Large trucks with trailers weighing 10,000 or more are the most dangerous vehicles on the road. There are approximately 500,000 trucking accidents every year, causing well nearly 10,000 fatalities and over 90,000 injuries each year, with over 95% being suffered by the people in the passenger vehicles. Accidents occurring while a truck driver is under the influence or intoxicated, or working beyond the permitted hours causing them to fall asleep, or driving too fast, or overloaded, or following too close, account for the vast majority of all of these accidents.
Truck accidents require special expertise to gather and preserve the evidence, frequently including the driver’s logs, load manifests, and obtaining prompt read-outs from the truck’s electronic sensors. Reconstruction of these accidents requires expert witnesses, who we know and with whom we have worked, who can explain to a jury exactly what happened.
Truck drivers and trucking companies need to maintain their trucks and practice safe and disciplined driving. Drivers of small vehicles should always practice defensive driving in relation to trucks, essentially to stay away from truck, avoid driving right next to large trucks, and keep out of their blind spots. In addition, drivers should avoid passing a truck on the right, especially when the truck is turning right, watch the truck’s turn signals, do not cut off a truck, and report dangerous driving to the proper authorities.
Representative Cases:
Davis v. Georgia Department of Corrections: An inattentive State of Georgia law enforcement employee allowed his truck to veer into oncoming traffic, resulting in a head-on collision that killed our client. The investigative officers reported as essentially fabricated story that blamed our client for attempting to turn left in front of the truck, then swerving back into his lane, into the path of the truck which was “doing everything possible to avoid the collision.” Our reconstruction efforts, including obtaining sensors from the truck and staging an on-site reconstruction, proved that the truck’s high rate of speed, and the physical evidence from the pavement, could only have resulted from the truck driver drifting into our client’s lane. We achieved a substantial recovery for the widow and her children.
Gaines v. DOT: Our client was an invitee to a Department of Transportation project along an interstate highway, severely injured when an uninsured drunk truck driver ran through the orange cones, losing control of his truck. We proved that one underlying cause of this accident was that the traffic control pattern was so confusing and below the standard of care of traffic control engineers. As a result, we obtained a $2.7 million recovery for our severely injured client. L. Matt Wilson was lead counsel conducting voir dire, opening and closing arguments, the examination of 12 of 15 witnesses on direct, and all of the cross examination. This case is reported at 231 Ga. App. 565, 499 S.E.2d 722 (1998).
Please remember that each case is different. Please take advantage of our free, no-obligation consultation so that we can help you evaluate your case to how it might best be handled to maximize your recovery. Sometimes we are the right lawyers to help you. Sometime, we need to assemble a team of lawyers to help. Sometimes, its best if we help you find another lawyer, for example one who may have tried a case very similar to yours, and we are happy to help you interview and hire the right lawyer for your case.