Commercial truck accidents are very serious. Large commercial vehicles can cause really serious damage when they get into an accident with a passenger vehicle. If you were involved in a car accident with a commercial vehicle, why it happens matters. The reason behind the accident can help you with your personal injury lawsuit.
#1 Poorly Taken Care of Truck
Big trucks must be taken care of. It takes significant time and attention to take care of a big truck. Commercial trucks have federal standards for maintenance and care that they have to meet. If they don't meet those standards, they are in violation of federal standards. As a result of the federal standards, all commercial vehicles are required to have maintenance logs. Have your attorney request to see the maintenance log; this will let you know if poor maintenance contributed to the accident.
#2 Inspect the Cargo Loading
Hopefully, after the accident, someone inspected the cargo load outside of the truck driver who was in the accident with you. Hopefully, your insurance company, someone who checks on the accident scene for you, or the police who responded to the scene inspected the cargo. Just like maintenance, there are rules set forward by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that regulate how one has to load and secure cargo.
How the cargo was loaded can impact how the commercial truck is able to respond and handle. If the load is off-balance, it can cause the vehicle to tip or move to one side more than to another side. The load doesn't have to spill out onto the street in order to have a negative impact on the performance of the commercial vehicle.
#3 Mistake on the Part of the Truck Driver
Driver error and a lack of attention often contribute to accidents with commercial drivers. As a commercial truck driver, one has to constantly pay attention to what is happening on the road. It takes time for one to respond to changes in the flow of traffic; you can't stop or move as fast as a passenger vehicle. It can be tough to pay attention for that long, and a small error, such as looking down to grab food or resetting the radio, can lead to an accident with serious consequences.
If you happened to recently be involved in an accident with a commercial vehicle, hire a car accident attorney to help investigate the cause of the accident. If the fault of the accident lies with the commercial truck driver or the company that employs them, you have grounds to move forward with a lawsuit.
Share21 April 2019
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