Truck Accidents

While operating a truck, your mind may focus on multiple different issues or concerns. Whether those thoughts are about communicating with your workplace or minding the rules of the road, you may not notice safety issues with other drivers right away.

Learning more about how cars and other vehicles can cause accidents and intimidate trucks can help you if are struggling after a crash.

Reckless turning

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a car may try to drive around a turning truck in order to save time. This lefthand turn can put both the truck and the car in danger, however, since the truck cannot stop in time to avoid a collision.

Since trucks need more space to turn, a car suddenly driving out in front of them to turn can lead to a panic.

Poor merging choices

A car choosing to merge in a lane on the highway even when there is not enough room can make it hard for a truck to slow down in time. Drivers of smaller vehicles may also overestimate how quickly a truck can stop or avoid another vehicle.

This is especially true when a truck is carrying heavy materials that make it even slower. Someone cutting off a truck that is trying to merge slowly into a new lane can lead to a serious crash.

Dodging between trucks

A car that tries to drive between you and another truck can struggle to stay on course because of the drafts and wind resistance that happens between two large vehicles. Your blind spots can also prevent you from seeing cars when they first approach.

Understanding how cars can intimidate truckers and cause truck crashes is one way to stay aware on the road.

No matter what your destination is, you may encounter a truck driver that is speeding and switching lanes recklessly on the road.

In some cases, road rage could be to blame. This intense burst of emotions that fuels dangerous and law-breaking behavior often ends in a truck crash.

Failure to notice other vehicles

According to NBC News, an angry person focusing intently on one other driver on the road can lead to a crash. Since trucks are larger and heavier than most cars, they take longer to come to a complete stop. No matter how quickly a trucker hits the brakes, there will always be a long delay in an emergency situation.

This means that if truckers are not paying attention to the road around them because of road rage, then they may sideswipe or ram into your car.

Impulsive decisions

When road rage clouds someone’s decision-making, they may ignore stop signs and red lights in order to tailgate another vehicle. This increase in speed can leave you panicking. When a trucker near you is making impulsive traffic violations, you may hear repeated sounds of honking and see rude hand gestures.

Dangerous and aggressive behavior

Increased frustration over minor problems with other cars can lead to a trucker taking bigger risks while driving, such as attempting to run you off the road by trying to intimidate you. Road rage can lead to a serious crash in the span of only a few minutes or because of simple mistakes.

Noticing some subtle signs of road rage while sharing the road with trucks can help you if you are in an accident.

Avoiding commercial trucks when driving in California is not realistic. However, it may serve motorists well to exercise extreme care and vigilance when traveling near them. The number of truck drivers who use drugs or alcohol while working is increasing. This is troubling given that drug and alcohol use has the potential to have a serious impact on driving ability.

Per the Commercial Carrier Journal, the number of commercial truck drivers who received violations for drugs or alcohol within the first quarter of 2021 is higher than that seen within the same span in 2020.

Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse details

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enacted a Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse early last year. The clearinghouse has several goals. It looks to identify trucking industry professionals who abuse substances on the job. It also seeks to keep them off the roads until they take certain actions to better themselves. Once truckers receive violations in the clearinghouse, they may not return to duty until they take a series of predetermined steps.

Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse findings

During the first quarter of 2021, the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse turned up 367 alcohol infractions among truck drivers.  It also revealed more than 14,400 drug-related trucker infractions. While truckers who received drug violations did so after using a range of different substances, marijuana-related violations were the most common. The clearinghouse showed 37,261 marijuana-positive trucker drug tests throughout the first three months of 2021. Cocaine was the second-most abused drug among commercial truckers in the first quarter of 2021.  The trucking industry saw 9,848 drug tests that were positive for cocaine during this time.

Companies that employ truck drivers have to follow certain reporting and screening mandates with regard to the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.

Since most truck accidents occur in rural areas, it makes sense that California is one of the top states for truck accidents every year. An accident involving a semi-truck has the potential to cause much more damage than in collisions with everyday sedans. Impacts by trucks are extremely forceful and its design is very different from that of cars, resulting in different parts colliding. For example, when two cars collide, that often means that bumpers and fenders are connecting. In the case of a collision between a car and a truck, the truck’s fender may be in line with the car’s windows, leading to more severe and dangerous damage and likely personal injury. If you have been involved in a car accident with a large semi-truck, speak with a truck accident lawyer in Sacramento to investigate what the cause was.

Danger of Truck Accidents

Several elements increase the danger of a collision with a truck, such as the following:

• Increased force of impact due to the size and weight of the semi-truck
• Increased force of associated parts, such as when a tire blows out
• The presence of cargo increases potential obstacles if the cargo is not secure
• Cargo that is potentially dangerous in and of itself that can lead to
  • Fires
  • Explosions
  • Chemical spills
  • Gas leaks
  • Radiation exposure
• Larger blind spots for truck drivers
• More difficult maintenance due to the many parts of the truck and the wear and tear a truck experiences
• Tired or agitated truck drivers. Drivers often have very strict deadlines and long hours. This can lead to drivers asleep at the wheel or stressed driving.

Poor Truck Maintenance Leads to Accidents

Improper truck maintenance is one of the leading causes of truck accidents, resulting in hundreds of incidents every year. Poor maintenance may lead to:

• Tire blowouts or shredding
• Brake failure
• Insufficient reflective material
• Broken taillights
• Decreased blind spot visibility
• Detachment of cargo hold from the truck
• Spilling or expulsion of cargo onto the road
• Loss of control due to steering equipment malfunction

Determining Poor Truck Maintenance

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has very strict guidelines on truck maintenance. If a commercial truck is involved in an incident and is found to be in violation of any of the provisions covered by the FMCSA regulations (part 396), the trucking company could be held liable for financial damages to injured parties. The FMCSA requires regular inspections, maintenance, and repair each individual truck in the fleet. Each driver must inspect the commercial vehicle they drive before leaving the base. Drivers and trucking companies are also required to maintain records of inspections and maintenance of each truck for 30 consecutive days at the location maintenance is performed. If a company transfers, sells or retires a vehicle, the company must keep inspection and maintenance records at the location of maintenance for at least 1½ years.

In the case of a collision with a commercial semi-truck, it is important to determine if poor truck maintenance resulted in the crash. Truck drivers themselves may be held liable for a collision if it is due to their personal negligence, for example, if they were texting and driving. Even if the driver was individually at fault, the company for which he or she works may be held partially responsible, as employers are indirectly liable for the actions of their employees.

However, if a trucking company violated any of the FMCSA safety regulations for maintenance, the company may be held directly liable for damage and injury resulting from an incident. If a violation can be proved as the cause of the accident, the trucking company is considered negligent and the plaintiff doesn’t need to prove the negligence. The defendant can still try to prove that it was not negligent, but it is their burden of proof, not that of the plaintiff. Cases involving big-rig trucks can get complicated, speak with a truck accident lawyer in Sacramento pertaining to your specific case.

Have You Experienced a Car Collision Involving a Semi-Truck?

Trucking companies often move very quickly following an incident so as to eliminate as much of the blame and associated cost as possible. For this reason, it is very important to contact a knowledgeable and motivated Sacramento law office who can help you get the compensation you deserve from a potential national and well-defended trucking company. It is also very important that you do not make a statement to the trucking company or their insurance provider. Doing so could severely limit your compensation.

Consult with a Truck Accident Lawyer in Sacramento for Your Legal Needs

Getting hit by a large truck can result in serious injuries and property damage. The Weinberger Law Firm has the knowledge and dedication that you need to deal with truck drivers, companies and insurance providers. Speak with our truck accident lawyer in Sacramento at (916) 357-6767.

Truck accidents are very serious and common incidences in California. Due to the state’s large latitudinal range, connection to Mexico and the presence of Los Angeles metro area, trucks barrel up and down California highways at higher rates than many other states. The nature of a trucker’s schedule, as well as the size and weight of semis, make them very dangerous in the case of a collision. When individuals are injured or incur material damage when involved in a case with a semi, they often think, “Who’s at fault?” Because every case is unique, it’s important to remember the other parties involved in trucking logistics. Speak with an injury attorney in Sacramento CA for more information.

Unlike a normal accident involving two individuals driving their own cars, ownership and liability are much more complicated when a commercial truck is involved. Some people or groups that are often considered responsible include:

• Truck driver
• Trucking company
• The loading company
• The owner of the truck
• The mechanic who works on the truck
• The brake manufacturer

One aspect of this complex situation that is often forgotten in cases of collision is the shipper. The shipper is the company that hires trucks and truck drivers to move goods from the point of origin to the destination. In some cases, shippers are also responsible for the loading of such goods and thus could be held responsible in the case of shifting cargo.

Negligent Selection

One major responsibility a shipper has is in choosing a responsible, high-quality company to move their cargo. Choosing a company with high standards and sufficient experience is a part of the shipping company’s job. This is more important the more complicated a shipping company is. When a shipper makes a bad choice in carriers and that carrier behaves in a way that leads to an accident, the shipper may be held liable. This is called “negligent selection.”

In cases of negligent selection, the courts look into how complicated or sophisticated the shipping company is. The more complicated a shipper is, the more responsible they are for choosing a responsible carrier. How sophisticated a shipper is usually is based on the frequency and size of shipments. In current times, individual contracts are negotiated between each shipper and carrier. This makes proving liability more complicated and may confuse responsibility for transportation incidents, as each incident is catered individually to the companies involved. Due to these complexities, it’s best to seek legal advice and expertise of an injury attorney in Sacramento CA.

After it is shown that the shipper is sufficiently complicated and that the carrier is negligent, it must be determined that the shipper knew of this shortcoming in the carrier. So to summarize, attorneys working on cases regarding negligent selection try to prove:

• The shipping company chose a carrier that either may have been done negligently or haphazardly or the shipping company knew the carrier to be negligent
• The carrier behaved negligently
• That negligence on behalf of the carrier influenced the occurrence of an accident
• The accident is what caused a plaintiff’s damage or injury

Always speak with an injury attorney in Sacramento CA who can evaluate your case and prove such negligence. Another problem that increases confusion on the responsibility of shipping companies is that there is some confusion in the guidance literature set out by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA). The Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) and Safety Measurement System (SMS) programs are meant to guide shippers, but changes in content often serve to confuse shippers. Does this limit their liability? If so, who is to be held responsible?

Potential Defense for Shipper

Of course, any entity being sued for damages will say almost anything to avoid being found guilty. Often, shipping companies will argue that they fulfilled their duty to hire a responsible carrier. Shippers may argue that the only indicator they are required to take into account is the score given to a carrier by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association. If a carrier is rated as “satisfactory,” a shipper may argue, that indicates that the company is sufficient enough to do business with.

Call an Injury Attorney in Sacramento CA for Legal Representation

Have you or a loved one been involved in a motor accident involving a truck? Trucking companies are often very well-funded and will do anything to avoiding paying in court. The complicated situations, laws, and many moving parts make it easy for big companies to confuse an accident victim and blame other groups involved. The best way to defend yourself in your case against a big trucking company or some other organization involved in the movement of cargo through California is to seek advice from an injury attorney in Sacramento CA

Motorists in California know all about struggling through heavy traffic-clogged with semi-trucks. The American Transportation Research Institute has concluded that regulatory changes that took full effect in 2014 could be contributing to a rise in property damage and injuries. The federal rules have had the effect of having more trucks on the road during morning rush hours rather than in the middle of the night.

Data published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration appears to validate the findings of the research institute. Although fatalities in truck accidents decreased by 5 percent between 2013 and 2014, injuries reported in wrecks with commercial trucks rose 21 percent in the period. A spokesman for the FMCSA, however, attributed the decline in fatalities to the increasing presence of technologies like electronic stability control and automatic braking systems. These safety improvements make a crash less likely to cause death but injuries still happen, he said.

Even so, a representative from the American Transportation Research Institute preferred to blame the increase in injuries on the fact that trucks were occupying highways during peak rush hours instead of late at night. In congested traffic, trucks move at slower speeds. Accidents with injuries remain a possibility, but the slower speeds could be limiting the number of fatalities.

Because of their overwhelming weight and size, big rigs that are involved in truck accidents can cause serious injuries to occupants of other vehicles that are involved in the collision. Many such accidents are caused by distracted truck drivers or truck driver fatigue, and in such a case, an injured victim may want to find out from an attorney whether both the driver as well as the company itself could be held financially responsible for medical expenses and other losses.