Truck Accident “turkey”

Let’s talk turkey about truck accidents. These aren’t just any run of the mill trucks that you see hauling lumber for the new deck or pulling the family boat to the lake for the weekend. These trucks are a little bit heavier, bigger and cause a whole lot more damage when they crash.

Specifically, the term “truck accident” refers to crashes involving everything from ambulances to 18-wheelers. These trucks weigh in at around 10,000 pounds to start with. Once you load up an 18-wheeler with cargo, its weight can be closer to 70,000 pounds. Even empty, that makes for a very unwieldy vehicle.

Now, put a truck that weighs that much on a highway going at least 55 mph. When something goes wrong, like a tire blowout or the driver drifting off to sleep, nothing but bad can happen next. Truth be told, large trucks can cause thousands of dollars in damage even if they are involved in an accident on surface streets.

Truck drivers are frequently pushed to meet unreasonable deadlines with an attractive financial incentive when they do. The promise of extra money moves many long-haul truck drivers to take what can be dangerous short cuts. Short cuts such as over-loading or improperly loading their rig can lead to even more instability in turns and stops. Many truckers will spend more hours driving than rules and regulations allow for. Naturally, this can lead to drifting off or falling asleep at the wheel. Still other drivers will forego safety checks and drive trucks that aren’t mechanically sound or have loads that aren’t properly secured.

All too often, damage caused in truck accidents includes serious injury or death to the passengers in the other vehicles involved. When the surviving family members try to determine who to hold accountable, they can run into a wall of people passing the buck. If the driver doesn’t own the rig they were driving, they will refer the victim’s representatives to the owner who may pass them on to the insurance company who may decide to involve their attorneys so they can settle the claim for as little as possible. It can just get ridiculous. No layman should even attempt to deal with the parties involved in a truck accident.

When it comes to filing a claim for damages in a truck accident, your best bet is to immediately involve your own attorney. Be sure, though, that your attorney has the experience and resources to deal with the wide range of drivers, owners, insurance companies and opposing attorneys that are part of the truck accident. Being in a truck accident is traumatic enough on its own. Don’t add to the stress and strain by thinking you have to settle your claim on your own. Leave that to the professionals.