Trucking accidents are often on the news. For many of us, trucking accidents are no more than an annoyance that makes rush-hour traffic even slower. However, for those who are unfortunate enough to be in a trucking accident, the effects of these accidents can be devastating. Trucking accidents often cause:
1) Wrongful death. Unfortunately, due to the sheer size and force of trucks, fatalities are a common result of trucking accidents. If someone’s negligence causes a trucking accident and you lose a loved one, you may have a wrongful death claim. You generally may have a wrongful death claim if you were directly related to the loved one and that person affected your current or future financial well-being. For example, if you have lost a spouse in a trucking accident, you may have a claim because you have lost half your household income.
2) Burn injuries. If a truck is carrying a flammable cargo, this cargo can spill or leak during an accident, causing a fire. If the cargo is not correctly secured, such a fire can quickly rage out of control, causing fatalities as well as serious burn injuries.
3) Head injuries and spinal cord injuries. The impact of a truck hitting a vehicle can toss passengers about with great force, causing head injuries and spinal cord as passengers ricochet off surfaces inside the vehicle. Air bags and seatbelts can help reduce such injuries, but even with these safety devices, brain injuries and spinal cord injuries are quite common in trucking accidents.
4) Cosmetic injuries. Burn injuries and cuts incurred during accidents can cause long-term scarring and injuries to the face, which can make victims feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. If a passenger is thrown from a vehicle, they may sustain serious cosmetic injuries as their face comes into contact with broken glass or with a pavement. Even passengers strapped inside a car may have debris fly at them, causing cosmetic injuries which require expensive surgery to repair.
5) Broken bones. The impact of a car-truck collision is often enough to break bones for passengers inside the car. Depending on the bones broken, these fractures can cause permanent injury or can take months or heal.
6) Psychological trauma. Injury victims who have been in a trucking accident usually experience fear, depression, anger, and other difficult emotions. Some have trouble sleeping and working and may require therapy to get back on track. The emotional effects of a trucking accident, although hard to quantify, are very real and may last for years.
7) Financial distress. Many people who are in a car accident lose significant amounts of money due to the accident. If a car is damaged, the driver may have to pay for a rental car to get to work and may need to pay some repair or replacement costs out of pocket. Most injury victims lose significant amounts of work and therefore experience lost income as a result of their accidents. Not all treatments and therapies are covered by insurance and some injury victims need to pay for these costs themselves.