The rumble of a massive truck on the highways of Georgia is a familiar sound. Still, truck accidents, while less common than car crashes, often result in injuries, property damage and death. When confronted with injuries from a truck accident, your recovery may depend on understanding what happened and taking appropriate legal action.
Common truck collision scenarios and their underlying factors
Several types of truck accidents can occur for various reasons:
- Rear-end collisions: Trucks need more distance to brake than smaller vehicles. If they are unable to stop in time, they may crash into the vehicle in front of them.
- Jackknife accidents: A truck jackknifes when its trailer skids outward, forming a 90-degree angle with the cab, often as a result of sudden braking or loss of traction on slippery roads.
- Rollover accidents: Trucks can roll over if they take a turn too quickly or carry uneven loads.
- Underride accidents: If the truck brakes suddenly or the smaller vehicle follows too closely, the latter may slide beneath a truck’s trailer.
- Tire blowouts: When a truck’s tire bursts, the driver can lose control. The truck can swerve into other lanes or flip over.
- Blind spot accidents: Compared to smaller vehicles, trucks have large blind spots. Accidents happen when drivers fail to check these areas before changing lanes.
Many factors contribute to these accidents, including fatigue, distracted driving, poor vehicle maintenance and inadequate training.
In Georgia, trucking companies must follow strict federal and state regulations to ensure road safety. These laws cover driver hours, vehicle maintenance and cargo loading. When ignored, the likelihood of an accident increases dramatically, and legal consequences can result.
Obtaining justice and compensation for your injuries
As a “modified comparative negligence” state, Georgia allows victims to seek compensation as long as they are not more than 50% at fault for the crash. This legal framework aims to ensure fair compensation (medical bills, wage replacement, pain and suffering, etc.) for those injured due to truck drivers’ or companies’ negligence.
Truck accidents often involve multiple parties, and this complexity can make determining liability and securing fair compensation challenging. Working side-by-side with a skilled personal injury attorney can be advantageous in your pursuit of justice and compensation.