semi truck accident lawsuit Truck Accident Law

A serious injury resulting from an accident with a semi truck can bury someone in medical costs. It can also cause permanent disabilities that require expensive equipment and long-term therapy.

After a crash, it is important to have an experienced New York truck accident attorney by your side. A qualified attorney can help to prove your case using evidence such as police reports or surveillance camera footage and much more.

Vehicles that are not maintained properly

In many cases, trucking companies and owners-operators do not take proper steps to ensure their vehicles are in good condition. This negligence leads to many accidents that could have been avoided every year.

Semis and tractor trailers require more frequent maintenance than cars for passengers because of their larger size and heavier weight. However keeping deadlines and increasing profits can often take precedence over the maintenance of the fleet. Trucks can be prone to mechanical issues that could cause catastrophes.

The brakes on a truck must be able stop and slow down the vehicle at a minute's notice. When brake pads, lines or return springs on a truck fail and become damaged, it can result in serious accidents and fatal injuries. These components must be regularly checked and repaired when necessary to ensure they are in good condition.

Tires that are not properly maintained may play a significant role in truck accidents. Tires that are worn down could lose traction, causing the truck to flip over or skid. Tires that are defective, whether it's due to inadequate tread design or air pressure may fail catastrophically.

In addition to regular maintenance, trucks must undergo regular inspections in order to spot mechanical issues before they cause an accident. If an inspection was performed incorrectly or the repair shop does not adhere to the manufacturer's specifications it could cause a crash. In these situations, a company that hired the repair or maintenance company or was the one who supervised it could be held responsible.

Faulty lights, signals and reflectors are also a frequent cause of truck accident. These elements must function correctly so that drivers can observe and anticipate the movements of the semi truck accidents particularly in rural areas or at night. Trucking companies or drivers may not be able to maintain and inspect these items, or might not conduct regular safety inspections.

A Houston truck accident lawyer can investigate your case and determine who could be accountable for your damages in the event that you are injured from a poorly maintained commercial truck. These investigations can reveal evidence proving the defendant's negligence and assist you in obtaining the compensation you deserve.

Distracted Drivers

Accidents involving commercial trucks can be devastating. These huge vehicles can weigh up 25 times the weight of your car and cause much worse injuries in accidents. Distracted driving is among the many factors that cause accidents. A truck driver who is distracted might lose control of their vehicle or fail to recognize a hazard in the road, leading to severe and life-changing injuries.

Truck drivers are required to adhere to strict rules and regulations formulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This includes a ban on texting or using cellular phones while driving. Even if truckers abide by the rules, they might be distracted and result in an accident. This can be a result of manual distractions such as getting off the wheel, or cognitive distractions like thinking about something else other than driving.

Many people are aware that texting while driving can be dangerous, but few know that other activities, such as eating or changing radio stations or conversing with passengers, can also be considered distracting. When a truck driver is distracted, they might wander off into another lane, or fail to notice an obstruction in front of them. When a trucker's attention is diverted, it takes only an instant for a large vehicle to crash into a passenger car.

It is important to collect information about any witnesses and also take pictures of the scene after an accident if a distracted driver causes the truck to crash. It is crucial to know the name of the driver, the business for which they work and who owns the vehicle, if it's an independent contractor. This can affect who is liable for your incident since the trucking company is responsible for securing skilled and competent truck drivers. If the trucking company is found to be partially responsible for your accident, they may be held responsible for your economic and non-economic injuries.

Rear-End Collisions

Rear-end collisions with trucks are common and often cause serious injuries. They can happen in a variety of situations for example, at the stop or red light signal when the trucker fails to check their surroundings for oncoming traffic. It can also happen when vehicles cross the truck's path, which forces the driver of the truck to brake abruptly without warning. The trucker could then smash the car from behind.

It is often difficult to prove the cause of rear-end crashes, as it's not always clear which vehicle caused the accident. An experienced attorney can collect evidence to prove that the driver behind caused the accident by following too closely, or driving distracted. This could include evidence like photos, police reports, eyewitness testimony and skid marks left on the roadway.

Sometimes, the driver in the front could be responsible for the accident in addition. This can happen when they cut off someone else or fail to utilize their turn signal in the manner that a reasonable person would, or decide to slam on the brakes at the last moment which causes the driver in the back to crash into the car directly in the front of them. This kind of situation is where modified comparative negligence laws could be in play, where the jury assigns a percentage of blame to each party and damages are reduced in proportion to the percentage of fault.

Lacerations and Bruises

In a rear-end crash, the rear of the car is the one that suffers the most force. This means that the passengers are at risk of serious injuries if they hit their heads against the dashboard or the back window. The impact of the crash could cause broken bones if the occupants of the vehicle are thrown around the vehicle's interior. Spinal injuries can be serious. Spinal injuries can cause serious and lasting effects on the victims.

In addition to these kinds of injuries, the victim may suffer from psychological and emotional traumas as a result of being in a horrific crash. They may have difficulty being able to sleep or concentrate, which can result in anxiety and depression. If they are unable work due to the severity of their injury, this can add stress and financial hardship. An attorney can investigate the possible causes of liability to assist a victim in receiving the right amount of compensation for their loss.

Faulty Trailer Hitches

All vehicles, regardless of whether they're a car or a truck, van, flatbed, or van must be securely connected to their trailers. If a trailer goes unhitched, it could cause a catastrophic accident that could cause serious injuries or death. If you've been injured in an accident that involved an unhitched trailer, call an experienced attorney for vehicle accidents specializing in hitch failure cases immediately to discuss your legal options.

A damaged trailer hitch could result from a variety factors, ranging from inadequate securement to a defective design. It could also be due to a defect in the manufacturing process, in which case products liability laws could apply. The company or person responsible for a trailer's defect could be held responsible for the victims' medical costs, auto repair costs and 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, the trailer slid off of the truck. It then crashed into two cars directly behind it. Initial investigations suggested that the crash was due to the truck driver's carelessness in failing to check 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 at the center of the crash -one of the Ultra LT manufactured by Fontaine Fifth Wheel in Trussville, Alabama -- to fail on a significant proportion of occasions.

The trailer struck the sides of the vehicles, and then crashed into them. The result was numerous fatalities and serious injuries to the drivers.

The truck driver involved in the incident was found guilty of vehicular homicide, but experts believe that he could have avoided the crash by conducting an exhaustive inspection of his trailer to ensure all connections were in good order. The failure of trailer hitches could cause major problems. These types of accidents are typically high-speed and can easily sidewipe motorcycles or smaller cars. In such cases the trailer may distort a car's frame and force the metal to strike the passengers inside.