Truck crashes happen for a variety of reasons. Many of them are the same reasons that cause car crashes, like speeding, distracted driving and drunk driving.

There are also issues unique to commercial trucks, like overloaded trailers and drivers who’ve exceeded the number of hours they’re legally permitted to drive. Any driver can cause an accident when they’re too tired to drive safely, but there are federal laws in place that regulate how many hours per day and days per week truck drivers may drive.

When you’re involved in a truck crash, you’re far more likely to be injured than the truck driver. The reason for this is simple: you don’t have the protective barrier that the trucker has from their truck. A tractor trailer is much larger, heavier and more powerful than your car, and that means your car can easily be crushed under the truck, pushed into oncoming traffic or trapped between the truck and a median or guardrail.

A few types of injury you can suffer in a crash with a commercial truck include:

• Broken Bones
• Soft Tissue Injuries
• Burns
• Cuts
• Brain And Spinal Cord Injuries
• Scars And Bruising

It’s possible to be permanently disabled by a truck accident injury. It’s also possible to suffer complications that put your health and life at risk, like excessive bleeding from a cut or crippling anxiety from the experience of being involved in a truck crash.

How you seek compensation for your truck collision losses depends on the circumstances at play in your case. If you’re a Kentucky resident, you are generally required to carry personal injury protection (PIP) coverage and use this coverage to pay for your injury-related expenses unless you choose to waive your PIP coverage, in which case you can file a personal injury claim any time you are injured in an accident. In Indiana, a personal injury claim is often your only option.

When you file a personal injury claim, you seek compensation from the insurance provider for the party who caused the crash. In a truck accident case, this could be the driver’s own motor carrier insurance provider or their employer’s insurance provider. After the collision, exchange insurance information with the truck driver so you know where to file your claim. Your lawyer can help you understand the policy and get your claim paperwork started.

One main cause is driver fatigue. These guys are driving long distances, sometimes longer than they should, sometimes on less sleep than they should. Fatigue can definitely result in wrecks. The second cause would be alcohol or drug use, followed by poor training, and speeding. Keep in mind that while a car could legally be doing 70 miles an hour down the highway, semis are usually required to set their maximum speed lower than that. If they are doing the same speed that a car is doing down the highway, particularly in rainy conditions, this can often lead to wrecks. Finally, there’s distracted drivers. Whether it is the driver of the truck or the other vehicle who is distracted, distracted driving is never a good thing on the roadway. Read More

Contact Emery Law Office today to schedule your free consultation.