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Trucking accidents are collisions involving semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, 18-Wheelers or other commercial vehicles that cause property damage and/or personal injuries. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), accidents involving large trucks were responsible for 4,321 deaths, 77,000 injuries and 287,000 property damage claims in 2006. Commercial vehicles are larger and heavier than passenger vehicles and therefore, trucking accidents typically cause much greater harm. Although large trucks are only responsible for a small percentage of injury-causing motor vehicle accidents, the sheer size of a truck increases the likelihood of significant and very serious damage to human life and property.
Each year in Texas there are thousands of automobile wrecks on Texas roads, freeways, highways, bridges and roadways. Injuries can be severe, including amputation, deglove injury (which consists of the victim’s skin being peeled back away from an area of the body), brain and head injury, possibly leading to coma, and even decapitation and wrongful death.
Car and Truck Accident Lawyers – Dallas, Texas
If you or a loved one have been injured in Dallas, Denton, Arlington or Fort Worth, Texas or another city or town in Texas within the last two years, you may need a lawyer fast. Realize that there is a two year statute of limitations that applies to most injury cases. Once it expires, you will waive your right to sue for money damages.
Accidents on Texas roads and highways are common and can result in severe injuries.
 Texas is well known for freeway traffic and freeway collisions. Many car accident and other motor vehicle collision cases result in serious personal injuries discussed above. At The Drinnon Law Firm, PLLC, our Dallas-based trucking accident and injury firm has an excellent legal staff with experience in trucking and traffic collision cases. Our firm has a history of representing both Texas residents and injury victims from states across the country who have suffered severe mental and physical pain and suffering.
The aftermath of a trucking accident can be confusing and very complicated with all of the parties that often become involved. This can include the driver and owner of the truck, the employer of the driver and even manufacturers of parts of the truck. The legal professionals at the Drinnon Law Firm, PLLC understand the trauma of dealing with the devastating effects of trucking accidents. Whether your claim is for wrongful death or personal injury, our attorneys will fight for compensation and protect your legal rights.
Truck, Bus, and Commercial Vehicle Accidents
Accidents involving large trucks, buses, and commercial vehicles are among the most deadly, because a car is at such a disadvantage in size against these large vehicles. Trucks accidents are especially prevalent in Texas because of how many trucks enter from Mexico through Texas. Because truckers are often driving long distances, they can be fatigued, under the influence, easily aggravated, and improperly trained or inexperienced. Depending on where commercial vehicles are traveling, they may be governed by either federal or state law, and accidents involving commercial vehicles require specialized knowledge of both the applicable federal and state laws. The Drinnon Law Firm has extensive experience litigating injury and accident cases in both state and federal court.
There are differences between collisions involving large trucks and those only involving cars with respect to the legal issues and procedures. For instance, one major difference between trucking accidents and car accidents is that commercial motor vehicles are almost always operated by an individual possessing specialized training, education and formalized instruction. Truckers should possess a special license for operation of the vehicle and generally will have attended an independent trucking school or form of apprentice training within a trucking company. A driver is required to have certain knowledge, experience and training not required of a standard operator. If a truck driver that caused an accident does not possess the requisite amount of training and experience, a claim might be brought against the trucking company for negligent hiring and/or training. In a typical car accident case, there is no one else to sue if you get hit by an inexperienced driver.
Accidents involving trucks or other large, commercial vehicles often have fatal consequences. There are a variety of factors that can cause these accidents including driver fatigue, speeding, weather related accidents, defects and more. A major cause of these accidents is driver error.
Driver Error
Truck driver errors are the cause of a majority of trucking accidents. According to a recent study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), drivers of large trucks are ten times more likely to be the cause of trucking accidents than other factors such as weather and road conditions.
Truck drivers contribute to accidents by speeding, improperly braking, and improperly loading or storing cargo on the vehicle. Truck drivers have also been found to have operated vehicles while impaired, such as being intoxicated by alcohol, prescription medicines or other substances, as well as impairment due to fatigue from sleep deprivation. Impairments such as these can interfere with the driver’s ability to react, and can cause truck drivers to make poor decisions and take unwarranted risks.
If a trucking company allows an incompetent or impaired driver to drive on public roads or highways, or if the company fails to follow federal rules on the maximum number of hours that drivers can work per shift, the company may be found negligent for the errors committed by the driver.
The FMCSA study examined factors that cause truck drivers to make errors, such as use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, speeding, fatigue, inattention, distractions, work environment, and unfamiliarity with the road. The study found that of all truck accidents caused by driver error:
- 44% involved truckers who were taking prescription and over-the-counter-drugs
- 23% involved drivers traveling too fast for conditions, and
- 18% were caused by driver fatigue.
Why Driver Errors Occur [ Driver fatigue, Drug Use, Failure to Watch, Rollover, Tires, Brakes, Gathering Evidence ]
Driver Fatigue
Fatigue leads truck drivers to fall asleep, become inattentive, ignore signs of impending dangers, misjudge distance, panic, and under- or overreact to a situation. While fatigue is a common contributing cause to truck accidents, it is also the most preventable.
There are Federal regulations that set forth rules to ensure that truck drivers obtain the necessary rest and restorative sleep in order to drive safely. These are referred to as the "hours of service rules." Under these rules, truck drivers can work a maximum of 14 hours per day, during which time they can only drive for a maximum of 11 hours. The driver must be off-duty for 10 consecutive hours prior to the start of a shift. The driver also cannot drive after being on duty for 60 hours in seven consecutive days or 70 hours in eight consecutive days.
Proving an Hours of Service Violation
Federal law requires drivers to record their driving information in structured driver's logs. One way to find out whether a trucking company violated an hours of service rule is to get a copy of the truck driver’s logs.
However, if the driver’s logs are missing or are obviously inaccurate, there are other ways to discover how many hours the driver logged behind the wheel. Reviewing the “trip tickets” or “bills of lading” for each delivery by the driver made in the few days leading up to the accident. Trip tickets and bills of lading include time stamps and entries by third parties that disclose the time that a load was picked up and when it was delivered.
Likewise, the trucking company can and should be monitoring the actual hours of service of its drivers and should not be able to hide behind the inaccurate logs of its drivers. Trucking companies who allow a driver to repeatedly “mislog” his or her hours of service expose themselves to liability for a lawsuit.
Drug Use
Drivers may not use any controlled substances, unless prescribed by a licensed physician who is familiar with the driver's medical history and assigned duties and has determined that the drug use will not adversely affect the driver's ability to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle.
Federal regulations require trucking companies to:
- test their drivers for alcohol and drug use as a condition of employment, and
- require periodic random tests of the drivers while they are on duty and after an accident involving a fatality.
A recent investigation revealed that drivers can defeat the accuracy of the current Department of Transportation (DOT) drug testing process with products, such as synthetic urine, that are widely available for sale. To combat this, the DOT now requires that trucking companies obtain drivers’ drug testing records from previous employers – the hope is that this will help prevent abuse of the testing system.
Failure to Watch the Blind Spots
Another common error made by truck drivers is failure to watch for blind spots. Truck drivers are trained to watch for vehicles that might enter the “no-zone.” A “no-zone” is an area where a passenger car disappears from the truck driver’s view. There are front, side, rear, backing up, and right turn no-zones. Studies show that accidents between cars and large trucks are 60% more likely to occur when a car is in a no-zone. Driver error occurs when a truck driver is either unaware that another vehicle has entered the no-zone or does not take precautions when a vehicle does enter that zone.
Driver Error Causing Truck Rollovers
Rollovers are one of the major causes of fatalities and injuries in trucking accidents. They are often caused by driver errors such as:
- taking a curve too fast
- driving too fast
- fatigue
- inexperience, or
- improperly distributing the truck's load.
Other factors that can cause a truck rollover include driver truck malfunction, improper load distribution, low tires, brake failure and highway conditions.
Depowering the Front Brakes and Improper Trailer Attachment
Trucking accidents are frequently caused by brake malfunction. The cause of the malfunction may be due to a variety of factors: driver error, improper loading, improper maintaining of the brakes, defective manufacture of the brakes, to name a few. Air brakes, which are the type of brakes used in large trucks, are designed to withstand specified levels of heat. A truck coming to a full stop at a high speed raises the brake drum temperature dramatically. At a certain point, the temperature reaches the limit for safe operation. If the brakes are not properly set or maintained or the load is not evenly distributed, the brakes will overheat and may malfunction. Brake failure clearly increases the chances for a greater impact between a truck and a car.
Drivers will often depower the truck’s front brakes and rely upon the trailer brakes and downshifting to slow or stop the truck. Truck owners can reduce operating costs by not using the front brakes, thereby minimizing wear and tear on the brakes and tires. However, driving a truck without the front brakes greatly increases the risk of accidents, including the increased tendency for a truck to jackknife. When drivers fail to properly attach the trailer to the front of the truck, the risk of jackknifing is further enhanced.
Truck Accidents Caused by Tire Problems
We have all seen the debris: long, heavy strips of tire littering the roadway after a semi truck has a blowout. The most common causes of tire failure follow.
Defective tires. This may happen because the tire manufacturer sold a defective truck tire. As with brakes, in some cases defective tires are recalled. To find out if the truck tires were recalled, check with the Department of Transportation — it maintains the records of all recalled tires. You can find this information at the DOT’s website at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls.
Failure to maintain tires. Sometimes a trucking company does not maintain the tires. For example, air brakes -- the most common type of brakes used in large trucks -- can only take so much heat. A full stop at 60 mph raises the brake drum temperature to about 600 degrees. That is the limit for safe operation. If the brakes aren’t properly set or maintained, the brakes overheat and may malfunction.
Other common maintenance mistakes made by trucking companies include:
- allowing drivers to use tires that fail to meet the minimum DOT tread depth requirement
- mounting mismatched tire sizes or pairing tires with significantly different wear, and
- mixing bias and radial tires on the same axle.
Failure to perform pre-trip tire inspections. Sometimes a trucking accident is caused by a failed tire that the driver should have noticed in the required pre-trip inspection of the truck. Improper tire pressure -- either too little or too much -- can lead to deterioration and eventual catastrophic failure. A tire that is worn or damaged may fail as a blowout and result in loss of control of the vehicle. The principal indicators of deterioration are tread wear, tread and sidewall damage, and air leakage.
Often companies that fail to inspect or maintain the braking systems on their vehicles also fail to inspect the tires. This can lead to multiple mechanical problems that cause a trucking accident. Be sure to explore all possible causes of the accident.
Gathering Evidence About Driver Errors
Some trucking companies use electronic event data recorders -- devices that record all sorts of information about the truck and its operation, including how fast the truck is going, patterns of speed, when the driver uses his or her brakes, and even how long the driver has been on the road. Other commonly used devices include on-board computers, global positioning systems (GPS), and inclinometers (which provide information about the angles of a slope and rounding corners safely).
If you are in a trucking accident, it is critical that you make sure data from high tech equipment is preserved. Otherwise, it might be erased as part of the regular routine of the company.
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