Anytime you’re trying to work out a traffic accident claim, there are going to be complexities. However, when one of the vehicles is a semi-truck, it takes the case to a whole new level.
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Semi-truck Accidents on the Rise
Dangerous semi-truck accidents are increasing. Here’s a closer look at the most recent statistics available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):
Deaths from crashes involving medium and heavy-duty truck accidents:
- 2% increase from 2021 to 2022
- 17% increase from 2020 to 2021
Injuries from crashes involving medium and heavy-duty truck accidents:
- 3.7% increase from 2021 to 2022
- 9% increase from 2020 to 2021
In addition to these statistics, the NHTSA reports a troubling 75% increase in truck crash fatalities since 2009.
Why the uptick in semi-truck wrecks? These factors are commonly cited:
- Congested and underfunded infrastructure
- Fatigued truck drivers due to driver shortages
- Pressure on truck drivers to meet increasing demand for speedy deliveries
- Distracted driving due to cell phones
Staying safe on the roads is more important than ever, given what’s at stake in a semi-truck accident. There’s also a lot at stake when it comes to legal cases involving semi-truck accidents. In this article, we’ll explain why.
Complexities of Semi-truck Accident Injury Cases
Here’s what sets legal cases involving semi-truck accidents apart from those involving car crashes.
1. Greater Risk for Serious Injuries
If a car runs into you, you’ll be hit by 4,000 pounds of barreling steel. If it’s a semi-truck, multiply that by up to 20. Semis can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds.
Greater impact can lead to far greater injuries, including shattered bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and internal organ injuries. It’s possible to walk away from a car accident unscathed, but that’s quite unlikely when you’ve been hit by a semi-truck.
2. Greater Risk for Severe Property Damage
While not as significant as bodily injuries, a semi-truck accident usually means greater damage to your car, too. This drives up the total cost of the accident.
3. Difficulty Determining the Cause of the Accident
The first order of business at the accident scene is to find out what caused the accident. Sometimes this is very obvious. At other times, it’s harder to discern, especially if the drivers have different stories (or can’t recall the story due to losing consciousness).
Causality can be even harder to establish when semi-trucks are involved. Was the truck loaded improperly, making the truck harder to control? Semi-trucks are especially vulnerable to weather—did high winds or rain cause the truck to jackknife or roll over? Many factors could be to blame.
4. Liability is Not as Clear Cut
Along with determining the cause of an accident, an investigation must determine liability. This means establishing who bears fault for the accident.
In the case of an accident between two passenger cars, it’s usually a matter of whether you or the other driver was at fault. But a semi-truck accident introduces many more variables. Is the driver liable? Or the company that owns the truck? Or even the company responsible for the freight that is being transported? Or all of the above?
Perhaps the driver was breaking company regulations by texting while driving. Or maybe they were fatigued because the trucking company asked them to work too many hours. Maybe the company failed to maintain the truck, or perhaps they rented the truck from another company that had failed to maintain it.
Sorting out who is responsible for the car accident can become a lot more complicated with semi-truck accidents. Often, multiple parties will share different percentages of the total liability.
5. Insurance Companies May Dispute Liability
When the liability for a car accident equals a few thousand dollars, the at-fault party might find it more financially advantageous to simply settle than invest in an ongoing legal battle. But because the damages for semi-truck accidents are usually much higher (and the insurance policy limits for semi-trucks are usually higher, too), the insurance company may find it worth their while to contest the settlement. Add to this the fact that there is a lower standard of liability for claims against semi drivers, and you could end up with a protracted legal fight that makes it hard for victims to get the compensation they deserve.
6. The Investigation Will Be More Extensive
Every car accident should be investigated by legal authorities, and this can take time. But while car crash investigations can stretch out for weeks, semi-truck accident investigations can last for months or years, depending on the nature of the accidents.
First, there may be more parties investigating the wreck – the driver’s personal insurance company, the trucking company’s insurance company, etc. They could do a deep dive into the maintenance history of the truck and the way the cargo was loaded. They could check the ongoing safety record of the driver and the trucking company.
Federal investigators may get involved, too, since there are federal regulations governing health requirements and time behind the wheel for truck drivers. There are also federally-governed maintenance requirements for trucks.
If an accident is significant enough, the National Transportation Safety Board may even investigate, using the accident as a case study to improve traffic safety.
Why You Should Hire a Lawyer with Semi-truck Accident Experience
If a law firm has not handled semi-truck accident cases in the past, they may find themselves out of their depth when trying to represent victims of these types of crashes. Extensive experience with commercial truck accidents is important for determining who is liable in a case, whether it be the driver, the trucking company, the cargo company, or even the truck manufacturer. If cause and liability are in dispute, an experienced attorney can orchestrate an accident scene reconstruction to serve as evidence.
A semi-truck accident lawyer will know the regulations specific to the trucking industry so they can show which regulations may have been breached. They will have a network of expert resources, including medical experts who can help them understand the severity of a patient’s injuries and the price tag of treating and managing them into the future.
Big trucks often come with big-money insurance companies, which may try to intimidate you and use underhanded tactics to minimize your payout. You need an attorney who is confident and experienced enough to see through their tactics—one who will fight to maximize your financial settlement.
The opposing insurance company(ies) may try to pressure you into settling, and you may be tempted if the offer sounds generous. After all, it may put an end to drawn-out negotiations and allow you to pay off your bills. But what you don’t want is to settle for less than you are legally entitled to and be left with unpaid medical bills if your injuries continue to affect you.
A good attorney can help you know whether an amount is worth settling for or whether you should press for more by renegotiating or going to trial. And if your case does go to trial, a good semi-truck accident attorney will be able to litigate skillfully.
If you have been injured in a semi-truck accident, contact our team at Tingey Injury Law Firm. With 50 years in practice, we are one of the oldest semi-truck traffic accident attorney law firms in Las Vegas, and we are committed to representing you with expertise, strength, and integrity.
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