Oakland Truck Accident Lawyer

Every time you drive, you share the road with all different types of vehicle. While you drive your passenger car, truck, or SUV, you travel alongside buses, motorcycles, commercial vans and trucks of various sizes, and on many roadways, pedestrians and bicycles. It is important that you take special care to accommodate each of these types of vehicle in order to avoid collisions with them. Different vehicles have different needs when it comes to stopping and following distance, and some vehicles provide more protection to their occupants than others.

A collision with a large truck can be deadly. When it is not deadly, it can cause one or all of the parties involved to suffer severe injuries. If you are injured in a truck accident, seek medical attention for your injury as soon as you can after the accident. Always put your health, safety, and recovery first. After you have received the medical care you need, get in touch with a truck accident lawyer who can help you pursue compensation for your damages related to the injury.

Causes of Truck Accidents

Truck accidents have many of the same causes as car accidents, such as:

• Distracted driving;
• Drowsy driving. With truck drivers, sleep deprivation and the effects of burnout are common causes of accidents;
• Driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs;
• Aggressive driving on the part of the truck driver or another motorist;
• One or more drivers disregarding the posted traffic signs; and
• Confusing, poorly designed, or poorly maintained roadways.

There are also issues that can cause accidents that are exclusive to large trucks. These are:

• Jackknifing. With an articulated truck, the tractor’s skid can cause the driver to lose control of the trailer as it sways out from the truck in a similar shape to a pocketknife. This can collide with other vehicles, pedestrians, and stationary objects; and
• Overloaded or poorly secured trailers becoming detached from their tractors. An unattached trailer is under nobody’s control and poses a serious collision danger to everybody else on the roadway.

Ways you can be Injured in a Truck Accident

There are many different ways you can be injured in a truck accident. Some of these injuries are relatively minor, like scratches and bruising. Others can end your life prematurely or cause you to suffer a lifelong disability like paralysis or the loss of one or more senses. A few of the ways you can be injured in a truck accident include:

• Broken bones;
• Soft tissue injuries;
• Traumatic brain injury;
• Deep cuts that lead to severe bleeding;
• Loss of a limb; and
• Permanent disfigurement.

These injuries can cause you to suffer other conditions, like depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

Issues to Consider About Truck Accidents

Truck accidents are not the same as car accidents. Although they can have the same causes as car accidents, they can play out much different from car accidents and cause you to suffer far more severe injuries than you would in a car accident. Two reasons for these differences are:

• The size difference between a truck and a passenger vehicle. A tractor trailer can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. When this type of truck collides with a passenger vehicle, it can easily crush the smaller vehicle and its occupants; and
• A truck’s size means it requires more space to come to a complete stop, more space to make turns, and overall, different control mechanisms than a smaller vehicle. A collision on a small local road, a steep decline or incline, or within a space where the truck does not have space to safely come to a full stop can be deadly for any other vehicle involved in the collision and those in the truck’s path.

Another difference between a truck accident and a car accident is the insurance provider who compensates the victim for his or her damages. When you are involved in a collision because of another driver’s negligence, you can file a personal injury claim with that driver’s automobile insurance provider. Following a truck accident, you can file this type of claim as well, but you would file it with either the driver’s motor carrier insurance provider or his or her employer’s insurance policy, depending on whether the driver is an owner operator or an employee of his or her company.

Pursuing Compensation for your Damages After being Injured in a Truck Accident

When you suffer an injury in a truck accident caused by another party’s negligence, you have the right to pursue compensation for your related damages through a personal injury claim. These damages include:

• Your medical bills;
• Your lost wages; and
• Your pain and suffering expenses.

In the most basic sense, any expense that you faced because of your injury can be compensated through a personal injury claim. This includes everything from the cost of mental healthcare to work through the emotional trauma of the accident to the wages you will not be able to earn in the future because of a permanent disability related to the accident.

In order to recover this compensation, you will need to prove that the damages you suffered were not just caused by your injury, but that your injury was directly caused by the truck driver’s negligence. You can do this by providing evidence to support your claim like photographs of the accident, a copy of the official police report, testimony from your doctor regarding your injury and its prognosis, and documentation showing your lost wages.

Work with an Experienced Oakland Truck Accident Lawyer

If you were injured in a truck accident, pursue compensation for your damages with a lawyer who you feel comfortable speaking and working with. You should always feel like your lawyer is your best advocate and that he or she will work hard on your behalf to pursue the compensation you deserve for your accident damages. Contact our team of experienced personal injury lawyers at Dolan Law Firm today to set up your initial consultation in our office.