Areas of Practice / Trucking & Tractor Trailer Accidents

Trucking & Tractor Trailer Accidents

Fully loaded tractor-trailers weigh more than six times as much as the average passenger vehicle, so it’s no surprise that trucking accidents are among the most devastating. Every year in the United States, there are over 400,000 collisions involving heavy trucks, and more than 100,000 people are injured, a third of them suffer catastrophic, life-changing injuries, and over 5,000 die in these crashes. Every year over 100,000 are injured, one-third of those life-altering injuries.

Statistics give you the numbers, but they can’t tell you the stories of the people involved: their daily struggles to survive and overcome their injuries, the pain they experience, the stress on them and their families, and the strain on their finances.

Even the best safety-equipped passenger cars, trucks, and SUV’s are at a serious disadvantage when up against the size, weight, configuration and sheer momentum of commercial trucks. Passenger vehicle drivers and passengers are more likely to suffer serious or catastrophic injuries in a collision with a commercial vehicle than with another passenger vehicle.

Common factors that can lead to commercial truck accidents causing serious injuries are driver fatigue, speed, the size and weight of the vehicle, underside protection, and inadequate lights and reflectors. Trucking deregulation, economic pressure, and the concepts of "just in time delivery" and "rolling warehouses" keep truck drivers under pressure to drive more hours than allowed by the law and to speed. Though evidence of speeding is more often present in fatal car vs. car crashes than in commercial truck accidents, speed is a significant factor in the damage big rigs can cause given their weight and the distance needed to stop.

Drivers of passenger cars are often not as aware as they should be when navigating a road shared with big trucks. Truckers often complain that cars change lanes around them with inadequate room, slow too quickly, or follow too closely. Because of this, proving liability in a commercial truck accident is often easier said than done. Investigating the circumstances under which the accident occurred and proving who was at fault is the most critical aspect of your personal injury case. When there is a fight over liability, you need an experienced Austin, Texas commercial truck accident lawyer on your side. Evaluation of police reports, witness statements, examination of the scene, the vehicles or products involved, and accident reconstruction are tools we can use to help prove your case.

First, it is likely that immediately following the accident you will begin to receive calls and letters from the trucking company’s insurance carrier asking for recorded statements, authorizations for the release of your medical information, and other information. What you do and say at this critical time could affect the strength of your case. It is always better to have the advice of an attorney from the beginning.

Second, the process of dealing with the physical and emotional trauma of a serious injury is intense. Our strategy from day one is to focus on your case, so you can focus on your recovery.

Third, there are Statutes of Limitations that apply to personal injury cases. If you wait too long to take action, you will lose any right you may have to recover from liable parties.

The most serious injuries that may occur in accidents involving cars and commercial trucks include:

Traumatic brain injuries, which can be classified as closed head injuries (due to a blow to the head or being struck by an object but in which the skull remains intact), or penetrating head injuries (in which an object fractures or penetrates the skull). Both closed and penetrating head injuries may be classified as diffuse, where there is damage to multiple microscopic areas of the brain, or focal, which is an injury limited to a specific part of the brain.

Traumatic brain injuries include Diffuse Axonal Injury, Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury, contusion, hemorrhage, stroke, and subdural, epidural, and subarachnoid hematoma. The part of the brain affected by the injury (brainstem, cerebellum, or the frontal, occipital, parietal, or temporal lobes) dictates the symptoms and disabilities the injured person may experience. Traumatic brain injuries can cause life-long disability in physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social function.

Spinal Cord Injuries can be divided into two main categories, complete and incomplete injuries.  It is rare that a patient’s spinal cord is cut and severed. Complete SCI is caused by bruising, pressure on the spinal cord, and loss of blood to the cord. The damage is entire loss of movement and sensation below the level of the injury. Incomplete SCI does not result in complete loss of movement and sensation, but the injured person may have varying degrees of both.

The long-term effects of spinal cord injury can include loss of motor and sensory function and changes in bowel and bladder continence, pain levels, sexual function and desire, function of the gastrointestinal tract, ability to swallow, temperature and blood pressure regulation, and ability to breathe independently.

Traumatic amputation is the severing of fingers, hands, arms, feet, legs, or other body parts as a result of trauma. Such an amputation may be complete or partial and can result in severe blood loss and shock. The three most common forms of traumatic amputation are guillotine (relatively complete severing), crush, and avulsion (an injury to the bone in a place where a tendon or ligament attaches to the bone) injuries. Traumatic amputation can cause profuse bleeding and may lead to hypovolemic shock caused by a sudden loss of blood volume if not treated promptly.

Amputation can cause complications and long-term health effects such as infection, wound opening, death of skin at the amputation site, contractures (shortening of the muscles in the affected limb), failure to heal, phantom limb pain, prosthetic complication, weight gain, and depression.

Other Catastrophic Injuries such as multiple fractures, internal injuries, and burns that require significant medical treatment, usually have a long-term or permanent effect on an injured person's life.

It is important to consider the long-term effects of your injuries when pursuing claims against the liable parties. The compensation you seek should include the cost of not only your past medical expenses, but also the cost of your future care, lifelong accommodations you may require, and loss of future earning capacity. Engaging medical, rehabilitation, life care planning and economic experts helps provide a way to prove your financial needs for the future.

Few people anticipate that they may be victims of serious injuries and, therefore, do not make plans for what to do if it happens. In addition to the shock, pain, and physical disability that come with such an injury, there is also usually an immediate financial impact for the victim and his or her family. The assistance of an attorney experienced in handling the cases of serious injury victims can help prevent the financial devastation from lasting a lifetime. Contact David L. Savage at SAVAGE & SAVAGE, P.A. to consult with an experienced South Carolina commercial truck accident lawyer.

We see all sorts of big rigs and smaller commercial vehicles every day, but we rarely stop to think about the impact of the trucking business on our day-to-day lives. From food to furniture to fuel, the necessities and luxuries of life are brought to us by commercial trucks.

Most people know little about the inner workings of the trucking industry. It may surprise you to learn that truck drivers are not protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which guarantees most American workers a basic eight-hour workday with time and a half for overtime. Many long haul and regional drivers are compensated today by the mile or by the load. This system undermines safety regulations and laws designed to reduce driving fatigue and speeding, both of which are the most heavily cited factors in fatal truck crashes. To make things worse, the regulations controlling how long a commercial driver can work and drive, and the minimum amount of time the driver must rest, were weakened by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in 2003. The change increased the amount of time that a truck driver could work in a 7-8 day period by up to 40 percent and drive by nearly 30 percent.

Even with that increase, the paper logbooks used by truckers are widely falsified by truck drivers and their companies, according to research sponsored by FMCSA. One thing that could drastically improve compliance with laws and regulations are Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs), which can be installed on big trucks to show how long truck drivers have been at the wheels of their commercial motor vehicles. EOBRs can automatically record the hours that commercial operators drive trucks and motor coaches in interstate commerce. EOBRs can also link with engines, transmissions, and global positioning system (GPS) devices to record the distance a big truck has traveled, whether it has used an illegal route, and how fast it has gone.

Reasonable hours of service, better driver pay, enforceable truck size and weight limits, and greater real-time compliance capability could force shippers, receivers and carriers to become more efficient and more respectful of the professional driving workforce and all motorists who share the road with commercial vehicles. We encourage people to contact their elected Federal representatives to tell them to press for regulation requiring EOBRs in long haul trucks. In the meantime, SAVAGE & SAVAGE, P.A. will continue to help injured victims of commercial truck accidents recover the damages they have incurred.

Damages, in legal terms, are the costs for treatment of injuries, lost wages and other economic losses, and the monetary value of intangible harm such as pain and suffering. Under some circumstances, an injured person may be able to recover punitive, or exemplary damages, which are intended to punish malicious or reckless behavior and to deter such conduct in the future.

Economic Damages are those that can be measured in dollars, such as:

• » Medical expenses in the past
• » Medical Expenses that are probable in the future
• » Related expenses such as care giving, special equipment, and special housing
• » Lost wages in the past
• » Lost wages and/or Loss of Earning Capacity that are probable in the future
• » Attorney Fees (under some circumstances)
• » Property Damage

Non-Economic Damages are those values that are not so readily assessed in dollars, such as:

• » Disfigurement in the past and in the future
• » Physical Pain and Suffering in the past and in the future
• » Mental anguish in the past and in the future
• » Punitive or exemplary damages

For every personal injury client, SAVAGE & SAVAGE, P.A. provides a review of your earnings history for the past three years, with an emphasis on making sure that all wages due to you under the FLSA were paid. This provides essential information for proving your lost wages, and if we discover that you have been underpaid, we can assist you with a wage claim.

Many people are not aware of all of the avenues of recovery that may be available to them after an accident. SAVAGE & SAVAGE, P.A.’S experienced commercial truck accident attorney and his staff will fully investigate the accident to determine every party that may have liability, the insurance and assets of each liable party, and the insurance benefits you may be entitled to receive from your own insurance carrier. There may be avenues of recovery that you are unaware of or haven’t considered. Our goal is to make you aware of every type of compensation to which you may be entitled.

Medical providers may file liens for the costs incurred for medical care arising for treatment of the injury. An experienced personal injury attorney will help negotiate with the medical providers to try to reduce their charges and enable you to get the maximum benefit from your recovery.

Injured people often ask, “How much is the settlement in a truck accident case?” Even the most experienced personal injury lawyer cannot give you an easy answer to that question. Many factors affect the settlement value of a personal injury case. Within the total amounts that may exist from which to demand compensation, the settlement value of your case depends on your ability to prove liability, causation, and damages. SAVAGE AND SAVAGE, P.A.’s experienced personal injury attorneys have the knowledge and skill to investigate, prepare, present, negotiate, and try your case to try to obtain the maximum recovery you are entitled to receive. When Defendants know that you have an experienced attorney who is ready to take your case to trial, they are usually more open to serious negotiations. Contact us today for a free personal injury consultation.

You can rely on SAVAGE & SAVAGE, P.A. for effective representation and personal client service in all types of personal injury cases. To learn if we can be of assistance to you, please contact David L. Savage today for a free consultation. You pay nothing unless we win compensation for you.