Quite often, someone that has been involved in a truck accident, where a commercial truck has hit their car, believes that both car and truck accidents are similar – both medically and in the eyes of the law.
But there are actually several differences, and if you are looking for a Houston truck accident lawyer, like the attorneys at the Fears Nachawati Law Firm, you should realize why the two types of accidents are not treated the same.
5 Ways Truck Accidents are Different From Car Accidents
The list below explains a handful of differences between the two vehicle incidents and why your lawyers should handle them in a separate manner.
Driver Responsibility
When you get in an accident with another car, both vehicle operators usually have an equal amount of experience and training behind the wheel. But a commercial truck driver has much more extensive training, and there are many regulations set up for commercial truck drivers in order to keep the roads safe from massive trucks and trailers. There are also federal regulations set up to limit the number of approved hours that truckers can drive each week, and those drivers are responsible for logging their time.
Rollovers
One of the most common causes of fatalities or major injuries in trucking accidents is from rollovers, when the truck flips on its side. A truck rollover can be caused by several different things, including highway conditions, a driver taking a curve too fast, driver fatigue, truck malfunction or just driver error.
Braking
Because a tractor trailer is so much bigger than most vehicles on the road, their air brake system is much more extensive. If brakes are not properly maintained, the brakes could overheat and malfunction. If the trailer does not have evenly distributed weight, the brakes might malfunction because of that, too. A good Houston truck accident lawyer will be able to tell whether the brakes failed on a truck and why.
Injuries Are Usually More Extensive
A commercial truck can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, compared to a car or SUV that weighs in anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds. From a comparison standpoint, that is like the size of an adult male compared to a newborn baby. Considering that, it is easy to understand that more fatalities and extensive injuries occur from a truck accident over a car accident. From accidental deaths, to paralysis, to organ and brain damage, to spinal cord injuries, injuries sustained from truck accidents are much more extensive.
Financial Liabilities
With a car accident, both motorists exchange personal insurance information. But in a truck accident, the truck driver will have his own insurance, but his trucking carrier company will also be liable for any damages, both financial and physical. There is a lot more involved for truckers, including equipment checks, traffic reports and log books that need to be reviewed by lawyers, and a trucking company has to be following federal regulations, or they will be held accountable for any truck accidents and the injuries or fatalities they incur.
Hiring the right Houston truck accident attorney is the best way to improve your chances of winning your insurance claim or court battle. Call Fears Nachawati at (713) 589-6958 to schedule an appointment.