Those involved in trucking accidents can greatly benefit from having a lawyer following the incident. This is because accidents that involve commercial trucks are handled very differently than accidents involving other automotive vehicles like cars and motorcycles. Lawyers trained specifically in trucking accidents know the specific rules, regulations, and laws that involve semi trailer-tractor rigs.
There are many reasons why truck drivers might actually be more at risk than those driving small cars. While there are always distractions on the road, and poor driving skills or driving negligence of automobiles around any kind of driver, truck drivers also have to deal with managing fatigue while driving long hours. Their jobs are imperative to getting goods and materials where they need to go, but with a heavy cost. These automobiles are very large, and when involved in a collision, can cause a massive tragedy.
The size and weight of these automobiles themselves can make them dangerous for truck drivers to manage and at times poorly loaded freight can fall off an injure someone driving behind or near the semi-truck. These commercial vehicles, again, can cause serious collisions and bodily injury to those nearby and the truck driver themselves.
Here are three reasons you might want to think about having a truck accident attorney involved in a trucking accident case.
1. It could be the broker’s fault
Accidents with commercial trucks are sometimes due to faulty brokers. A truck accident attorney can look at the following information to see if the broker was liable: looking at dispatch records to understand how much control the broker had over the driver. A broker uses computer tracking software to track the movement of trucks, so that data will be analyzed for a case as well.
2. It could be the fault of poorly maintained vehicles
During a case involving injury from semi truck accident, a truck accident lawyer would look at things like: if the tires were worn or defective, if other pieces of the truck’s equipment, like brakes and axles, were defective, and how the maintenance logs were updated and kept.
3. Driver fatigue and rest protocols
When looking at cases involving trucking accidents, another factor that will be looked at it driver fatigue. There are state laws that govern the amount of rest a truck driver should receive between shifts, and it will be analyzed whether a truck driver was given adequate rest or forced to work with minimal sleep.
As opposed to a car crash, trucking accidents can be a harder legal battle, but with the right attorney by your side who knows the law as it applied to your case, it can be pretty smooth.
Do you need a trucking accident attorney? Let us know in the comments below!
