Truck safety is an ongoing challenge causing severe car crashes results in grave losses. Trucks are dangerous due to their sheer size, resulting in serious and even fatal injuries, including death, brain injuries, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis. Our Top Truck Accident Attorneys tell you what you need to know!
Why are Truck Drivers “More” Responsible For Accidents? Given the size of the trucks, long hours on the road, and truck drivers’ willingness to disregard speed limits to meet deadlines, collisions occur every 16 minutes. Injuries are more severe. The question of fault may not be easily answered, and, there are usually more parties involved than what you would find in an ordinary car accident.
CAUSES OF TRUCK ACCIDENTS
500,000 truck accidents occur yearly in the United States. Between 2009 and 2017, the number of trucks and buses involved in fatal accidents increased by 42% with most taking place in rural areas, on interstate roads, and highways.
Trucks designed to carry heavy cargo can cause lethal injuries when striking another passenger vehicle. Logistic brokers such as UPS, FedEx, and other ground transportation companies have the same issues given the sheer weight of their fleet of vehicles coupled with the necessity to deliver on time with sometimes results in carelessness and error. This is why truck companies that hire independent drivers are responsible for the harm they cause to others while delivering goods. A routine daily commute will inevitably force passenger vehicles to encounter a barrage of commercial vehicles such as:
WHAT RULES APPLY TO TRUCKS
Due to significant safety concerns to the general public, federal and state governments have put in place Motor Carrier Safety (MCS) regulations that require companies to meet minimum standards for vehicle safety. Some examples of trucking regulations include:
Just like driving a passenger car, the same rules apply although the consequences of breaking those rules can be far more dire. A truck driver that crashes into someone results in greater damages to people and property. Similarly making unplanned and sudden decisions while driving can cause grave consequences like blind spot crashes, jackknife trucks, or even rollovers.
Truck drivers need to feel their best and operate at their best. Make lengthy trips with inadequate sleep can be fatal to someone else. Poorly maintained equipment or mechanical failures that should have been caught during pre-trip inspection can have grim outcomes. Even a failure to properly load the vehicle can cause tire blowouts or causing accidents from flying debris.
WHO IS AT FAULT FOR A TRUCK ACCIDENT?
Liability in a truck accident requiring significant insight and knowledge into how an accident occurred. Whether examining the physical scene, involved truck, photographs, medical records, police report, maintenance history, or other forms of evidence, the existence of liability is in the details.
A truck accident lawyer will want to also confirm the driver was acting in the course and scope of his employment when the crash occurred. They will want to determine who was the employer at the time of the loss. They will want to evaluate the driver’s qualifications and training to perform their basic job function. Assessment will be necessary to see if the company followed all the rules and regulations. In the maze of analysis, the goal is to find justice from the wrongdoers hoping future collisions do not occur and make the roads safer.
WHAT IF TRUCK DRIVER IS NOT AT FAULT?
Sometimes the driver of the truck is not at fault in a police report. Experts are needed to see if the investigation was thorough and the correct conclusions were reached. Even if true, however, that may not be the end of the potential claim. Looking to see if the accident was caused by defective parts or a glitch in the truck’s mechanical system is another avenue to explore when evaluating a trucking case. There, liability might be assigned to one or several manufacturers, and determining who is to blame becomes more complex. Our Top Truck Accident Attorneys help find the answers.
Another path that results in serious trucking collisions is when the road is dangerous. This could be because of improper roadway construction or even the roadway as design. An in-depth analysis needs to be performed to determine whether the conditions of the road were unsafe even when being used by the truck driver following all the rules and regulations.
TRUCK ACCIDENT INJURIES
Due to the massiveness of most commercial trucks, the severity of the accident can range from serious to fatal. Despite being in the safest of vehicles, a person likely will not walk out of a truck accident without a scratch. Normally, the injuries that have to be attended to over a period of years, if not lifetime, involve:
HOW CAN A LAWYER HELP WITH TRUCK ACCIDENTS
Trucking accidents involve significant assessment and skills to evaluate liability, determine fault, facilitate treatment, and obtain compensation for the often-catastrophic damages suffered. With every effort to highlight truck safety and awareness, we work tirelessly to raise awareness and influence changes for public truck safety requirements. If you have been involved in a truck accident, call The Injury Law Firm to see how we can help you begin your journey to recovery.