Personal Injury Law

Commercial Truck Accidents?Often a Case of Man Bites Dog?

By Michael Myers

Although truck drivers are some of the best drivers on our roads (after all, they have extensive training and log way more miles than 'civilian' drivers), there is a common misperception that they are the cause of many vehicular accidents when in fact, they are frequently victims of civilian negligence.

Earlier this month, there were two different accidents involving commercial vehicles and passenger cars.

One crash involved two tractor trailer trucks and two passenger cars where, while slowing for traffic, one truck was rear ended by the other. In the second crash, a dump truck rear ended a passenger car on Highway 522, resulting in three people being rushed to the hospital.

Unfortunately, in collisions between cars and commercial trucks, civilian negligence is often overlooked due to the fact that they usually sustain major damage to their car and injuries to their selves. Since our natural tendency is to assume that the person driving the vehicle with the most damage is the victim, the truck drivers end up with a bad reputation, even if in actuality, the civilian was at fault and the truck driver was the victim.

Our firm has represented many commercial drivers who have been fault-free but suffered serious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because a civilian driver was at-fault and died as a result of colliding with their trucks. The concept of damage somehow relating to fault raises an interesting issue about what other inaccurate or unfounded biases affect our decision-making, particularly when it comes to motor vehicle accidents.

Full post as published by Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer on February 28, 2010 (boomark / email).