In 2018, a report was published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of the United States Department of Transportation. At that year, trucking accidents considered fatal involved 5,096 large trucks; 112,000 involved in injury crashes; and 414,000 trucks involved in property damage.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS):
1. A total of 4,136 people died in large truck crashes in 2018.
– 16 percent of these deaths were truck occupants.
– 67 percent were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles.
–15 percent were pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists.
2. The number of people who died in large truck crashes was 31 percent higher in 2018 than in 2009.
Catastrophic damage is expected from a collision between a large truck and a typical passenger car, with the trucks typically weighing around 80,000 pounds more than a normal car. These accidents happen every single day, and can potentially cause serious injuries, brain trauma, amputations of body parts, and even death.
Usually, these are due to human error, caused by overworked drivers. What’s worse is that their cargoes are not just cottons or cushions, but frequently are heavy and hazardous materials like steel or gasoline. Imagine, changing your life drastically, just because a truck driver fell asleep while driving or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Other leading causes are distractions from phones, improperly loaded cargo, poorly-maintained trucks, and equipment failure.
The number one rule is to be mindful.
1. If your phone is working, call the police or necessary emergency workers to assist with any of your injuries.
2. Call your family and friends.
3. Tell them about your truck accident and where you are, so they can come to your rescue.
4. Take photos and videos of the damages and injuries caused to you and your passengers.
5. Listen to and take notes of witness statements which will be taken by the police when they arrived.
6. Record them on your phone (with their permission) so you will have their clear statements at your disposal.
7. Keep all records like police reports, medical reports, and bills.
This way, you will be sure that everything is well-documented to fight for your case with you or your truck accident attorney. Remember, that to be granted actual damages, you must substantially prove injuries and expenses with probable evidence.
Truck accidents are complex. A truck accident will likely cause you pain and financial hardship.
However, truck companies are often insured in the millions and more than one party may be held vicariously responsible for a driver’s negligence. Obtaining evidence and negotiating with multiple insurance companies may become a long and tedious process.
To reduce the stress and burden on top of what you are already going through and to ensure that you will be fully compensated, the best thing to do is to contact a truck accident attorney.
If you or your loved one is involved in a trucking accident, fill out our free case evaluation form to see if our truck accident attorneys, investigators, and expert witnesses can assist you with your case.
We offer free consultations to help as many individuals as possible, and to provide immediate legal assistance to victims of truck accidents. Learn more about us.
1. As to size, freight trucks tend to weigh twenty times more than the weight of passenger cars. They aren’t called “big rigs” for no reason.
2. As to distance and travel time, employed drivers are often rewarded with financial incentives for traveling large distances faster. These motivations, while beneficial to the company, can conflict upon drivers’ well-being, attitude, and safety. Not to mention the passenger cars that they might possibly collide with.
3. As to insurance policies, truck drivers’ policies are up to fifty times larger than car accident policies. Hence, the insurance companies, with all their huge channels of resources, will do everything possible just to prove that they are not responsible for paying anyone.
4. As to damages, with the weight and over-all size of a “big rig”, more serious damages are expected to the surrounding property and people involved. Broken bones, severe lacerations, blindness, and loss of memory are just few of the possible disastrous effects.
Companies and insurers have deep pockets to use in trying to escape liability in truck accidents. After a truck accident, they will be already assembling their own legal team to fight your claims. This is why getting a free case evaluation with a truck accident attorney would be beneficial to you in the long run and could prevent thousands or millions of dollars worth of mistakes or stress.
Trucking is an interstate business, meaning it takes place over several different states. Oftentimes the trucking company headquarters, pickup location, and delivery location are all different states. Trucks then have to drive through multiple other states to make a delivery. This can make compliance with various state laws more difficult because states have different laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to shipping and large commercial vehicles.
This is why there is a federal agency known as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). This agency sets rules and regulations on a national level which set the minimum requirements that all truck drivers and trucking companies must comply with. Many of the regulations are aimed at safety. When an FMCSA regulation is violated which causes a trucking accident in Las Vegas, Nevada, it could result in liability for the truck driver or trucking company.
Some of the most common FMCSA violations that could result in liability include the following:
Just like other personal injury lawsuits and wrongful death lawsuits, the types of compensation available to victims of truck accidents are economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic truck accident damages serve to cover the monetary costs, including current and future medical expenses, loss of wages, and loss of earning capacity.
Non-economic damages compensates for intangible losses such as pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium.
In addition to economic and non-economic damages, punitive damages may be awarded if the trucking accident was caused by willful, malicious, fraudulent or reckless actions of the defendant. Punitive damages serves to punish the offender for his outrageous conduct and to deter him and others like him from similar conduct in the future.
Your truck accident attorney will establish the parameters of the parties’ duty of care and convince the court that there was a breach of that duty that led to your personal injuries.
Michael Hua Injury Law, as your truck accident attorneys, will do a thorough independent assessment of your truck accident by:
To prevail in a truck accident lawsuit, we, as your truck accident attorney, will show that the truck driver had a duty of care to other vehicles on the road, that the driver breached this duty through an action or omission, that an injury was sustained, and that the breach of duty is the proximate cause of the said injury.
Should you wish to pursue a product liability case, we will create a strong case for the accountability of product manufacturers. This is viable if the defect in the truck caused by the company’s products largely contributed to your trucking accident.
Michael Hua Injury Law was created with the mission of giving a fair fight to injured humans who are up against heavily profitable insurance companies and corporations who refuse to pay honest and legitimate claims. We are experienced in handling serious personal injury lawsuits, such as truck accidents.
You will be assured that you have compassionate attorneys who will work on a contingency fee agreement: meaning there is no fee til you win. We dedicate our careers to the aggressive pursuit of full justice and we will not settle for anything less than full compensation for you – in this case, for your injuries caused by truck accident.
Contact us now and get a free deep dive into the facts and circumstances of your case with a truck accident attorney.
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