Indianapolis and Muncie Trucking Accident Lawyers
Often when a semi-truck is involved in a collision with a car, regardless of fault, the driver and any passengers in the car suffer serious injuries. Because trucking accidents typically involve serious injury (including paralysis and brain injury) or fatalities, the attorneys at Mitchell Hurst Jacobs & Dick, LLP, want you to know how to avoid one.
From our offices in Muncie and Indianapolis, our lawyers are here to help if you are involved in a trucking accident. Our principal attorneys have more than 75 years of combined experience handling personal injury claims, including trucking accident claims.
If you have been injured in a trucking accident, call 866.675.4217 today to speak with an experienced Indiana personal injury attorney about your case.
Causes of Indiana Truck Accidents
There are many causes of tractor-trailer (18-wheeler truck) accidents, some of the more common causes include:
- Visibility: Due to the design and shape of large trucks, drivers have limited visibility and large blind spots (areas where cars can be located but a truck driver cannot see them) such as in front of the truck, behind the truck, and certain places along side the truck. Be aware of these blind spots; it may help you avoid a trucking accident. Remember: if you cannot see your car in the truck’s mirror, the driver cannot see you.
- Jackknifing: When a truck is forced to slam on its brakes, the truck trailer may not stop as fast as the cab, often resulting in the trailer sliding sideways also known as jackknifing. When a truck jackknifes, it can cause accidents for cars in other lanes (a jackknifed truck can cover three lanes of a highway). It can also cause the truck to roll over.
- Truck rollovers: In addition to jackknifing, weather conditions, improper load balancing or driver negligence (e.g., taking a turn too fast or too sharp) can cause a truck to roll over. Much like when a truck jackknifes, a rolled truck can block several lanes of a highway and cause a chain reaction of collisions.
- Improper truck or trailer maintenance: Improper maintenance like failing to check truck tires, brakes or lights can contribute to a trucking accident.
- Negligence of other drivers: Often people fail to respect other drivers on the road. Failing to be aware of your surroundings (including not realizing you are in a truck’s blind spot) or failing to pay attention to road signs can cause a trucking accident, including failing to observe construction zones (cone-zones) and failing to notice curve grade indicators. Driving too fast for weather conditions can also put you in danger of causing a collision with a truck; trucks take longer to stop, so if you slam on your brakes in front of a large truck, the truck simply cannot stop as quickly.
- Truck driver fatigue: Although there are laws regarding the number of hours a truck driver can drive in a day, driving is their livelihood and some can push their limits. Because of the sheer number of trucks on the road, keeping our economy moving, so to speak, there will inevitably be accidents involving trucks.
We hope you can use this information to avoid a trucking accident. However, if you are unfortunate enough to have been involved in a trucking accident, or if you lost a family member in one, schedule a free consultation and case evaluation by calling Mitchell Hurst Jacobs & Dick toll free at 866.675.4217 or filling out our contact form. You know us, you trust us, and we are here for you.
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