Dallas Truck Injury Law Firm
Are you or your family members victims of a truck accident? Trucks are massive, and when they're speeding, they become highly momentous behemoths that can deliver a shattering force on the victim. Not only is trucking harder to control, but it is also generally riskier than cars. The Dallas truck accident lawyers are here to help.
In any given year, about 400,000 commercial trucks, semi-trucks, and trailers get involved in minor and major motor vehicle accidents involving other passenger vehicles or commercial motor vehicle operators. This number is enough to suggest that unless handled well, trucks can be very dangerous on the road. Even a slight error of judgment can hurt someone, can bring about a fatal crash. Severe injuries, heavy financial losses, and even fatalities are not unheard of in such cases.
To cut it short: truck accidents are messy. Truck accident claims are a real concern for insurance adjusters as well, especially when commercial vehicles are involved.
Our truck accident attorneys can help you with your claim and seek fair compensation for injuries from truck incidents and all that you had to endure because of a trucking accident in Texas. They can help with your insurance company claim as well.
Why Do Truck Accidents Happen In Dallas, Texas?
Dallas truck accidents often result due to the recklessness of simple error of judgment on part of the driver. However, other factors can and, oftentimes, do play a part in causing such a disaster. In most cases, it is the truck driver who is at fault.
This can be further affirmed by checking out some of the most common reasons for truck accidents in Dallas, Texas:
Over-Speeding: If the driver takes the truck beyond the legal speed limit, then assigning the blame for an accident will not be complicated at all. There are many types of trucks out there, with lots of technical issues. An over-speeding truck carries enormous momentum, thus stopping it in time to avoid a collision is much harder than in the case of a car. Moreover, trucks traveling at high speeds can deliver bone-shattering force to the person who becomes the victim, and such accidents often become lethal.
Carrying Heavy Payloads: If the truck was overburdened at the time of the accident, then controlling it would've been much more troublesome than otherwise. In such cases, the trucking companies are held responsible, and this is usually the company owner (because it is the company that sets and implements policies about loading).
Distracted Driving: Since truckers spend most of their days on the road, trucking, they tend to busy themselves with stuff while driving. Most don't even consider it a bad thing, even though distracted driving is one of the leading causes of automobile accidents in the world. Earing or texting, while driving has led to countless car crashes- and this logic translates perfectly for trucks as well.
Drunk Driving: This is not usually the case with truck drivers but it can happen. If the driver is intoxicated and has a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or more, then he can't be trucking, at least not legally. The consequences of driving under the influence are dire to the trucker as a person, but also to their professional life. The truck companies must assure that their drivers are perfectly perceptive of their surroundings before sending them to work.
Mechanical Failure: Did the truck not stop in time even though the driver pressed hard against the brakes, and that should've been enough to avoid the collision. Sometimes, it is not the driver who causes the accident, but rather there are technical issues with the vehicle in question. The company is responsible for maintaining these vehicles and ensuring that they stay in peak shape, but if these duties were overlooked and this negligence resulted in a trucking accident, the company will be troubled waters.
Drowsy Driving: This can happen both ways, but if a truck driver is drowsy, it may either be because he seeks to maximize profits even when it means endangering his and others' lives, or it may be due to the unprofessional working policies of the trucking company. All this may result in a severe crash. In either case, the victim may sue for recklessness and risky behavior of the responsible party.
Highway Hypnosis: This term has been popularized recently, and it refers to a blankness or trance-like state of the mind during long and usually eventless journeys. Thus when something does happen, it may catch the driver's mind off-guard, resulting in a delayed response.
Compromised Road Safety: Perhaps the road condition was somehow correlated to the trucking accident, and if that is the case, you can sue the government (the state) for its negligence leading to the accident.
These are but a handful of examples, trucking accidents can happen in any number of ways, even the most unexpected ones. However, being on the receiving end of such a high-impact force is not something you're likely to forget anytime soon.
Seeking financial compensation in such cases is your right, and our personal injury lawyers in Dallas can help you do just that.
Trucks Are More Likely To Cause Accidents In Dallas – But Why?
Why are trucks so dangerous? First of all: since trucks are massive in size and have to carry heavy loads, handling them is no walk in the park. Things are further complicated by the cruel working hours of the truck drivers on these commercial vehicles, or by the greed of certain workers who get paid by mileage.
And since truck drivers are almost always in a rush because of their deadlines, over-speeding is also very frequent in the case of a crash. Over-burdening the vehicle is another problem that we see in abundance where truck wrecks are involved.
The combined risk factors of the vehicle themselves and its abuse are enough to render them much more likely to cause a trucking accident.
Who Is To Blame For Truck Accidents Texas?
Assigning the blame in trucking accidents is not as hard as with other types. In most of the truck crashes, it is the trucker who's at fault, but this may not be true every time. Since these accidents can happen due to any number of reasons, assigning the fault should not be rushed.
Once you hire them, competent personal injury attorneys will go through every detail of the accident, analyze every segment of the event, causality, and results, before assigning blame.
Here are the parties who may be responsible for a trucking accident that was not your fault:
The Driver
If the trucker showed any signs of recklessness or negligence, or was violating the traffic laws, then there will be no doubt as to who was at fault. An error of judgment, intoxication, negligence, or sleep deprivation may result in serious accidents, and in all of these cases, the driver is the one to blame primarily.
The Company/Owner
Managing a truck fleet is not simple but that's no excuse for compromising on the safety standards of one's trucks. Trucking companies must ensure that their fleet is in top-notch condition and that the drivers are all well trained and show apt professionalism.
If the driver at fault turns out to have had a troubled record, then the employer will also be dragged in to share the blame. The same may happen if the company failed to load the cargo appropriately, or overburdened the truck, or created an inhumane schedule for the drivers leaving no room for rest. In short: if the company's actions, in any manner, contributed to the accident, then you can sue them as well.
The Manufacturer
Faulty or subpar brake systems can often lead to devastating results. As with every other vehicle, trucks too, need to uphold certain quality standards. If the manufacturer failed to ensure a “fault-free” assembly for their trucks, then they too will share the blame for any accidents or mishaps that result from these defects. Lawyers often hire personal investigators to build a solid foundation for such claims before factoring them in your case.
If you were not at fault for the accident and had to suffer through excruciating pain and financial burdens because of it, you should not delay calling a lawyer immediately. Don't waste time pondering whether it will be worth contacting a legal firm: there's no harm in giving someone a call.
Personal injury lawyers can not only help you establish a sound standing for your case, but also help you during any settlement negotiations, ensuring that you get fair compensation. If things don't work out with dialogue, you always have the option of taking matters to the court.
Types of Injuries Resulting From Trucking Accidents
Putting aside the grim reality that wrongful deaths are quite common in trucking accidents, let's explore some of the common injuries that truck accident victims will have to endure..
At the top of the list is whiplash, which, in case you don't know, is a sudden jerking of the neck resulting in enormous pain. While the agony resides within the muscle mass, it is intense and can linger for days at a time. Then there are traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, bruising, lacerations, internal bleeding, damage to internal organs, broken bones, and so on.
At the more far end of suffering, there's amputation, permanent disfiguration, burns, shattered bones (not just broken but rather shattered into small, sharp fragments), and paralysis (possibly permanent).
Since the momentum of a truck traveling at high speeds is frighteningly high, you can expect some serious beating in case of an accident involving something this huge.
Wrongful deaths often result from trailer accidents as the human body can only take so much before giving in. Thus the loss of consortium and with it, the joy of your life, is damage that can never be truly repaid.
But even if a victim survives, the pain and agony of injuries sustained will be overwhelming in most cases. Thus taking a stand for your rights, there and then maybe a bit out of question. Normally, you'd exchange information with the other driver, but this may not be possible with fractures and serious brain injuries.
If you were indeed incapacitated, then all that you can do is to hope that a bystander goes the information and hands it over to you when you come to your senses in a hospital. Just a PS, in most such cases, seeking medical assistance can't be delayed at all.
Thus, contacting a truck accident injury lawyer as soon as you feel a bit better is not just a “good idea,” it is imperative for successfully claiming fair compensation for your losses.
Seeking Financial Compensation For Damages Caused By A Truck Accident
The damages resulting from personal injury cases such as automobile crashes can be summed up in two categories: economic and non-economic losses. Economic damages encompass all the financial losses that you had to face in the form of medical bills, lost wages, loss of ability to work (disability), property damages, and extra/special expenses.
These are easy to calculate, just keep a hold on all of your expenses and sum them up, it's that simple.
However, the next part is tricky because there's no price tag for how much pain you felt. Pain and suffering cannot be measured quantitatively and there is no means of visualizing them either. This means that assigning a number here is trickier, and it's even harder to get the insurance adjuster to agree to your final sum.
Usually, lawyers assign a multiple, as big as five for the total of your economic loss. This multiple depends on the intensity of suffering that you had to sustain because of the accident. Usually, it lies around 3, however, in severe cases, it may be 5 (for catastrophic injuries).
The insurance companies may try to downplay your anguish in a pathetic attempt to cut down the sum they must pay you. But if you can prove the extent of your pain (it is reflective of your physical condition and the medical reports), then you need not back up even an inch.
If the insurers are being inflexible and uncaring, as they almost always do, ask your attorney to take matters to a court of law through personal injury lawsuits against all responsible parties.
The Glenn Law Firm Will Help You Claim A Fair Settlement For Your Losses
The only thing worse than having to go through such agonizing times is having to do so with a reptilian hearted insurance adjuster whose thick-skinned excuse of a human form knows not the meaning of your pain and suffering.
Insurance companies couldn't care less about your misery.
This is where the professional legal team of the Glenn Law Firm comes forward. We have a reputation for exceeding our client's expectations, helping with their claim, and delivering the best we can, consistently, and without fail.
Since you don't have to pay a cent for our efforts (we work on a contingency fee basis), nothing's keeping you from picking up your phone and giving us a call at 817-424-5999 or contact us online!