Calling in a Truck Accident Lawyer

A truck accident lawyer can help individuals who have been involved in collisions involving semis or other commercial vehicles. Those large rigs seen on freeways and streets are unfortunately responsible for multiple automobile crashes. There are several reasons for this including weariness of the drivers, improper driving practices, an unbalanced load, poor road conditions and visibility concerns. Here are some things to think about when thinking about hiring a truck accident lawyer.

-How large are these vehicles? Commercial rigs vary in size, but typical ones include tankers, eighteen wheelers, freight or dump trucks and those that make deliveries.

- What do these trucks have in common? One thing that all these truckers have in common is that they are on a tight schedule. Whatever is being hauled is being waited for at the end of the drivers’ destinations. If the products are late, this can affect bottom line, customer satisfaction and whether or not the trucker will get to haul for that customer again.

- Owner operated or employed by a business: Many truck drivers own their truck and haul cargo for a living. They are an owner operated small business. In order to pay car payments, insurance, gas and maintenance, they have to make a certain amount of cash trucking goods to and fro. The faster they can do this without taking breaks, the more money they can make.

They’re just trying to make a living but unfortunately, sometimes the “bottom line” is in conflict with safety. If drivers are employed by a trucking company, they are also on a tight schedule to make quotas and keep everybody happy.

- Weight of a load: Cargo must be kept to a certain weight and must be evenly distributed, as well. Too heavy of a load or one that’s unbalanced can cause the vehicle to malfunction, not brake effectively and swerve out of control. Weighing stations are positioned along highways to make sure that truckers are adhering to these regulations for safety. Unfortunately, sometimes errors in judgment and payload happen.

- Road conditions: Collisions become more likely if road conditions are hazardous. This may be due to weather conditions or the particular stretch of highway. Icy or wet streets are slippery and dangerous. Hilly terrain is also treacherous to travel for these heavy rigs and can result in braking snafus and out of control trucks. Many freeways have pull off lanes for runaway rigs specifically for this reason.

- Visibility: The driver’s visibility of the huge rigs can be a concern. Where a car’s operator can see around nearly every surrounding space except for a relatively small “blind spot,” trucks are so large that their “blind spots” are much broader. Mirrors are in place to help with this visibility issue but it isn’t a perfect solution. Motorists traveling close to trucks aren’t always aware of this important consideration.

If cars have collisions with trucks, it can be a devastating experience. These large semis weigh many times what the typical automobile weighs. Slamming into a rig this huge can have devastating consequences. Calling in a truck accident lawyer to sort out the situation is advised.