Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations exist to keep the roads safe and to create guidelines for commercial truck drivers. Despite these and other regulations, however, some trucking companies and drivers violate these rules, leading to accidents. Unfortunately, due to their sheer size, trucks can cause massive damage in a collision.

Brain injuries are just one of the serious, often permanent, injuries that you may sustain as a result of a truck accident. Brain injuries can occur from two reasons. If your body is thrown about violently during a trucking accident, your brain may crash against the inside of your skull. This can cause damage to the brain. Secondly, you may sustain blunt force trauma the head in an accident if your head hits something with enough force. This can cause foreign objects to enter your skull, injuring your brain, or can cause your skull to fracture, causing trauma to the brain.

If you have sustained a brain injury in a trucking accident, you may lose your ability to remember, concentrate, or even move normally. You may need additional assistance for every day tasks, rehabilitation therapy, and expensive brain surgery. You may face long-term or permanent disabilities as a result of your injury.

Most commercial truck drivers train diligently to operate their vehicles and most are patient, skilled, and courteous. However, some truck drivers have characteristics that make them dangerous on the road. These dangerous characteristics can lead to accidents that cause personal injuries. These characteristics include:

1) Lack of training and experience. Truck drivers need to be well trained and experienced because they are responsible for operating large vehicles that can cause a lot of damage. Drivers should have training and experienced in defensive driving, driving in a variety of conditions, safety issues, and driving techniques. Drivers should be familiar with the roads and the truck they are driving.

2) Rage. Drivers with anger management problems are more likely to experience road rage, which can cause drivers to take risks and drive erratically. Rage has no place on the road.

Trucking accidents often cause serious personal injury as well as property damage. If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of a trucking accident, however, it is important to understand that the injuries caused by trucking accidents also cause a severe emotional reaction. Since the injuries caused by trucking accidents tend to be severe, many victims suffer from these common problems after their accident:

1) Depression. Many of the personal injuries caused by trucking accidents create long-term or permanent problems for victims. The changes in a victim’s life may be hard to bear, and this can cause depression. Victims may have a hard time accepting that their life has changed so dramatically.

2) Withdrawal. After a trucking accident, personal injury victims are often unable to return to normal social activities, and this can lead to a withdrawal from usual groups of friends. Additionally, some victims may be unsure how friends and family will respond to their injuries and withdraw from social activities. Burn injury victims, for example, may have a hard time facing the world because they feel uncomfortable with their current appearance.

Commercial trucking accidents often capture headlines because they tend to end so tragically. Commercial freight trucks and eighteen-wheelers can weigh tens of thousands of pounds and when these vehicles collide with smaller cars, the personal injuries, fatalities, and property damage that occurs can be devastating. A number of factors can contribute or lead to trucking accidents. These include:

1) Poor choices made by drivers of passenger vehicles. Commercial truck drivers are not always to blame for trucking accidents. In many cases, passenger vehicle drivers take risks on the road that lead to car accidents involving trucks. Car drivers may not understand the limits of truck, and may drive closely behind or beside a truck, in the truck driver’s blind spots. Some drivers cut off trucks making right turns or change lanes too quickly in front on trucks, not allowing truck drivers time to respond. Some drivers take risks by not following the rules of the road. In all cases, passenger vehicle drivers are likely to be seriously injured or killed if an accident results.

2) Poor choices made by pedestrians. Some pedestrians step out in front of trucks, not realizing that trucks have many blind spots and take longer to stop than passenger vehicles. Some pedestrians also do not pay attention to trucks that are turning or reversing. In all cases, a pedestrian accident involving a truck almost always leads to a fatality.

In news media after an aviation accident, reporters and journalist often refer to a “black box.” In an airplane, this black box gathers information about a flight and after an accident becomes a crucial piece of evidence for investigators. While most people associate the black box with aviation incidents, most commercial trucks have similar pieces of evidence.

Many trucks that have been made in the US since the 1990s have a device incorporated into their engine. Called the Electronic Control Module (ECM), this device is similar to the device placed on planes and is in fact also called a “black box.” For attorneys investigating a trucking accident, ECMs contain plenty of useful information, since these devices continuously gather information while a truck is in operation.

Over a period of thirty days or so, these devices gather information about time driven, highest speeds driven, average overall speeds a truck has attained, seat belt use, idling times, air bag use, the average revolutions per minute (RPMs) of the tires, and other pertinent information. For Florida personal injury attorneys, ECMs can be vital in determining negligence on the part of drivers, truck manufacturer’s and truck owners.

Hopefully, you will never be in an accident with your truck. If you are in a truck accident, however, you want to have the resources on hand to help anyone who is injured and the resources to help yourself legally. Here is what you need in your accident and emergency kit.

1) Pen, paper, and camera. Soon after the accident, you will want to begin documenting the accident. You will want to exchange information with any other driver involved and will want to gather the names and contact information of any witnesses. Taking pictures of the scene can also help your attorney make a claim for you if your case goes to court. Even an inexpensive disposable camera can help you capture information that can be important when you are negotiating with insurance carriers.

2) Flares and lights. If your trucking accident takes place at night, flares can help alert other drivers of obstacles on the road while a flashlight or other light can help you evaluate your situation more effectively.

About a hundred fatalities result each week from trucking accidents across the country. Many more people are injured or face long-term brain injuries, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other serious personal injuries as a result of trucking accidents. Some trucking accidents are caused by the drivers of passenger vehicles, but many experts note that when truck drivers are liable for an accident, there are often deeper reasons and causes at work.

Most commercial truck drivers are hired by companies. These companies often see drivers as a means to a profit. The more products are ferried from one location to another in a shorter period of time, the more money the company stands to make. The more costs are put into trucking – to hire union drivers, for example, or to hire more drivers – the more these costs cut into profitability.

Some experts accuse some companies of cutting corners and putting all drivers at risk. Investigations have revealed that some companies do not screen drivers carefully and do not maintain trucks to keep them in good condition. Some companies hire too few drivers and put in place incentives to encourage drivers to drive too fast and too long to make deadlines. This can encourage unsafe trucking practices that lead to trucking accidents.

Trucks are large vehicles and often take up a great deal of room. As a result, they can block your view of the road and upcoming dangers, and this can make it harder for you to avoid an accident. Trucking accidents can lead to serious personal injuries and even fatalities, so you will want to improve your visibility in order to stay safer. Here’s how:

1) Stay back. Give trucks extra room. Tailgating trucks is extremely dangerous, since you will not have enough time to stop if the truck brakes suddenly. If a truck is following too close behind you, the truck may not have time to stop if you have to brake suddenly. Keep in mind, too, that if you are behind a truck, you may not be able to see obstacles ahead. Give yourself plenty of room so that you can anticipate and see problems.

2) Avoid passing a truck if you’re not sure what’s ahead. If you can’t see what’s around a truck, don’t pass unless you are sure you know what’s ahead. If a truck stops and you want to pass, for example, you could cause a pedestrian accident if the truck has stopped for a pedestrian and you charge ahead, not seeing the person crossing the road.

Truck accidents cause serious personal injuries, burn injuries, spinal cord injuries, and permanent disabilities each year. Since trucks are so much larger than passenger cars, collisions involving trucks and smaller vehicles can and do often lead to fatalities. If you drive a truck, however, there are many things you can do to help prevent trucking accidents:

1) Take refresher courses. Many truck drivers only take driver education classes when getting their trucking license. However, additional and refresher courses can help correct bad habits, can strengthen your driving skills, and can ensure that you get a professional’s feedback about your driving. This can make you a far safer and more effective driver.

2) Take an extra level of driver licensing than you need. If you are driving a small pickup truck, for example, consider getting a license for light commercial vehicles. Getting extra licensing gives you more options, but more importantly, it also makes you safer and more effective with smaller vehicles as well. It makes you more confident behind the wheel and teaches you skills you can apply in your driving.

If you have been in a trucking accident, you may have lost a loved one, sustained property damage or have sustained an injury such as a burn injury, head injury, spinal cord injury, or amputation. You will likely need help negotiating with insurance providers and getting a settlement that will help pay your medical bills, lost income, and other expenses. The right attorney can be invaluable, and to find a qualified Florida personal injury attorney, make sure that you:

1) Find an attorney experienced in handling trucking accident cases. A good attorney will be happy to tell you about past trucking accident cases and the settlements he or she was able to help people secure. Look for an attorney who has experience with similar cases as yours, as this ensures that the attorney is experienced enough to help you.

2) Find an attorney with good investigating teams. In a trucking accident case, your attorney will have to investigate all the possible causes of the accident to determine who is liable for the accident. Therefore, you will want an attorney who is skilled at investigating cases.