weight Limits for Commercial Trucks
The Federal Highway Administration sets weight limits for all commercial vehicles operating on the Interstate Highway System. These numbers have been in place since the 1970s and have not changed much.
- Single axle: 20,000 pounds maximum
- Tandem axle (two axles): 34,000 pounds maximum
- Gross vehicle weight: 80,000 pounds maximum
Those limits apply to interstate highways. States can set their own limits for non-interstate roads, and some are lower. Virginia generally follows the federal standards on interstates and has its own restrictions for secondary roads and bridges.
There is also the Bridge Formula, a set of calculations that determine how weight must be distributed across a truck’s axles based on their spacing. A truck can be under 80,000 pounds total and still be in violation if too much weight is concentrated on too few axles. That kind of overloading puts extra stress on roads, bridges, and, more importantly, on the truck’s ability to stop.
To put those numbers in perspective, even a “light” commercial truck at 20,000 pounds outweighs a midsize sedan by a factor of five. When you are talking about a fully loaded 18-wheeler at 80,000 pounds, the disparity is staggering.
Length, Width, and Height Rules
Weight is not the only thing regulated. The physical dimensions of commercial trucks are governed by a mix of federal and state rules.
Federal law prohibits states from restricting trailer lengths on interstate highways to less than 48 feet. There is no federal maximum for overall vehicle length, so that is left to the states. In Virginia, the maximum total length for a commercial truck combination on interstates is 75 feet, though this varies by configuration.
Width is set at 102 inches, or 8.5 feet, under both federal and Virginia law. Anything wider requires a special oversize load permit, and those loads have to follow specific routing, speed, and escort requirements.
Height is where it gets interesting. There is no federal height limit at all. Virginia caps truck height at 13 feet, 6 inches, but that number only matters if the bridges and overpasses along your route can clear it. Plenty of older roads in Virginia and across the country have bridges with lower clearances, and trucks hitting those structures are not uncommon. When it happens, it can cause a chain reaction that puts every vehicle behind the truck in danger.
Why These Limits Matter After an Accident
When a commercial truck is involved in a crash, one of the first things a Virginia Beach truck accident lawyer will investigate is whether the truck was within its legal size and weight limits. An overweight truck takes longer to stop. A truck that is too tall for a particular route may have struck an overpass and lost control. An improperly loaded trailer with too much weight on one side can cause a rollover.
When a trucking company or a shipper overloaded a vehicle or failed to weigh it before putting it on the road, that is evidence of negligence that can significantly strengthen an injury claim.
Even when the truck is within legal limits, the sheer size of these vehicles creates dangers that the trucking industry understands and is supposed to plan for:
- Longer stopping distances, especially in wet or icy conditions
- Larger blind spots on all four sides of the truck
- Wider turning arcs that can sweep across adjacent lanes
- Greater kinetic energy at impact, which means more severe injuries to occupants of smaller vehicles
- Increased risk of underride crashes, where a car slides beneath the truck’s trailer
A Virginia Beach truck accident lawyer who handles these cases regularly will know what to look for in the trucking company’s records, including weight tickets, inspection reports, maintenance logs, and driver qualification files.
Talk to a Firm That Has Handled These Cases From Day One
Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp has been taking on trucking injury cases since the firm was founded in 1985. Trucking and transportation cases have been at the core of the practice from the very beginning, when the firm started by representing injured railroad workers.
If you or someone in your family was hurt in a crash involving a commercial truck, contact Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp to discuss your case. Our firm has secured more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts and will work diligently to get you the compensation you deserve. Call 833-997-1774 for a free consultation. Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp has offices in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Norfolk, and Chesapeake.