Semi Truck Accident Law
A serious injury sustained in a crash with trucks can result in the death of someone in medical bills. It could also cause permanent disabilities requiring expensive equipment and ongoing physical therapy.
It is crucial to have a professional New York truck accident lawyer by your side after an accident. A qualified attorney can help prove your case by using evidence like police reports and surveillance camera footage and more.
Poorly maintained vehicles
In many cases, trucking companies and owner-operators don't take the proper steps to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition. This causes many preventable crashes every year.
Semis and tractor trailers require more frequent maintenance than cars for passengers due to their larger dimensions and larger weight. Unfortunately the pressure of meeting deadlines and maximizing profits is often prioritized over the maintenance of a fleet. As a result, trucks can become prone to mechanical failures that result in catastrophic accidents.
The brakes of trucks are crucial since they have to stop the vehicle and slow it down at a moment's notice. When brake pads lines, return springs, or lines on a truck wear out and break, it could lead to serious accidents and fatal injuries. It is crucial to have these parts regularly inspected and replaced as needed to keep them in good working order.
Inadequately maintained tires can be a major reason for truck accidents. Tires that are worn down could lose traction, causing the truck to overturn or skid. Tires that are defective or damaged, whether due to an insufficient air pressure or tread design may fail catastrophically.
In addition to regular maintenance, trucks require regular inspections to identify mechanical problems before they lead to an accident. However, if the inspection is performed incorrectly or the repair shop doesn't adhere to the guidelines of the manufacturer the result could be a crash. In these situations the company that employed or supervising the maintenance or the repair shop could be held responsible.
Another cause of truck accidents is defective signals, lights, and reflectors. These elements must be properly functioning to allow drivers to see their truck and anticipate its movements, especially in rural areas and after dark. However, trucking companies might not inspect and maintain these items or the driver could fail to perform daily safety inspections.
A reliable Houston truck accident lawyer can analyze your case to determine who is accountable for your injuries after you've been injured during an accident caused by a poorly maintained commercial truck. These investigations can uncover evidence of the defendant's negligence and help you get the compensation you are entitled to.
Distracted Drivers
The result of a collision involving commercial trucks could be catastrophic. These massive vehicles can weigh as much as 25 times the weight of your car and can cause more severe injuries in accidents. While a variety of factors can cause accidents that result from distracted driving, it is one of the most frequent and risky. A distracted truck driver can lose control of the vehicle or overlook a road danger, which can lead to serious and life-threatening injuries.
Truck drivers must follow strict rules and regulations established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This includes a ban on texting or using cellular phones while driving. Even if truckers adhere to the rules, they are still prone to be distracted and cause a crash. This could be because of distractions caused by manual actions like dropping a hand off of the steering wheel or mental distractions such as thinking about something other than driving.
While the majority of people are aware the dangers of using text and drive, few realize that other activities such as eating, changing the radio station, and even conversing with a passenger can also be considered distracting. When the trucker is distracted, it is possible that he will drift into a different track and not see the traffic jam ahead. When a truck driver's attention is diverted, it takes only an instant for a large vehicle to strike a passenger car.
If a car accident occurs due to distracted drivers, it is important to take photos of the scene of the accident and collect the contact details and name of any witnesses. It is essential to know the name of the driver, the company that they work for, and who owns the vehicle, if it's an independent contractor. This could impact who is accountable for your accident since the trucking company is responsible for securing competent and skilled truck drivers. If the trucking company is found to be partly responsible for your accident, it may be liable to you for financial as well as non-economic losses.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions between trucks are not uncommon and can result in severe injuries. They can happen in a variety settings, such as at an intersection, a stop sign, when the trucker fails to look behind them for traffic in the direction of oncoming traffic. They can also happen when a car comes in front of the truck, which forces the driver to hit their brakes without warning. The trucker may then slam the car from behind.
It is often difficult to prove fault in rear-end crashes, as it's not always clear which vehicle was responsible for the crash. However, an experienced attorney can help gather evidence to show that the driver at the rear was responsible for the crash because they followed too closely or distracted driving. This can include evidence like photos, police reports, eyewitness testimony and skid marks in the road.
The driver in the front of the car could be held accountable for the accident. This can happen when they cut off someone else or fail to obey their turn signal as a reasonable person would, or slam on the brakes in the last second which causes the driver behind to slam into the car directly in the front. This type of scenario is where modified comparative negligence laws can come into play, where the jury assigns a percentage of blame to each party and damages are reduced in proportion to the percentage of fault.
Bruises and Lacerations
In a rear-end collision, the rear of the car is the part that takes the most impact. This means that drivers are most at risk of serious injuries if they hit their heads against the dashboard or the back window. They could also break bones due to being thrown around the interior of the vehicle by the force of the collision. las vegas semi truck accident lawsuit can be extremely severe. The spinal cord houses a number of nerves that control the body. Therefore, any damage to the spinal column can cause significant and permanent problems for victims.
A person who is a victim of a fatal accident could also be suffering from emotional and psychological trauma. They may have trouble being able to sleep or concentrate, which can cause depression and anxiety. If they are unable work due to the extent of their injury, this can cause anxiety and financial hardship. An attorney can examine the possible sources of liability to assist a victim in receiving an appropriate amount of compensation for their loss.
The trailer is not working properly
No matter if you're driving the vehicle of a car, van, a truck, or a flatbed, all vehicles need to be securely connected to their trailers. Unintentionally pulling a trailer off can result in catastrophic accidents that lead to severe injuries or even death. If you've been injured in an accident that involved the trailer that is running away, you should contact an experienced lawyer for car accidents that specializes in cases of failure of the hitch as soon as you can to discuss your legal options.
The reason for a malfunctioning trailer hitch can be a variety of things, ranging from improper security or design. It could be due to an error on the part of the manufacturer, in which case product liability law may apply. The person or company that is at fault for a faulty trailer can be held liable for the medical bills of the victims as well as auto repair costs as well as other losses that result from the incident.
In an accident that killed a person on a road in Ohio known as "Devil's Backbone" in January 2014 an unattached trailer was spotted on the truck. It then crashed into two cars that were directly behind it. The initial investigation attributed the accident to the driver's negligence in failing to inspect and secure the hitch. In June 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the possibility that a manufacturing defect had caused the hitch in the crash -it was an Ultra LT manufactured by Fontaine Fifth Wheel of Trussville, Alabama -- to fail on a significant number of occasions.
The trailer slammed into the side of the vehicle and crashed into them. The result was numerous deaths and serious injuries to the drivers.
The truck driver involved in the accident was convicted of vehicular murder, however experts believe that he could have avoided the collision if he'd performed a thorough inspection of his trailer to make sure all connections were in good order. Faulty trailer hitsches can cause major disasters, as they typically require a significant amount of speed and could easily wipe smaller cars or motorcycles. In such instances the trailer can deform the car's frame, and cause the metal to sever the limbs of passengers in.