Semi Truck Accident Law
A serious injury sustained during the crash of a semi-truck can leave someone in medical costs. It can also lead to permanent disabilities requiring expensive equipment and ongoing physical therapy.
After a collision, it is important to have an experienced New York truck accident attorney to assist you. A qualified attorney can help prove your case by using evidence like police reports and surveillance camera footage and much more.
Poorly maintained vehicles
In many instances trucking companies as well as owners-operators do not take appropriate steps to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition. This causes many preventable accidents occurring every year.
Semis and tractor trailers require more frequent maintenance than cars for passengers due to their dimensions and larger weight. Unfortunately working to meet deadlines and maximizing profits is often prioritized over the maintenance of a fleet. This is why trucks are more prone to mechanical malfunctions that can lead to devastating accidents.
The brakes on trucks are especially important because they must be able to stop the vehicle and slow it down at the smallest of moments. When brake pads lines, return springs or return lines on a truck fail they can cause serious accidents and fatal injuries. It is crucial that these parts are regularly inspected and replaced when necessary to ensure they are in good working order.
Poor-maintained tires can also be a major reason for truck accidents. shreveport semi truck accident case that are worn out could lose traction, causing the truck to roll over or skid. Tires that aren't working or damaged, whether due to inadequate air pressure or tread design may fail catastrophically.
Trucks need routine inspections along with regular maintenance in order to spot mechanical issues prior to causing an incident. However, if an inspection is performed incorrectly or the repair shop doesn't adhere to the manufacturer's guidelines this could result in an accident. In these instances, the firm that hired the repair or maintenance shop or managed it may be held liable.
Another cause of truck accidents is faulty signals, lights, and reflectors. These components must function properly so that drivers can be aware of and anticipate the movements of the truck especially in rural areas or at night. Trucking companies or drivers could not be able to maintain and inspect these components, or they may not be able to conduct daily safety inspections.
A reliable Houston truck accident lawyer can analyze your case to determine who could be accountable for your injuries after you've been injured during an accident involving a badly maintained commercial truck. Investigating your case can uncover evidence to prove the defendant's negligence in the accident and help you receive the compensation you're entitled to.
Distracted Drivers
There are few things as devastating as an accident that involves a commercial truck. These massive vehicles weigh up to 25 times more than your vehicle and may cause more serious injuries when they are involved in an accident. While many factors cause accidents and injuries, distracted driving is one of the most frequent and dangerous. A driver who is distracted could lose control of their vehicle or overlook a road hazard that could result in serious and life-changing injuries.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has strict rules and rules for truck drivers. This includes a prohibition on texting and using cell phones while driving. Even when truckers adhere to the rules, they may still be distracted, causing an accident. This is often caused by mechanical distractions like taking your hand off the steering wheel or cognitive distractions like thinking about something other than driving.
While the majority of people are aware that it's dangerous to text and drive, few realize that other activities like eating, changing the radio station, and even conversing with a passenger can also be considered distracting. When a truck driver is distracted, they might get lost in a lane or fail to see the traffic jam ahead of them. When a truck driver's eye is diverted, it's only just a few seconds for a huge vehicle to hit a motorist car.
It is important to gather information on witnesses and also take pictures of the scene after an accident if an unintentionally distracted driver causes a truck crash. It is crucial to know the name of the driver, the business that they work for and who owns the vehicle in case it's an independent contractor. This can have an impact on who's responsible for the accident, since it is the responsibility of the trucking company to recruit competent and experienced truck drivers. If the trucking company is found to be at least partially responsible for the accident, they could be held accountable for your financial and non-economic damages.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions with trucks are common and can cause serious injuries. They can happen in a variety settings for example, at an intersection or stop signal when the trucker fails to observe the road ahead for traffic in the direction of oncoming traffic. It could also happen when a car cuts across the truck's path, forcing the driver of the truck to stop at a rapid pace without warning. The trucker could then hit the car from behind.
It can be difficult to prove the cause of an accident that occurs at the rear, as it is not always obvious which vehicle was responsible for the crash. However, an experienced attorney can help gather evidence that proves the driver at the rear was responsible for the crash because they followed too closely or driving distracted. This evidence can include photos as well as police reports and eyewitness testimony, as well as skid marks in the road.
The driver in front of the car may also be held responsible for the accident. This could happen if they cut off someone else, fail to use their turn signal as a reasonable person would, or put on the brakes in the last second and cause the driver behind to crash into the car directly in the front of them. In these situations, modified comparative negligence laws could be used. The jury will determine a percentage of the blame to each party. The damages are then reduced according to.
Bruises & Lacerations
The rear-end of the car has the greatest impact in a rear-end crash, which means that the occupants could suffer serious injuries after hitting their head against the dashboard or the back window. The force of the crash may cause broken bones if the occupants are thrown around the vehicle's interior. Spinal injuries can be serious. The spinal cord houses a number of nerves that regulate the body, so any damage to the spinal cord could cause long-lasting and serious issues for the victims.
A person who is a victim of a fatal accident may also suffer from psychological and emotional trauma. They may have difficulty sleeping or concentrating, which may result in anxiety and depression. They may also experience stress and financial difficulties when they cannot work because of an injury. An attorney can investigate all possible sources of liability and assist the victim in seeking fair compensation for their loss.
The trailer hitches are faulty.
Regardless of whether you're driving an automobile, a van, truck, or a flatbed, all vehicles need to be securely connected to their trailers. Unintentionally removing a trailer's hitch can cause catastrophic accidents that can lead to severe injuries, or even death. If you've suffered injuries in an accident involving a runaway trailer, contact an experienced lawyer for car accidents that specializes in cases of failure of the hitch promptly to discuss your legal options.
A defective trailer hitch could be the result of a variety of factors, ranging from inadequate security to design flaws. It can also be the result an error by the manufacturer or a manufacturing defect, in which case the product liability laws may apply. The person or company that is at the fault for a defective trailer could be held accountable for medical bills of victims as well as auto repair costs as well as other losses that result from the incident.
For example in a fatal crash that occurred in January 2014 along an Ohio road locally known as "Devil's Backbone," a trailer came off the truck and slid over two cars ahead of it. Initial investigations suggested that the crash was due to the truck driver's negligence in failing to properly inspect and secure the hitch. However, in June of 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the possibility that a manufacturing defect had caused the hitch in the crash -one of the Ultra LT manufactured by Fontaine Fifth Wheel of Trussville, Alabama -- to fail on a significant percentage of occasions.
Due to the malfunctioning hitch caused by the defective hitch, the trailer smashed into the sides of the vehicles before plunging into them head-on. This led to multiple deaths and serious injuries to drivers of the vehicles.
The driver of the truck that was involved in the incident was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter. However experts say that he could have avoided the collision with the other vehicles if he completed a thorough inspection of his trailer and ensured that all connections were in good order. A faulty trailer hitch can cause major accidents. These kinds of incidents are usually high-speed and are able to sidewipe motorcycles or other smaller vehicles. In such cases the trailer can deform a car's frame and force steel fragments that are razor-sharp to sever the limbs of passengers in.