Large commercial trucks account for an inordinate number of serious injuries and deaths on America’s highways. For example, they are responsible for 12 percent of all traffic fatalities yet account for only 7 percent of vehicle miles driven. Worse, drivers and passengers in cars suffer the vast majority of injures when they collide with large trucks due to the size and weight differences between the two types of vehicles. In truck-car collisions, 98 percent of victims killed were the people in the cars.
Not only are the consequences of truck-car crashes frequently more devastating than those involving two cars, the two types of accidents differ legally as well. Unfortunately, many personal injury attorneys do not have the experience to adequately address the differences between the laws concerning truck-car crashes and two-car collisions.
At Hensley│Chalfant, we know the trucking industry, the regulations that govern it and the schemes trucking companies employ to try to avoid being held accountable for their negligence, or that of their drivers. We know the right questions to ask, the correct areas to investigate, and how to obtain maximum compensation for our clients.
What you are up against in cases involving commercial truck-car accidents
Some of the most common causes of trucking accidents include:
- Driver fatigue
- Inadequate driver training
- Overloaded and/or oversized trucks
- Improper maintenance involving brakes, safety systems, lights, under-right protection and more
- Driving in adverse conditions
- Speeding (over 25 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2004 had at least one prior conviction for speeding)
- Aggressive driving behavior/road rage
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Knowing what causes trucking catastrophes is one thing. An attorney has to be able to prove negligence, and overcome the trucking companies’ strategies to prevent access to key evidence. For example, trucking companies make it very difficult to obtain log books, maintenance records, driver training records, drug and alcohol tests, and more. And while large trucking companies typically use on-board computers and satellite communication systems capable of generating vast amounts of data that can serve as valuable evidence, the technology companies that provide these services to the trucking industry generally delete this information from their own computers within 14 to 30 days. This leaves the only source of such potentially invaluable evidence in the hands of the trucking companies themselves. Unfortunately, this data can be easily modified, and it is extremely difficult and expensive to prove the data has been altered.
Another factor to consider is that trucking companies invariably take immediate action following a crash to protect their interests. A claims investigator hired by defense attorneys is dispatched to the scene within an hour or so to look for any type of evidence favorable to the defense—and perhaps make evidence of culpability mysteriously vanish in the confusion following the wreck. Attorneys who represent the trucking companies also tend to offer victims a settlement that seems enticing at first but is far less than what the victims would receive if the true nature of the accident and the extent of negligence came out in open court.
All of this means that if you have been in an accident with a commercial truck, you must contact an attorney immediately, before key evidence is lost, and you should only consult an experienced, aggressive firm like Hensley│Chalfant. We know how to find the evidence, preserve it, properly interpret it and then put it to work for you to get all the compensation you are entitled to. Don’t settle for any law firm. Contact Hensley│Chalfant today!