THE UNITED STATES – September 8, 2020 – Each year, there are approximately 500,000 commercial truck accidents in the United States. Sadly, these truck accidents often involve passenger vehicles resulting in severe personal injuries and deaths. The height, sized, and weight of commercial trucks, such as 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks, cause tremendous, life-threatening damage when involved […]
Experienced truck accident
THE UNITED STATES – September 8, 2020 – Each year, there are approximately 500,000 commercial truck accidents in the United States. Sadly, these truck accidents often involve passenger vehicles resulting in severe personal injuries and deaths. The height, sized, and weight of commercial trucks, such as 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks, cause tremendous, life-threatening damage when involved with passenger vehicles.
According to IIHS.org, more than 4,130 people were tragically killed in trucking accidents in 2018. Sixty-seven percent of those killed in a truck accident were passengers in passenger vehicles, 16 percent were passengers in large trucks, and 15 percent were bicyclists, pedestrians, or motorcyclists. The number of fatalities grew by 31 percent from 2009 to 2018.
If you or a loved one have been harmed in a truck accident, determining and proving liability is essential if you or your loved one wants to pursue compensation for injuries and accident-related damages. Trucking accidents are complex cases, and the amount of truck accident insurance coverage required by law is substantial. According to the USDOT, minimum insurance coverage for small commercial trucks begins at $750,000. The coverage requirement mandated by federal law reaches as much as $5,000,000 in minimum coverage depending on the type of transport vehicle. Therefore, large, commercial truck accidents are rigorously defended by trucking companies and their trucking insurance carriers.
Determining liability in commercial truck accidents is far more complex than in typical traffic accidents involving passenger vehicles because the liability could involve more than just the at-fault driver. In a trucking accident case involving personal injuries and/deaths, there may be several defendants, including the operator, the vehicle owner, the trucking company that employs the truck driver, the truck’s manufacturer, and the distribution company loaded the cargo onto the truck.
The most critical step in a truck accident case is the initial accident investigation. All-important accident evidence must be secured, insurance policies are reviewed for deadlines, and eyewitnesses are interviewed. All necessary evidence, witness statements, insurance coverages, medical records, and other crucial accident information will help your attorney identifying you or your loved one’s damages. There are usually three kinds of damages in a trucking accident, property damages, minor injury damages, and major injury damages.
Handling the truck accident case requires years of legal experience due to state and federal trucking regulations’ complexities. It is also essential that the victims focus on healing and taking care of their personal affairs as their legal representation handles their claim. Your truck accident attorney should be handling all of the communication between you and the insurance companies involved in your case. Insurance companies will attempt to conduct a recorded interview with the claimant to record statements that could be used to stall or deny a claim.
