Truck accidents, specifically those involving tractor-trailers, are sadly common on US roads. These accidents can cause catastrophic damage and injuries. If you find yourself involved in a tractor trailer crash, the experience can be traumatic and overwhelming. The sheer size and weight of a tractor trailer often result in devastating impacts compared to car-on-car accidents. Navigating the aftermath can be difficult, especially when dealing with injuries, property damage, and complex legal issues. This is where experienced personal injury attorneys like the team at Pinder Plotkin can guide you through the challenging journey of seeking justice and rightful compensation.
Table Of Contents:
- Understanding Tractor Trailer Crashes
- Navigating the Aftermath
- What To Expect If Your Case Goes To Trial
- Preventing Tractor-Trailer Crashes
- FAQs About Tractor-Trailer Crashes
- Conclusion
Understanding Tractor Trailer Crashes
Trailer accidents in Baltimore County can be catastrophic. These large and heavy vehicles can cause severe damage and injuries, especially if they collide with smaller vehicles or pedestrians. A tractor trailer crash differ greatly from car accidents. It is important to understand the causes of these accidents to protect yourself on the road and know what to do after one occurs.
Why Are Tractor-Trailer Crashes So Different?
Trash truck accidents can be catastrophic.The differences in size and weight are significant, with fully-loaded trucks weighing up to 80,000 pounds while a typical car only weighs around 4,000 pounds. Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show that passenger vehicle occupants made up 67% of all people killed in large truck crashes in 2020.
Large truck occupants made up only 15% of all those killed. This means your vehicle is much less protected in the event of a tractor-trailer crash, which will significantly affect injury severity. Additionally, these large trucks have longer stopping distances, larger blind spots, and are prone to rollovers due to their high center of gravity. When a truck crash happened, the outcome was devastating and deadly.
Causes of Tractor-Trailer Crashes
A number of factors cause these catastrophic accidents. Some common causes include:
- Driver Fatigue: The trucking industry involves long hours and pressure on truck drivers to deliver goods quickly. Sleep deprivation can lead to delayed reaction times and impaired judgment.
- Distracted Driving: Just like car drivers, truck drivers can be distracted by mobile phones, GPS devices, and even food and drink. This inattention leads to accidents.
- Speeding: Truckers driving over the speed limit or too fast for conditions puts other road users at risk.
- Driving Under the Influence: It is never okay to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Tractor-trailer drivers have even more responsibility given the nature of their cargo and the size of the vehicle they operate.
- Overloaded Trucks: Transporting too much cargo compromises a truck’s balance and stability, making it harder to handle.
- Improper Truck Maintenance: Regularly scheduled maintenance for trucks is important to avoid tire blowouts, brake failure, and mechanical malfunctions on the road.
- Inexperienced Drivers: The current driver shortage leads to trucking companies hiring underqualified drivers with little experience, ultimately increasing risk.
Navigating the Aftermath
Knowing what to do after a tractor trailer crash can mean the difference between fair compensation or being left with extensive medical bills and ongoing trauma. Here’s a step-by-step guide to what you should do if you’re in a tractor-trailer crash.
Step-by-Step After A Tractor-Trailer Crash:
- Make sure you and any passengers are safe. Move to a safe location away from the crash if possible.
- Call 911: It is crucial to report the crash immediately. It doesn’t matter how minor the accident appears, an official police report is important for any legal proceedings. Tell the operator the exact location of the crash, any injuries, and a brief description of what happened.
- Document Everything: Pictures are worth a thousand words, especially in a crash. Take detailed photos of the damage to all vehicles involved, road conditions, skid marks, and even injuries. Any visible signs like debris, road signs, and the immediate environment may help recreate the events that occurred.
- Exchange Information: Get information from all other drivers involved. This includes their full name, address, driver’s license number, insurance details, and phone number. Also, gather information on witnesses, including contact details.
- Seek Medical Attention: It’s critical to see a medical professional after a crash, even if you don’t think you are hurt. Some injuries, like whiplash, don’t present right away. Also, not seeking treatment could harm a future insurance claim, and seeking medical attention creates a record connecting the injuries to the crash.
- Notify Your Insurance: Reporting the accident to your insurer as quickly as possible starts the process. Provide a brief, accurate account of what happened without making any admissions of fault or accepting blame.
- Do not talk to insurance companies about the crash without legal advice. Also, refrain from discussing the case online and on social media as these companies will likely use those statements against you.
- Consult With An Attorney: Navigating personal injury claims is challenging, so consider contacting experienced tractor-trailer crash lawyers like those at Pinder Plotkin. They can handle complex legal aspects, negotiate with insurance companies, and help you get the compensation you deserve. Get free consultation to assess your case.
Why You Need a Truck Accident Lawyer
While not required, contacting an experienced lawyer for a tractor trailer crash is recommended. Why? Here’s what an experienced legal team brings to the table.
- Case Evaluation: Attorneys like those at Pinder Plotkin know tractor-trailer accidents. This expert evaluation means understanding whether your claim has legal merit, so you won’t waste time or money pursuing a dead end.
- Dealing with insurance: Lawyers handle communications, document requests, and negotiation. This frees you up to focus on recovering. They also understand insurance company tactics to limit compensation and fight for fair payouts.
- Evidence Gathering: Building a strong case takes experience. Tractor-trailer accidents may require a lot of evidence to prove liability. This includes black box data (ECM/EDR) analysis, truck logs, witness testimony, scene recreation.
- Proving Negligence: Winning your case hinges on proving negligence on the part of the truck driver or their company. Experienced legal teams have resources to get this evidence for your claim.
- Negotiating Settlements or Trial: An attorney skilled in negotiations may help get you a good settlement offer before going to trial, however, some claims require court proceedings to get fair compensation. In that situation, you want a legal team prepared to fight for you in court.
What To Expect If Your Case Goes To Trial
While a Baltimore tractor-trailer accident attorney may negotiate a fair settlement for your injuries, sometimes insurance companies will fight to limit payouts. Going to trial is sometimes unavoidable when that happens.
Going to Trial For A Tractor Trailer Crash:
Although every situation is different, most cases follow these general steps:
| Stage of Trial | What to Expect |
|---|---|
| Complaint Filing | This is where your attorney officially files the lawsuit and states your allegations against the other party involved, listing all damages. |
| Discovery: | This stage is where your attorney, as well as the other parties’ legal representation, collect information. This is where gathering documents, depositions of witnesses, and examination of evidence take place. |
| Mediation: | This is an attempt to resolve your claim through a mediator before a trial takes place. |
| Jury Selection: | If a settlement cannot be reached, the next stage is the actual trial where lawyers for both sides ask potential jurors questions to find those that can fairly and impartially weigh the facts of the case. |
| Opening Statements: | Lawyers on both sides state their legal positions on the case and lay out the evidence they will be presenting during the trial. |
| Presentation of Evidence: | Witnesses give sworn statements in court with lawyers on both sides presenting documents and experienced analysis to make their arguments to the jury. |
| Closing Arguments: | Lawyers summarize the evidence and reiterate why their arguments support their client’s case for compensation. |
| Jury Instructions: | Judges tell the jury about applicable legal issues and how they should apply the law when reviewing the evidence of your tractor-trailer crash to decide liability. |
| Jury Deliberations and Verdict: | Jurors decide together in a separate room if the at-fault driver acted negligently and assign a value of monetary compensation based on evidence and testimony heard during the trial. |
How long does a trial take?
Most tractor trailer crash cases going to trial will take anywhere from one day to two weeks or longer depending on the case.
Damages Awarded At Trial
Courts can award many types of damages in these cases depending on the evidence presented, including medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of income, property damage, and wrongful death. Punitive damages, which are designed to punish the at-fault party, are sometimes given when the negligence or wrongful act was malicious or grossly negligent.
Preventing Tractor-Trailer Crashes
Preventing a tractor trailer crash requires collaboration among trucking companies, government agencies, and individual drivers. Public awareness and changes in the trucking industry help prevent future crashes, which benefit everyone sharing our roads.
Regulations for Safer Roads:
While we know from the Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System that truck occupant and passenger vehicle occupant deaths have been steadily declining since 1975, those rates haven’t changed since 2009, leaving thousands dead and injured every year from these types of accidents. Increased enforcement and stricter regulations in the industry can continue that decline, resulting in safer roads.
Here are several ways that regulators, the government, and trucking companies can reduce truck accidents:
- Strengthen Hours of Service Regulations: Reducing allowable driving times and increasing rest periods can reduce accidents due to fatigue.
- Improve Training and Licensing: Enforce stringent requirements for entry-level driver training with a higher minimum number of hours of on-the-road training, and specialize this training for particular truck and cargo types. Additionally, trucking companies should also invest in more comprehensive ongoing training for existing drivers to update skills and improve safety.
- Crack Down On Distracted Driving: Increasing fines and implementing stricter penalties, including license suspension or revocation for violations will act as a deterrent to drivers.
- Mandate Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs): ELDs make sure trucking companies comply with regulations regarding hours of service rules for drivers and deter them from falsifying driver logbooks. Additionally, this makes monitoring driving and rest periods by authorities more transparent.
- Enforce Speed Limits: Invest in more technology that monitors truck speeds automatically, so enforcement is automatic, without dependence on police observation or presence.
- Increase Vehicle Inspections: Frequent and comprehensive vehicle safety inspections identify and fix issues like brake failure, tire problems, and faulty equipment to proactively keep trucks safely maintained.
- Promoting Driver Wellness Programs: Wellness initiatives including screenings for health conditions, such as sleep apnea that affect driving, plus confidential support programs will reduce driving while fatigued or driving while impaired as drivers have the support needed to maintain safe conditions for operating their rigs.
FAQs About Tractor-Trailer Crashes
Why are there so many tractor-trailer accidents?
Unfortunately, trucking companies often pressure drivers to meet tight deadlines while dealing with challenging work conditions. Driver fatigue and inexperience continue to contribute to these types of crashes.
What is the life expectancy of a tractor-trailer?
It varies by usage and model. While trucks have 10-15 year lifespan expectations, their service life greatly depends on factors like mileage, engine type, maintenance, and operational conditions.
What is the hardest part about driving a tractor-trailer?
Staying alert and managing fatigue tops most driver complaints given long hours, traffic congestion, tight delivery schedules, and being away from family for long stretches of time. Other reported challenges include driving in poor weather, navigating tight spaces, maneuvering during loading/unloading, reversing and parking, managing heavy cargo loads, constant route planning, and adjustments due to weather or other closures. Dealing with difficult motorists and public scrutiny is an additional pressure for professional drivers.
Conclusion
A tractor trailer crash is a serious incident. Most victims in tractor-trailer rear end collisions in Baltimore go to Maryland shock trauma. That trauma team has experiences in crash involving catastrophic injuries. The impact can change a person’s life because these events result in more damage and worse injuries compared to those caused in collisions involving only passenger cars. With that said, prevention is always better. While you may be a cautious driver, trucking companies and professional truckers share the road and they must act responsibly to protect other road users. But if you ever find yourself in a situation with injuries because of someone else’s negligence, the trusted attorneys at Pinder Plotkin can fight for your rights and guide you through the complexities of seeking justice.
