Introduction
Truck crashes can be devastating because they involve larger vehicles, which means more force is involved in the crash itself. Also, trucks often carry dangerous cargo that can cause serious injuries. If you’ve been involved in a car and truck accident, it’s important to know how these unique circumstances will affect your case—and what type of compensation you’re entitled to receive.
Truck crashes can involve various other vehicles
Sometimes trucks get into accidents with motor vehicles other than trucks too. These crashes may also involve accidents with other vehicles such as motorcycles or bicycles. These types of collisions can result in serious injuries as well as fatalities!
Commercial trucks can be bigger than cars
Trucks can be much larger than cars, which means that they carry heavier loads and need more space to maneuver. The length and width of a commercial truck can be 20-40 feet long and 10-15 feet wide, respectively. Trucks also tend to be taller than cars by 8-12 feet. These dimensions can result in serious damage when a truck collides with a car or other vehicle at high speeds.
There are different regulations for how trucks are built and maintained
Truck crashes are unique to car crashes because of the different safety regulations that govern their maintenance, inspection and operation. Truck drivers must also comply with stricter safety rules than drivers of passenger vehicles. Additionally, truck drivers must obtain special driver’s licenses, which are “commercial driver licenses” and require extensive training and testing the non-truck drivers do not have to undergo to obtain their license to drive a passenger vehicle.
Trucks carry more weight than cars which adds to their dangerousness
Trucks are heavier than cars, so the damage they cause when they collide with a car is going to be more severe. This means that if you’re involved in a crash with a truck, you’re likely to suffer more severe injuries than if you were involved in a crash with another car.
Truck accidents require a different legal strategy
An experienced truck accident attorney knows that his or her litigation strategy for handling a trucking collision case cannot be the same that would be used to help the victims of a car crash. The severity of the crash, the injuries, the insurance coverage, the list of possible defendants, and the rules and regulations that apply are all very different from what happens in an automobile accident case.
Types of truck crashes
Trucks can be involved in many types of crashes, but some common scenarios include:
- A truck driver has fallen asleep at the wheel or was distracted by something else while driving his or her vehicle on the road and collides with a car or other passenger vehicle
- An 18-wheeler crosses into another lane without looking and collides with another vehicle head-on
Conclusion
The unique nature of truck crashes can make them more difficult to handle, but there are still ways to protect your rights. If you’ve been injured in a truck accident and not sure what to do, contact an experienced truck accident lawyer at Michigan Auto Law as soon as possible who will work with you to get the compensation you deserve.
