Semi-Trucks, is also known as big rigs or tractor-trailers, are large trucks that are a supply network for American businesses. Although necessary, semi-trucks are dangerous when they are operated by negligent drivers. Since semi-trucks weighs much heavier than passenger vehicles, a semi-truck accident can be deadly or cause severe injuries for passenger cars.
California is the central highlight of automobile culture in the United States. In Los Angeles, a vast amount of companies are in demand of truck drivers to meet their quota for delivery services, at the proper time. This tends to make truck drivers impatient and overwhelmed while traveling up and down the state. This urgency can unfortunately leave truck drivers to encounter drastic accidents on the road.
Common injuries associated with large semi-truck accidents are as follows:
Truck accidents are by far one of the most brutal forms of motor vehicle collisions an individual or family member can encounter. This in essences requires a heightened level of skill and expertise to successfully litigate. Frequently, due to this fact, the law mandates that many different forms of insurance are required for a truck driver. Some of the types of insurance include leasing insurance, 3rd-party coverage, hazardous materials, and more. This enables many insurance companies to creating issues in a lack of liability coverage for truck driver in order to decrease avoiding the responsibilities.
An experienced Truck Accident Lawyer knows how to handle the irresponsible insurance companies and their tricks. When an insurance company does not abide by its duty to compensate those who are covered by their policy, a Truck Accident Attorney can punish insurance companies by pursuing punitive damages based on an Insurance Bad Faith Claim, which an attorney can issue on your behalf.
Big Rig Truck Accident Facts
Truck accidents have a reputation of leading individuals and families into fatal grave injuries and in many cases death.
Below indicated statistics regarding Truck Accidents in the United States:
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FNCSA) states that the most common types of accidents involving large truck on U.S. roads are as follows:
If you have sustained a truck accident and want to receive just compensation for the injuries endured, the victim attorney will have to prove the defendant driver was negligent in his or her driving capacity, or there was failure in properly maintaining the truck by the company.
A majority of truck accident lawsuits are solely based on filing negligence based on the cause of action against driver. There are a several elements in proving the negligence of truck accidents in a lawsuit.
Negligence is usually established through any of the facts described below:
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration there are an estimate 5,000 large trucks involving fatal crashes. Average shows that more than 13% of all traffic deaths are the result from large truck accidents. California experiences that second largest amount of truck accident deaths, behind only to the state of Texas. Nearly 7.5% of all truck accidents leading to fatalities took place in our state.
Under California Civil Code Statutes a cause of action for wrongful death may be brought by the deceased domestic partner, individual spouse, and children. If there is no surviving issue of the deceased individual then the suite may be brought forth by, “the persons, including the surviving spouse or domestic partner, who would be entitled to the property of the decedent by intestate succession.”
A magnitude of individuals and families lose their life in a Truck Accident every year, leaving family, children, parents and siblings behind without their loved ones. Tragically, in an instance tractor trailer accidents can leave an entire family involved to devastating death. A wrongful death lawsuit claims that the victim was killed because of a negligent by a defendant. A wrongful death claim in common law jurisdiction has been specifically made due to a loophole where a person cannot file a lawsuit if he or she is technically dead.
United States including the state of California permit relatives of deceased to file civil lawsuits against negligent defendant. Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section -377.60-377.62, it profusely states that a wrongful death cause of action can be brought on behalf of the decadent by “The decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children, or, if there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the persons, including the surviving spouse or domestic partner, who would be entitled to the property of the decedent by intestate succession.”
Generally, jackknife accidents occur when a truck’s drive wheels lock as the truck approaches a slick spot. The trailer continues to roll forward, causing the driver to lose control and the trailer to swing out to one side. Locking the drive axles commonly results in jackknife accidents. Jackknifing usually take place when the Tractor-Trailer truck, usually a truck carrying a heavy load, folds into itself. It resembles a folding clamp or knife. Any vehicles caught in between the folding truck will be in great danger of serious bodily harm or even death.
Another dangerous posed by trucks on roads is a Rollovers. A Rollover is a type of vehicle crash in which a vehicle tips over onto its side or roof. Rollovers have a higher fatality rate than other types of vehicle collisions. Rollovers can happen for many reasons that are often tied due to the negligence of the driver, or the company he or she works for. Rollovers will often lead to the crushing of the car that does not have enough time to escape the incoming tragedy.
Commonly, the cause and/or contributing factors, to vehicle rollovers is Tripping. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 95 percent of all rollover accidents happen when one of your vehicle’s tires strikes something that interrupts the motion of your vehicle and causes it to pitch forward or sideways into roll. Rollover Accidents are a serious matter leading to grave bodily harm and in many cases death of the passenger and driver of the vehicle.
Over the past several years statistics have indicated that each year, that close to 100,000 victims are injured in large truck accidents. Unfortunately, these circumstances can certainly be avoidable. Driving safety on the road should be everyone’s number one priority. Just because of someone else’s negligence done by one person or another, these truck accidents result in billions of dollars in estimated costs every year.
If you or family member has been involved in a tragic truck accident, it’s vital you’ll need the contact information of everyone involved. Every individual should exchange insurance information and be prepared for follow up action at a later date. Not to forget, you could end up with thousands of dollars of expenses due to lost work hours and high medical bills, depending on the severity of incident. You may ponder on how you are going to be able to return to your job, how are you going to afford your bills, and how can you take care of your family?
Below are the first five steps our truck accident attorneys suggest you need to take after a collision with your car.
Many victims think they are familiar with current injury laws and their rights. However, chances are, like many individuals, we are not proficient. In that event, you need an experienced Truck Accident attorney on your side. If you are a victim and someone else is at fault, there’s a good chance you will be offered a settlement from the insurance company representing the person at fault. That settlement may seem like a good deal at the time, but chances are it is offered with the insurance company’s interests in mind, not yours.
Based on the specifications of your case – the details of the accident, how severe your injury was, it is ultimately going to determine what you could be entitled to sustain based on your case. However, what you can be compensated for if your case prevails can often be put into several different categories.
The categories of compensation can include:
Medical bills: Should you win your case, you could be awarded compensation for medical bills you’ve had to pay as a result of your injury. This includes both past and future bills stemming from the injury, and can potentially cover expenses such as transport or in-home rehabilitation services.
Lost wages: Lost wages can be awarded if your injury has caused significant missed time at work, or has made you unable to perform your job. You could be entitled to even more lost wages if the injury leaves you permanently disabled and unable to find consistent work.
Pain and suffering: In some cases, the damages endured from physical pain and emotional suffering can be compensated to pay for therapy treatments.
Punitive damages: Punitive damages are awarded in more extreme cases, wherein the injury was caused by someone’s recklessness. They are awarded to try and dissuade the defendant and others from acting with that level of recklessness again.
Contact an experienced Semi Truck Accident attorney to schedule a free, no obligation initial case evaluation at (310) 894-6440. Our Truck Accident attorney will help protect your rights. And remember, You Don’t Pay until You Win, or You Don’t Pay At All!
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