Wolf Law has a 35 year history of representing both truckers injured on the job and drivers of automobiles injured in accidents with trucks. These include cases ranging from a pedestrian backed over and killed by a delivery truck in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot, to a driver of car crushed by a tractor-trailer on the Bayway Circle, to a truck driver who slipped on ice while making a delivery at a chemical plant, to a truck driver injured when climbing up to check the progress of an unload who fell when a handle pulled out of the trailer.
Truck drivers and the companies they work for have a duty to operate their vehicles in a safe and responsible manner. Likewise, drivers of automobiles have a duty to obey the rules of the road and be aware of the lack of maneuverability of a tractor-trailer, the restricted views, and the much longer stopping distances then that of an automobile. Unsafe driving, oversized loads, and various other practices can put the public and the truck operators in danger. Large and heavy trucks are easily affected by poor road and weather conditions that can lead to accidents. These trucks so far outweigh any size of passenger vehicle that when an accident occurs, the passengers in the car are frequently severely hurt.
Drivers and passengers involved in trucking accidents are entitled to have their medical bills paid, their lost wages compensated, collision damage repaired, and may pursue a recovery for physical injuries, disability and impairment, and pain and suffering. The truck driver may also be entitled to Workers Compensation Benefits for the injuries sustained.
With over 35 years of experience and success in achieving monetary awards for our accident clients, the attorneys at Wolf Law understand how to successfully represent trucking accident victims, whether they be the truck driver or the driver of the automobile.
Truck Under-ride Accidents
Truck under-riding, ultimately, results from a combination of an unsafe truck and a driver error — whether that driver is the truck driver or car driver. Smaller cars are at a greater risk, but any car can be at risk due to the large ground clearance of tractor-trailers. When the car becomes trapped underneath the truck, the car is subjected to substantial force. This force, and the intrusion of the trailer bottom onto the roof of the car, can result in death by decapitation, or paralysis due to spinal injuries. Closed-head brain injuries, including concussion, are also possible as a result of these accidents, as are severe lacerations and broken bones.
Although long-standing federal law requires trucks to possess a rear guard, often a bar located directly below the trailer’s rear bumper, many trucks on the road are not in compliance with this basic safeguard. Furthermore, the trucking industry has shunned protection against side under-running accidents. The failure to protect against the possibility of under-running on both the back and sides leaves truck drivers and trucking companies liable for injuries and damages caused by these devastating accidents, whether by the driver or passengers in a car or by the truck driver injured when he is not able to maintain control of his vehicle after it being struck in this manner.
If you have been injured in a trucking accident, then you may have the right to claim damages from the party at fault. Contact us today at (732) 741-4448 for a free consultation.