Types of truck accidents

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a single semi-truck travels an average of almost 65,000 miles annually. The American Trucking Associations reports that approximately almost 4 million tractor-trailers were in operation in 2020. That equals over 175 billion miles traveled by these trucks every year. Approximately 500,000 truck accidents occur yearly.

Unfortunately, drivers and passengers in personal automobiles often sustain severe or fatal injuries in collisions involving big trucks. Accident survivors can face astronomical medical bills and extended recovery times; they sometimes also must live with long-term injuries and their consequences.

Insurance claims for truck accident victims are murky because many parties may be held liable for the crash. The legal team at Fielding Law understands the complexity of truck accident claims and can guide truck accident survivors through the process.

What Makes Truck Accidents So Serious?

Semi-trucks are huge. At an average length of 72 feet and the legal gross weight being 80,000 pounds, the massive size of trucks makes them difficult to maneuver. Their weight makes them take a long time to stop, almost twice as long as a passenger car traveling at the same speed.

Personal automobiles are much smaller and lighter than tractor-trailers and don’t stand much of a chance in crashes involving trucks.

What Are Common Truck Accidents?

Trucks can cause accidents that passenger cars can’t, simply due to a truck’s structure and size.

Head-On Collisions

Any vehicle can cause head-on collisions. However, if a truck is involved, its height comes into play. Because a truck’s cab is higher off the ground than most passenger vehicles’ overall height, the truck can crush a car’s engine compartment and travel into the passenger compartment; this is often fatal to drivers and front-seat passengers.

Under-Ride and Rear-End Collisions

In both of these situations, the truck’s distance from the ground comes into play. Like head-on collisions, in rear-end collisions, trucks can crush automobile trunks and drive over the car.

In under-ride accidents, another vehicle runs into the truck’s rear. Because the bottom of the trailer is high off the ground, the car may travel under the truck’s trailer and become wedged.

Rollovers and Cargo Problems

Trucks haul heavy cargo, which must be loaded properly for stability. The weight should be distributed evenly, and the goods secured against shifting. At times, trucks carry more than the legal weight of cargo. Loads that are too heavy or improperly loaded can shift and overbalance a truck, causing the driver to lose control.

Many times, cargo problems cause trucks to roll over, sometimes landing on and crushing nearby cars. After landing on its side, the truck can slide because of its momentum, hitting additional vehicles.

Cargo can come loose and be thrown from trucks even if there’s no collision, hitting other vehicles and creating roadway obstacles that other drivers might not be able to avoid. Hazardous materials thrown from or spilling from trucks can harm people who are close to the spill.

Determining who is liable for these types of accidents is complicated. In fact, multiple parties are often responsible. Your truck accident lawyer from Fielding Law knows how to wade through the facts and evidence to obtain maximum compensation from the responsible parties.

Jackknifes

A semi-truck consists of two separate but connected parts: the cab and the trailer. The cargo’s weight sometimes pushes the trailer into the cab at a 90-degree angle if the driver brakes hard. The trailer can’t slow as quickly as the cab because of forward momentum. When this happens, drivers can lose control of the truck and hit or slide into other vehicles.

Tire Blowouts

A truck’s weight when loaded requires lots of wheels to carry that weight. If even one tire blows, the trailer can lose its stability and cause the driver to lose control of the truck. Drivers have difficulty regaining control of out-of-control trucks, often colliding with nearby cars and severely injuring or killing their occupants.

No Man’s Land

Tractor trailers’ blind spots are so broad that they’re given a name: No Man’s Land. Drivers can’t see vehicles or other obstacles in No Man’s Land. Because of this, they might hit surrounding vehicles.

Unfortunately, insurance companies try to avoid paying damages. Your truck accident attorney from Fielding Law will aggressively fight insurance companies on your behalf to negotiate the maximum compensation you deserve.

What Damages Might You Recover?

Damages resulting from truck accidents fall into two categories: economic and non-economic. As you can imagine, economic damages are those compensating for actual expenses created by your injuries. Valid economic damages can include medical bills, related medical expenses, rehabilitation, therapy, the cost of hiring people to assist you with things you aren’t able to do, childcare and vehicle repairs or replacement.

Non-economic damages aren’t as cut and dried. Often, truck accident survivors deal with more than just physical injuries; mental and emotional struggles often follow traumatic incidents such as truck crashes. Non-economic damages, or pain and suffering, compensate victims for these very real but invisible issues.

Pain and suffering compensation can be awarded for:

• The humiliation and stress caused by permanent disfigurement
• Emotional and mental distress, including anxiety and depression
• The inability to enjoy life
• Permanent disability and inability to work
• Loss of consortium, which refers to the deterioration of family relationships, including the loss of conjugal relations and affection
• Suffering caused by physical pain

Because these things aren’t necessarily visible, insurance companies can and do try to say they’re not real, or that you don’t suffer from them. Proving that you do experience these things requires extensive evaluations of your condition by physicians and mental health professionals who are willing to testify on your behalf. Investigators will research how you lived your life before the crash and compare it with the way you live now.

Your lawyer from Fielding Law believes that you deserve compensation for pain and suffering. We will use our extensive resources to help you obtain these damages.

Why Should You Hire Fielding Law?

Truck accident survivors face an uphill battle on their road to recovery. Their sometimes-severe injuries can take a long time to recover from, and some victims never fully recover. If you suffered injuries due to a truck accident, Fielding Law wants to shoulder some of your burdens and help you through this difficult time.

We’ll begin by assessing your case during a free initial consultation. Your personal injury attorney will give you options and possible outcomes. If you hire us, we will:

• Give you the personal attention that you deserve
• Thoroughly investigate the facts surrounding your accident, finding evidence to support your claim
• Submit paperwork for you, such as your insurance claims and government or legal documents
• Be your spokesperson with investigators
• Use our knowledge and experience to negotiate a fast and fair settlement with insurance companies
• Take the responsible parties to court if a satisfactory settlement isn’t offered

We’ll be with you every step of the way during your claims process, and you’ll always have personal access to your attorney. Someone is available to speak to you 24/7.

We’re so confident in our ability to obtain maximum compensation for you that you won’t pay us any fees unless we win. That’s no risk for you with the potential of excellent rewards.

Let us go to work for you today. Speak to us by calling (877) 880-4090, reach out by live chat or request your free evaluation using our online form.