Trucks can be disastrous when they are involved in vehicle collisions. The difference between passenger vehicles and commercial trucks is so large that the car simply has no chance. It is enough to mention that a truck can even weigh 80,000 pounds to easily figure out how problematic accidents are.
Commercial truck accident victims struggle when determining available options. This is especially the case when it comes to recovering properly from sustained injuries while pursuing legal actions. Truck accident lawyers can easily help. However, you should be at least aware of liability.
Some of the most common reasons why car accidents happen should be understood in order to determine liability.
Driver Fatigue
Many truck accidents happen because the drivers are fatigued and cannot safely operate vehicles. Truck drivers do have to follow some strict regulations when it comes to the number of hours they can drive, with sleep and breaks needing to happen at the right intervals. Even so, drivers could violate the rules.
Unfortunately, there are many trucking companies that will encourage their drivers to break the rules for more profit. Some even end up falsifying logs. Lawyers always thus have to review records to reward potentially unsafe driving practices. In this case, liability is on the driver or/and the trucking company.
Mechanical Failure
An 18-wheeler is a very complex machine. Whenever a system fails, the driver ends up losing control and endangers literally everyone. As a simple example, a tire blowout could easily happen when tires are not inflated properly or they show too much wear and tear. Also, a faulty air brake would affect the ability of the driver to stop correctly or slow down. Similarly, steering system or engine problems could affect how the truck behaves.
Determining liability in such cases is very difficult. A thorough investigation is necessary to figure out if the part manufacturer or someone else has liability.
Improperly Securing Or Loading Cargo
Everything inside the trailer needs to be secured and loaded properly. When the weight of the cargo is not properly distributed, the truck becomes unbalanced. As a result, very serious rollover accidents can happen.
Whenever trucks are overloaded, the driver will have problems braking and maneuvering the vehicle. In some cases, we even see items falling from trucks because straps are not properly used.
With improperly securing or loading cargo, the party at fault is the company that was responsible for loading and securing the cargo. Exact fault can be discovered through an investigation carried out by your truck accident attorney.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, determining liability in truck accident cases is not as simple as you might think. In several instances, we see various parties responsible, which is something that has to be properly addressed during the investigation.
With truck accidents, one of the most important things to remember is that it is mandatory that you work with Indianapolis truck accident lawyers with a high experience with cases like yours. This is because it is practically the only way to be sure you will be able to file a compensation that would be able to cover all your damages and injuries.