Trucking Accidents Require An Experienced Law Firm With The Resources To Pursue A Lengthy Legal Battle
Any accident can be seriously dangerous, but those involving commercial trucks are among the most serious. The reason is simple – the larger size and weight of these vehicles mean that when they are involved in an accident with a passenger car, it translates to increased damage to those vehicles and to the people in them.Injuries can include a variety of different things including:
- Paralysis
- Spinal injuries
- Brain injuries
- Death
- Dismemberment
- Comas
- Broken bones
- And more
In other words, trucking accidents can leave you struggling to recover physically as well as mentally. And in many instances, the financial burden will be even larger as well. Those larger financial costs mean that insurance companies will often work harder to avoid paying you out what you are owed.
Fault Considerations With Truck Accidents That potential for more serious injuries is only one reason that turning to a professional, experienced legal team is so important for those involved in a trucking accident. Along with those serious injuries, you should also understand that fault can be a bit different in trucking accidents as well.
While you still must show that the other party involved in the accident acted in a negligent or reckless manner, that negligence can extend beyond the truck driver themselves. In many instances, it’s possible that the trucking company could be at fault as well.
Under national law, truck drivers are only allowed to operate their vehicle for a set number of hours each day, and are required to take specific amounts of downtime as well. If a trucking company fails to require their drivers to maintain logs of these drive hours, or if they set quotas that are impossible to meet while sticking to the required driving regulations, they could be held responsible.
Additionally, it’s possible that they can be held responsible if they fail to properly maintain their vehicles. Sending out drivers in a truck that isn’t safe, for example, could mean that a trucking company is responsible.
Proving Fault Another thing to understand is that proving fault is done in numerous ways in a trucking accident. This can include things like the following.
- Using vehicle mounted data records that measure everything from speed to braking data to turning information.
- Using driving records.
- Past history of the driver and the company
- Maintenance history of the vehicle
- Police accident reports
- Witness testimony
- Accident reconstruction
- Mobile phone records
While it may seem as though the wide range of options for proving fault mean that it’s easier to show fault to the courts, the simple fact that trucking companies could be involved in accidents as well means that insurance companies and opposing legal teams will often fight hard to avoid paying you out any more than they have to. As a result, you can expect serious resistance when trying to seek compensation.
As a result, it’s vital that if you’ve been involved in a trucking accident that you contact our professional legal team as soon as possible. We can help you stand up to the insurance companies and ensure that you get the compensation you deserve.