Houston Truck Accident Lawyer : A Car Accident is Nothing Like a Truck Accident

Experience Matters: A Car Accident is Nothing Like a Truck Accident

Truck Accident Lawyers Houston - While almost every personal injury lawyer claims to have experience handling trucking accidents, the number of lawyers who have actually taken a trucking case to trial is quite small.

Car accidents—despite popular belief—are nothing like truck accidents. In addition to size of the vehicles and substantial differences in force and momentum, truck accident cases are won or lost based on the lawyer’s understanding of the technology (like QualComms and Electronic Control Modules) that trucking companies and their drivers use to monitor the movement, speed, fuel consumption and driving activity of the trucks.

Unlike in a normal auto accident case, truck accident lawyers have to thoroughly understand the federal and state regulations that govern the companies and their drivers. The the federal “hours of service” regulations, for example—which are designed to prevent truck drivers from driver while fatigued—dictate when, where and how long a driver can spend on duty before their required to go off duty for a legally specified number of hours. In order to determine if the driver is in compliance with those laws, the lawyer has to know how to review and “audit” the truck driver’s “log book,” which federal law requires drivers to keep up to date at all times, even when they’re off duty.

Because trucking companies are also based all over the United States, truck accident lawyers not only have to be familiar with the laws in the state where the accident occurred, but they also need to understand the laws of every state the trucking company operates and is headquartered.

Holding the Trucking Company and their Driver Responsible

Federal and state laws require Trucking companies to ensure that their vehicles, trailers and drivers do not endanger other drivers on the road. Many of these safety rules are contained in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which specify everything from how often the trucks have to be inspected and when a driver has to be medically tested to how many hours a driver may drive in a 24 hour period.

Common forms of negligence in 18-wheeler truck accident cases include:

• Overworked and fatigued drivers
• Driver negligence and drunk driving
• Safety rule violations and failure to maintain log books documenting the number of hours the truck driver has been on the road
• Failing to properly screen employees by hiring drivers with poor driving records can constitute negligence.
• Drug use and intoxication while driving.
• Poor truck maintenance: Brake, tire and other failures often cause accidents that could have been prevented if the vehicle had been properly maintained.

Truck Accident Statistics

There are well over 100,000 accidents involving 18-wheelers and other large commercial trucks in the United States each year, causing nearly 5,000 deaths and 90,000 injuries annually. Over 18,000 truck accidents took place in Texas alone between January and November of 2015.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, Harris County has consistently led the state in the number of fatal truck accidents, with an average of 36 accidents per year between 2010 and 2015. It is followed by Dallas County, Bexar County, and Tarrant County.

Given these numbers, it is important for drivers to understand and recognize the risks they face every day when sharing the road with eighteen-wheelers and other large commercial trucks.

Common Injuries From Truck Accidents

While any automobile accident can lead to serious injury, wrecks involving 18-wheeler trucks tend to be even worse due to the sheer weight of the vehicles involved. When a car and an 18-wheeler collide, the results are often catastrophic. The types of injuries most commonly seen include:

• Head and Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Broken Bones, and
• Back and Spine Injuries, including disc herniations, paraplegia and quadriplegia, and

These injuries can be devastating and, in many cases, life-altering. In order to successfully recover compensation for your damages, you will need an attorney who can quickly evaluate the facts of your case, establish how the truck driver and the trucking company were at fault, determine the full extent of your damages, and effectively convey the facts to a jury. Placing the jury in YOUR shoes is the only way to make them understand just what happened and why you deserve to be compensated.

Having recovered millions in verdicts and settlements from the largest trucking companies in the country, the 18-wheeler accident attorneys at Zehl & Associates have the knowledge, experience and resources necessary to ensure that you receive the full compensation you deserve for ALL your injuries and damages.

Source : zehllaw