Personal Injury Law

Truck Accidents and Wrongful Death Claims

With the ever increasing presence of the number of trucks and tractor-trailers on Georgia?s highways and roadways, our attorneys have regrettably but consistently seen a corresponding increase in wrongful death and serious injury claims arising from accidents between automobiles and trucks. Indeed, over the last several years, national statistics indicate that there are approximately 500,000 truck collisions per year. Out of these one half million collisions approximately 5,000 people are killed each year. Georgia is no stranger to these wrongful death claims and as of the writing of this entry, our firm is handling several wrongful death claims on behalf of the families of innocent victims involved in such collisions.

It goes without saying that most any accident involving a tractor-trailer and an automobile has the potential to be extremely serious. Most large trucks weigh far in excess of 10,000 pounds and many as much as 80,000 pounds. Collisions involving large trucks are, by definition, therefore, more likely to cause serious injury or wrongful death because of the size and weight of the vehicles typically involved in tractor-trailer collisions. Some experts have estimated that in approximately 10% of all cases involving tractor-trailer collisions someone will be killed.

Given these sobering statistics, obviously, safety is paramount with respect to the trucking industry. While there are many safety rules contained within the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations, which govern all trucks engaged in interstate transportation, the fact remains that in many of these cases we are handling and have handled over the years these safety rules and regulations are ignored and sometimes deliberately disregarded.

In our practice, we have constantly seen evidence that unsafe trucks and unfit or poorly trained drivers lead to preventable serious injury and wrongful death claims. In our investigation of any truck accident, we typically review the log books, pre-trip inspection records and other maintenance and safety records required by federal law to be maintained by trucking companies. It is astounding how many cases we find where the trucking companies involved keep incomplete records or have no records at all relative to the federally mandated safety obligations.

As in any other case, it is important for the victim of a incident involving a tractor-trailer case that they confer with legal counsel as soon as possible in order to protect their legal rights. Trucking companies and their insurance carriers typically send out investigators immediately following any serious incident. Safety records and other records which might demonstrate compliance issues have a tendency to be lost in these cases by trucking companies and/or sometimes are deliberately discarded. Accordingly, a prompt and thorough investigation of the companies involved in these cases is imperative if there is to be protection of the victim?s rights in these cases. Thus, based on our experience of handling many wrongful death and serious injury cases involving truck accidents, we strongly recommend that the innocent victims involved in these cases confer with counsel as soon as is practicable.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on October 11, 2008 (boomark / email).