Truck accidents and personal injury law

1. Personal Injury Law

3. While the vast majority of professional truck drivers are responsible and safe drivers,
the sheer number and physical size of 18-wheelers present a special hazard for the
average automobile driver. While it only takes a few irresponsible drivers to cause
thousands of serious and fatal accidents each year, even the best drivers can cause
accidents when poor maintenance and road hazards enter the equation.
With more than 15.5 million trucks on the road, with more than two million of them
semi-trailers, the percentages explain why there are at least 115,000 semi-truck
accidents each year that produce nearly 3,000 fatalities and more than 44,000 injuries.
Tragically, more than 90 percent of the fatalities and serious injuries are to the
occupants of the auto in a truck-auto accident.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations were developed, and are constantly
updated, due to the special dangers created by 18-wheelers traveling on the roads.
These hazards are greatly increased when high speeds are involved. In fact, the engines
of most large trucks weigh more than the cars they pass.

4. While truck accidents are a national problem, Louisiana has its share of annual
injuries and fatalities from collisions involving trucks and buses. There were 91
fatal crashes in Louisiana (of 2,779 nationally) in 2014, and that has been a fairly
constant number for the past decade. More than 14 percent of all fatal crashes
involved large trucks or buses.
Large trucking companies understand these numbers and keep their own lawyers
and insurance adjusters on call 24/7. They work hard to ensure they settle as many
cases as possible without the involvement of lawyers from those injured or killed by
their trucks, and the statistics show they often succeed.

5. A professional Louisiana personal injury law firm knows how to protect your rights and counter
these tactics of the trucking firms. When you contact a personal injury attorney after a truck-auto
collision, they will take the time to understand the specific circumstances. They will then conduct
an extensive investigation that will determine a number of factors, including:
 Driver and the company’s safety record
 Driver’s log and records
 Maintenance and repair records
 Weather and traffic conditions
 Other factors bearing on liability
These steps and this knowledge is an important part of protecting your rights and those of your
loved ones. To ensure you take the right steps and understand your legal options, it is important to
review your accident with a qualified personal injury attorney.