Truck Accidents

As one of the largest cities in the country, Houston has highways crowded with 18-wheelers and other big commercial vehicles. Due to their size and weight, big rigs are harder to stop, make a more forceful impact, and contain numerous blind spots – all of which make them incredibly dangerous to share the road with. When commercial trucks collide with passenger cars, the drivers and occupants in the smaller vehicles suffer the worst injuries.  Truck accidents can involve a variety of commercial vehicles, including cement trucks, garbage trucks, delivery vans, flatbed trucks, and more. If you were involved in a collision with a large semi-truck, it is very important to speak with an attorney as soon as possible to preserve the evidence needed to pursue your case.

While all truck accidents have unique facts, you should know regardless of the facts that insurers and trucking companies don’t want to pay you money. They are both for-profit businesses; and, the less they pay injury victims, the better their bottom line looks.

What Makes Truck Accidents More Complex?

When two passenger vehicles get into a car wreck, it normally just involves the drivers and their personal car insurance companies. When a truck hits a car, motorcycle, or other smaller non-commercial vehicle, the complexity of the claim increases exponentially because:

1. The injuries are more severe and often fatal, as a fully loaded semi-truck can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, which is much more than the average 4,000-pound passenger car.

2. Liability is more complex because multiple parties are potentially liable for the damages caused by the truck crash, including the truck driver, owner, operator, shipping company, cargo loader, manufacturer, and more.

3. There is more evidence and that evidence is more complex and harder to analyze, such as log books, employment records, cell phone records, “black box” data recorders, the truck itself, and more.

4. A variety of state and federal laws apply to trucking that are not applicable to a regular car accident case. For example, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is involved in truck driver licensing and regulatory compliance and enforcement including setting hours of service regulations.