Our team of lawyers has been representing truck accident victims for many years, and the outcomes have been very pleasing. We understand the working of such cases, fight as much as we can for your case, and no trucking company is intimidating enough for us. For further information and assistance, call our office right away!
On meeting a truck accident, the first question popping anyone’s mind is whether they should call an attorney or not. The answer to this is an undoubted YES, as there is nothing to lose by scheduling a free consultation to evaluate the case and rights you got on your part.
When these questions are answered, we get an idea about the compensation that you may be entitled to under the truck accident claim.
The laws and regulations must be abided by the commercial truckers, which are not applicable to other drivers and vehicles like cars, making the job of a trucker even more difficult. There must be a full understanding of safety and that safety is dependent on compliance with the laws and regulations of trucking, for anyone involved in the industry. Dangerous collisions and resulting injuries may be caused if there is a violation of such laws and regulations.
Laws, rules, and regulations may be violated by trucking companies or their drivers negligently, the following is a discussion about this.
Any trucks involved in interstate business within the US must abide by these federal regulations. They are applicable to all semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, tanker trucks, buses, and hazmat trucks among multiple others. The following regulations must be complied with by the owners and drivers of trucks; else, they might get involved in causing serious injuries.
Health Certificate: in order to renew or obtain a new CDL, the driver must get examined medically and receive a health certificate signed by a qualified health professional. Any drivers who are unfit and have suffered from seizures, heart attacks, or any other serious health issues while driving will most probably crash. Moreover, there are certain medical conditions that may even prevent drivers from operate huge vehicles like trucks appropriately.
Commercial driver’s license: Anyone driving a commercial vehicle must have a CDL – commercial driver’s license. Moreover, there are certain vehicle types that require special licensing or training as well. A company letting any unlicensed or untrained person drive a commercial truck can easily get involved in a crash.
Weight and size of the truck: The maximum weight of fully loaded commercial trucks are regulated by FMCSA, which is based on the type and size of the truck, including axles numbers on the truck. The weight of any commercial truck can not be more than 80,000lbs. an overloaded truck can not be stopped easily as it is prone to jackknife incidents.
Service hours: another serious issue in the US trucking industry today is fatigued driving, where drivers are under serious pressures to make timely deliveries. The service hours are also strictly regulated by the FMCSA, violation of which leads to fatigued driver incidents.
Inspections: when a commercial truck is not able to work appropriately, the driver may suddenly lose control over it and crash. Regular inspections are made compulsory by FMCSA by drivers and their companies to avoid this issue. The truck must be inspected thoroughly before embarking on a long trip to avoid any issues on the road.
If we successfully prove that a trucking company or truck driver is responsible for the incident by violating regulations of FMCSA, it becomes much easier to prove your deserved compensation and recover it for you from the negligent party(s).
Anyone driving a commercial motor vehicle is expected to abide by the Texas traffic laws strictly. This may be confusing for many drivers passing through Texas, but most codes are common for many states where the major difference is with speed posted. Abiding by Texas laws is just as easy as doing so for any other state for the drivers.
There is a belief among commercial drivers that these laws are not applicable to them. However, any truck driver violating a certain rule jeopardizes the safety of everyone present there. There are some common examples of violated traffic rules leading to truck incidents, like:
Companies usually have larger assets and insurance policies than the individual driver; you should identify when it is good to put the liability on the company for your accident.
Our legal team is well versed in identifying the liable parties to make sure you recover most of the amount deserved by you for any loss you incurred.
There isn’t much difference in the laws governing people driving cars and those governing truck accident claims. However, the major difference lies in the matter of trucking accidents. In order to win these cases, it is highly essential to have a Houston truck accident lawyer by your side. For most companies, there is a requirement to maintain a proper log for the truck where proper vehicle maintenance is included and mentioned. Logbooks must be present with individual truckers and companies with driver training, which includes many items that are carried on their trailers or rigs. If they have not undergone appropriate training, it can be very dangerous to put them behind the wheels. It is highly important to ensure that the driver has slept well and has not taken a lot of runs. All such things must be mentioned in the logbook and can be used for any case. There are governors for trucking companies who regulate truck speeds while the GPS systems inform them about the exact location of any truck. All such things are imperative for a Houston truck accident lawyer to assist them in developing a case that maximizes your compensation.
The main difference lies in the fact that now you are dealing with large companies having their individual case adjustors or even external insurance adjustors. Many such firms have proper monitoring of the outflow being made on their claim as they usually have ‘self-insured retention’, and any bits of money ranging from $50,000 to even $1 million is all coming from their own pockets before getting paid by the insurance. Such cases are monitored very closely, and the companies will not pay unless the Houston truck accident lawyer has full knowledge of what you are up to.
One of the biggest facts to prove s that the person working for them is actually their employee and not an external contractor. If you are able to prove that they were not trained properly or were performing fatigued driving, these are all the prerequisites that must be met by any trucking company before putting their vehicles out on the road and can put them in big trouble. Other factors leading to such incidents are underinflated tires or tires in bad shape with any other issues. The brakes may not have been maintained and need replacement or repairs. Perhaps one of the greater issues is that these vehicles need a lot of distance compared to a regular vehicle to stop. These vehicles also have hard visibility for others.
A police report must be filed regardless of the type of vehicle involved in the incident. It is very vital to get proof of accidents occurring and getting it thoroughly inspected by police officers. There are many instances where the victims have not filed a police report where an 18-wheeler is involved, being of the view that it can be handled by them. However, it has been observed that with such cases, companies and insurance companies do not pay for any personal injury or property damage as there is no authentic, official source of investigation for the incident; therefore, regardless of the vehicle type involved, a report must be filed immediately.
A common cause of truck injury incidents is a tractor-trailer jackknife. These can occur when a large truck’s front powered wheels lock up while the rear wheels continue to move towards the truck’s front. This causes the driver to lose vehicle control and, in some cases, even cause the big rig or semi-truck to roll over if the truck has been traveling at high speed at the time of occurrence. There are a number of causes to jackknifes, which include snow, rain, ice, or any other slipping hazard present on the road. When the drivers are forced to use any evasive maneuvers for dodging the road hazard ahead, they may be at risk of jackknifing.
In such situations, the driver’s training, attentiveness, and skill becomes highly critical to avoid the incident. There are multiple options with the truck drivers to break their vehicles – lock the steering axle brakes, trailer axles, or drive axles. The decision making of the driver comes in to play here as they must decide what to lock according to the situation they are in, to incur the least damage to others on the road.
Truck drivers who don’t have the proper training for driving vehicles in such dangerous situations, they, along with their employer companies, may become liable for the injuries caused to victims of major truck crashes.
There are many resources with trucking companies and their insurance companies to threaten you and offer substantially low compensation compared to what you deserve. But you have to ensure that you do not get played by this and have a strong attorney by your side. Call our office right away, book your free consultation, and get free of any stress or worries about your Houston Truck Accident claim!