Surprising Facts About Truck Accidents — And Why You Should Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer

If you’ve been searching online for a “truck accident lawyer near me,” chances are you or a loved one has experienced a frightening collision with a large or commercial truck. Accidents involving semi-trucks or big rigs tend to be far more devastating than typical car crashes. There are good reasons for this, and understanding them can help you see why truck accident cases are so complex – and why having an experienced attorney on your side is essential.

In this post, we’ll break down why truck accidents tend to be more severe than car accidents, explore the unique complexities of truck accident lawsuits, and explain why hiring an accomplished truck accident lawyer is critical for anyone involved in a crash with a big truck.

Understanding Truck Accidents

Truck accidents are a serious concern for most drivers, posing a significant threat to the safety of anyone on the road. These accidents can result in devastating consequences, including serious injuries and fatalities. Understanding the unique risks and causes of truck accidents can help you appreciate the importance of taking legal action.

Higher Risk of Fatalities

Truck accidents are more likely to result in fatalities compared to other types of vehicle accidents. This is due to the massive size and weight of commercial trucks compared to passenger vehicles, which can weigh up to 80,000 pounds or more. This disparity in size and weight is a primary reason why truck accidents are so deadly.

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

Truck accidents can occur due to a variety of factors, including:

• Driver Error: Driver fatigue, distracted driving, and reckless behavior can all contribute to truck accidents. Truck drivers often work long hours and may be under pressure to meet tight deadlines, increasing the risk of mistakes on the road.
• Vehicle Maintenance Issues: Poorly maintained trucks can experience mechanical failures, leading to accidents. Regular inspections and maintenance are crucial to ensure that commercial trucks are safe to operate.
• Weather Conditions: Inclement weather, such as rain or snow, can make roads hazardous and increase the risk of accidents. Trucks, due to their size and weight, can be particularly difficult to control in adverse weather conditions.
• Road Conditions: Poorly maintained roads or construction zones can also contribute to truck accidents. Potholes, uneven surfaces, and unclear signage can all pose significant hazards for truck drivers.

Understanding these common causes can help you recognize the potential dangers on the road.

Why Truck Accidents Tend to Be More Severe than Car Accidents

It’s an unfortunate reality that accidents involving large trucks often result in more serious injuries and damage than collisions between passenger cars. These collisions cause serious injury, leading to long-term medical care and significant financial burdens.

But why is this the case? The severity comes down to a mix of physics, vehicle design, and operating conditions that stack the deck against smaller vehicles in a crash:

Massive Weight and Force

A fully loaded commercial truck (like an 18-wheeler) can weigh 20 to 30 times more than a typical car and take up to 40% longer to stop than a car traveling at the same speed. When that much mass collides with a smaller vehicle, the force of impact is enormous. It’s like a heavyweight boxer versus a featherweight – the smaller opponent (in this case, the car) takes the brunt of the damage.

Size and Vehicle Mismatch

Trucks are not just heavier; they are also much taller and longer than standard vehicles. This creates a danger of “underride” accidents, where a smaller car can slide underneath a tall truck trailer in a collision. Because of the height and ground clearance of big rigs, a car’s front or side can literally get crushed under a trailer’s chassis.

Most deaths in large truck crashes are the occupants of smaller vehicles – one analysis found that in crashes involving a big truck and a passenger car, 97% of the fatalities were people in the passenger car.

High Speeds and Highway Settings

Many truck accidents happen on highways or interstates, where trucks typically travel for long stretches. These roads also have higher speed limits. When you combine high speed with a heavy vehicle, any collision could be devastating. A minor error can trigger a chain reaction crash simply because of the truck’s size and speed.

Hazardous Cargo and Spill Risks

Big trucks often carry heavy loads that can add danger in an accident. Some semis haul hazardous materials – like flammable liquids, toxic chemicals, or other dangerous cargo. In a crash, these materials might spill or ignite, creating secondary accidents or health hazards.

While not every truck is carrying hazardous goods, many do transport things that amplify the severity of a crash. Even an ordinary load, like heavy machinery or logs, can break loose and strike other vehicles if a truck trailer is torn open.

Driver Fatigue and Operational Challenges

Driving a truck is a tough job. Truck drivers often work long hours and may drive through the night. Fatigue is a known risk factor in trucking accidents. Even though there are strict rules that limit drivers’ hours (federal regulations allow up to 11 hours of driving in a stretch), some drivers exceed these limits.

Additionally, trucks have large blind spots and are less maneuverable, making it harder for truck drivers to react quickly to avoid a crash. These factors increase the chances of a serious accident if anything goes wrong on the road.

All of the above reasons help explain why truck accidents often result in more severe injuries or fatalities compared to car accidents. Statistics back this up: per mile traveled, accidents involving large trucks have a fatality rate almost four times higher than those involving regular cars.

The Complexities of Truck Accident Cases

Not only are truck accidents extremely dangerous, but truck accident claims involving commercial vehicles are also more complex from a legal and insurance standpoint. If you’ve been in a collision with a big truck, you’ll quickly find that these cases aren’t as straightforward as a typical fender-bender. There are multiple factors that make pursuing a truck accident claim uniquely challenging:

Multiple Potentially Liable Parties

In a standard two-car crash, usually only the drivers (and their insurance companies) are involved. In a truck accident, there could be many parties who share fault. The truck driver might have been careless, but often the trucking company bears responsibility as well. The owner of the truck could be liable, as could the company that loaded the cargo or even the manufacturer of the truck or a defective part. In some cases, a government entity might be partly at fault.

All of these parties may end up pointing fingers at each other. Identifying every liable party is crucial because it opens additional sources of compensation.

Strict Regulations and Laws

The trucking industry is heavily regulated by both state and federal law. Truck drivers and companies must follow Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations and various state laws. For example, there are rules on how many hours a trucker can drive without rest, how frequently vehicles must be inspected, what training drivers need, and how hazardous materials must be transported.

Truckers are required to maintain logs and electronic data about their driving hours and truck condition. Accessing and interpreting this data – such as logbooks, GPS records, or the truck’s “black box” (event data recorder) – is crucial.

Complicated Evidence Collection

Following a truck crash, the evidence trail is complex. You still have the basics like police reports, accident scene photos, and eyewitness accounts. You might also need to dig into maintenance logs, driver qualification files, cargo manifests, dispatch schedules, and electronic logging device (ELD) data. However, making sense of this technical data often requires expertise – which is one reason truck accident attorneys are so valuable in these cases.

There’s also the issue of evidence getting “lost” or even destroyed. Important evidence like onboard computer data or surveillance footage from the truck can disappear if not promptly preserved. This is why quick action is necessary after a truck crash.

Aggressive Insurance Companies and Legal Teams

Trucking companies usually carry high-limit insurance policies because they know a serious crash can cause extensive damage. Insurance adjusters are trained to protect the company’s bottom line.

Remember, the trucking company’s insurer is not your friend – no matter how sympathetic they sound on the phone.

Rapid Response and Defense Strategies

After an accident, it’s not unusual for the trucking company to deploy a rapid response team of investigators and lawyers to the scene of the crash. Their goal is to start building a defense immediately. This gives them a head start in controlling the narrative and gathering evidence that favors them, not you.

Facing this as an injured accident victim can be overwhelming – it’s essentially you against a well-oiled corporate machine that does this every day.

Severity of Truck Accident Injuries

Because truck accidents often cause devastating injuries, the stakes in a legal case are very high. Medical bills for surgeries, rehabilitations, long-term care, or disability can easily reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars over a lifetime. The law recognizes this by typically requiring truck companies to carry higher insurance coverage limits to cover such catastrophic losses.

From a legal perspective, calculating fair compensation in a trucking accident case is also more complex: you have to account for future medical needs, long-term impact on earning capacity, pain and suffering for severe trauma, possibly punitive damages, etc. All of this requires careful documentation and often expert analysis.

Proving Negligence in Truck Accident Lawsuits

Proving negligence in a truck accident case requires establishing fault and demonstrating that the defendant’s actions or inactions caused the accident. This process is crucial for truck accident victims seeking compensation for their injuries and medical expenses.

Establishing Fault

To establish fault in a truck accident lawsuit, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant breached their duty of care, resulting in the accident. This can involve:

• Driver Negligence: The truck driver may have been speeding, driving recklessly, or failing to follow traffic laws.
• Trucking Company Negligence: The company may have failed to properly maintain the vehicle, hired an unqualified driver, or encouraged the driver to engage in unsafe practices.
• Manufacturer Negligence: The manufacturer of the truck or its parts may have designed or produced a defective product, leading to the accident.

By establishing fault and demonstrating negligence, truck accident victims can seek proper compensation. This compensation can cover medical expenses and other damages resulting from the accident. An experienced truck accident lawyer can help navigate this complex process, ensuring that all responsible parties are held accountable and that victims receive the full compensation they deserve.

Why Hiring an Experienced Truck Accident Attorney Is Essential

Given the added complexity of these cases, which often involve severe truck accident injuries, hiring an experienced truck accident lawyer is not just a good idea – it’s often essential to protect your rights and interests. Here’s why having the right attorney can make all the difference:

Level the Playing Field

As mentioned, the trucking company and its insurer will have professional adjusters and lawyers working immediately to protect their interests. You deserve to have a professional on your side, too. An experienced truck accident lawyer knows the tricks that insurance companies play.

With a skilled truck accident lawyer representing you, those adjusters have to go through your lawyer – which means they’re far less likely to get away with lowball offers or pressure tactics.

Knowledge of Trucking Laws and Regulations

A lawyer who regularly handles truck accidents will be intimately familiar with the FMCSA regulations, state trucking laws, and industry standards that might apply to your case. This knowledge is crucial. For example, if the trucking company violated a law, an attorney will spot that and use it to strengthen your truck accident claim.

They also know how to obtain and read things like driver logbooks, electronic logging data, maintenance records, and cargo loading manifests.

Thorough Investigation and Evidence Preservation

After a truck crash, time is of the essence. A truck accident lawyer will act quickly to preserve evidence. They can file legal requests to prevent the trucking company from destroying or altering records.

A lawyer knows to retrieve the truck’s black box data, get copies of surveillance videos, and even inspect the truck itself if necessary. By building a strong evidence-backed case, experienced truck accident attorneys puts you in the best position either to negotiate a fair settlement or to win in court if litigation becomes necessary.

Identifying All Responsible Parties

As we discussed earlier, multiple parties could be at fault in a truck accident. If you hire a knowledgeable attorney, they will dig into the details to identify every potentially liable party – not just the obvious one.

Why does this matter? Because each liable party could have an insurance policy or assets that can contribute to your compensation. A seasoned lawyer will hold all parties accountable, which maximizes your chances of getting the full settlement you need to cover your losses.

Skilled Negotiation and Advocacy

Trucking insurers are often very stubborn when it comes to paying claims – they hire savvy large truck accident attorneys to defend them. To make sure you’re treated fairly, you need a strong negotiator who knows how to handle these defense tactics.

Experienced truck accident attorneys have likely faced the major trucking insurance companies many times before. They know how to counter arguments that the crash was partly your fault, or that your truck accident injuries aren’t as severe as you claim.

Peace of Mind and Guidance for Truck Accident Victims

Dealing with the aftermath of a serious accident is stressful enough – you might be in pain, juggling doctor visits, and worrying about bills. The last thing you need is to single-handedly battle insurance adjusters or decipher legal paperwork. A good attorney will keep you informed, explain your options in plain language, and guide you through each step of the process.

Knowing that a professional is advocating for you can provide peace of mind during a difficult time. Professional personal injury lawyers, such as the truck accident attorneys at RMD Law, work on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay nothing upfront unless they win compensation for you.

An experienced truck accident lawyer is your advocate and protector in a complex situation. Going it alone after a truck accident is like navigating a storm without a map – it’s risky and overwhelming. With a trusted attorney, you have someone who knows the way and will fight to secure the best possible outcome for you.

Get a Free Consultation with a Truck Accident Lawyer Near You

A commercial truck accident can turn your life upside down in an instant. The injuries, the medical bills, the insurance headaches, and the legal complications – it’s a lot for anyone to handle. The good news is, you don’t have to tackle it alone. If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, RMD Law is here to help. Our firm has extensive experience with serious truck accident cases, and we understand the unique challenges involved.

Contact RMD Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation. We’ll listen to your story, answer your questions, and explain your rights and options in clear terms. Call RMD Law now at (949) 828-0015 for your free consultation to speak with an experienced truck accident attorney. We’re ready to fight for you.