Truck Accident Attorney Near Me

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), as many as 4,440 accidents involving commercial vehicles occur every year. These numbers are alarming because although all car accidents are potentially dangerous and can cause serious injuries, collisions involving trucks tend to have especially devastating results. In fact, many of those who are involved in these types of accidents are forced to struggle with chronic pain and disability for years to come, and tragically, some even lose their lives. To ensure that your own truck accident claim is resolved fairly and as quickly as possible, please contact a truck accident attorney near me who can assist you. 

Driver Error

Although truck accidents, like any other type of vehicle-related crash, can have a number of different causes, most can be linked to truck driver negligence. In fact, the FMCSA estimates that truck accidents involving commercial vehicles are the result of truck driver negligence at least 50% of the time. Examples of such negligence include:

• Speeding or otherwise driving aggressively, such as swerving or tailgating, which has been linked to approximately 25% of all truck accidents;
• Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
• Driving while fatigued, which causes around 13% of all truck crashes; and 
• Violating traffic laws, which is responsible for nearly ten percent of all truck accidents. 

It is not uncommon for more than one of these factors to play a role in a truck accident. For example, many truck driver mistakes can be attributed to inadequate supervision or insufficient training, in addition to fatigue caused by the pressure to meet unrealistic deadlines. For this reason, injured parties are often able to hold multiple parties liable for a truck accident, including:

• The truck’s owner if it failed to maintain the vehicle properly;
• The driver’s employer if it failed to use reasonable care when training or hiring its employees, or did not ensure that its vehicles were properly inspected;
• A vehicle parts manufacturer if an accident was caused by a defect in assembly or design;
• A mechanic or repair shop that did not properly inspect a vehicle or use reasonable care in repairing it;
• The driver of another passenger vehicle if that individual’s negligence was partially responsible for the accident; and
• A manufacturer of hazardous material if it failed to provide the trucking company or driver with adequate warnings about the dangers of transporting the product. 

When more than one person or entity is at fault for an accident, courts can divide the damages award between the parties based on their level of culpability. This applies equally to plaintiffs who are found to be partially responsible for their own accident, as their awards will be reduced in proportion to their own degree of fault. 

Contact Our Legal Team Today

To schedule an initial evaluation of your own truck accident case, please contact a member of the dedicated legal team at Rittenberg, Saks & Robinson, Ltd. today.