Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

Anyone who uses public and/or mass transportation — and we include in this broad category chartered and school-owned buses — likely doesn’t consider for a moment that they might be seriously injured or killed during the trip. Unfortunately, even though we all would like to believe that every mode of transportation that we choose to ride aboard is the safest and most risk-free like any other, that is sometimes not the case. The fact is, people are hurt every day in traffic accidents involving city buses, school buses, taxicabs, hired cars and limousines.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of legal professionals know full well that there are no guarantees in this life, but there still exists an expectation of safety from public carriers. Bus accidents can sometimes be very dangerous, if only for the fact that quite a number of tour buses, school buses and shuttle vehicles do not have seatbelts for every passenger.

Even so, hundreds of thousands of people use public transportation every year across the nation never thinking of the potential downside of a serious traffic accident. We are mentioning this due to the news article that we saw earlier this month, which described a tour bus crash that injured a number of kids and their parents in Kentucky. The bus was reportedly bound for our nation’s capital, but hardly got much farther than a couple miles before the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle.

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For anyone who hasn’t noticed, traffic accidents involving commercial motor vehicles still continue to claim innocent lives and put otherwise healthy people in the hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries. These types of collisions, which by the very physical nature of large trucks and other commercial motor vehicles, tend to be biased in favor of the more massive vehicle. Putting even a good-sized sport utility vehicle up against an 18-wheeler or large box truck is a gamble that the passengers in the SUV may not win; never mind a mid-size sedan, economy car or a truck-motorcycle collision.

What this all means is that trucking-related accidents in and around urban areas, such as Rockville, Gaithersburg and The District, will likely continue to claim lives and maim individuals, causing grief to loved ones of the victims and financial distress to their families. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, our job is to help victims, their spouses and children to recover damages in cases of negligent driving and other thoughtless acts that cause harm.

It doesn’t take much effort to find examples almost every week. Take, for instance, a crash that occurred earlier this year when two people ended up getting a trip to the hospital care of a collision with a Maryland cement truck. According to police reports, a 53-year-old man was medevaced to the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center following a collision between the man’s Dodge Dakota pickup truck and a cement mixer along a stretch of Md. 140 near Old Westminster Pike.

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For those out there who believe that every commercial trucker is the paramount of professionalism, we are here to say, albeit sadly, that this is not always the case. Just as with the motoring public in general, there are good apples and bad. Fortunately for most of us, the bad apples are few and far between, but this does not mean that there is not cause for concern vis-à-vis traffic accidents caused by negligence; this portion of the driving public is still over represented, at least from our standpoint as Maryland personal injury lawyers.

The point we are trying to make here is that while not every car, truck or motorcycle operator is a perfect driver, there are some very bad actors in our midst every day or every month. We, as motorists, may not realize we are sharing the road with potentially negligent individuals, which is a blessing in some regards. The downside, of course, is that one never knows when tragic traffic accident may strike as a result of one of these bad apples.

If you think that commercial truck drivers are less than likely to be poor or negligent drivers, you could be right. While most truckers obey traffic laws and Federal regulations and guidelines for operating these 80,000-pound rigs, there is a percent of truckers who flout the law either surreptitiously or even openly in some instances. Of course, they face stiff penalties, not the least of which is forfeiture of their commercial driver’s license (CDL), which can bring their truck driving career to a halt very quickly.

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Being a good driver — or even being an exceptional driver – does not necessarily give one immunity from ever being involved in a traffic accident. The fact is, as trite as it may seem, accidents happen every day, every hour; and, quite frankly, avoiding any kind of a car, truck or motorcycle collision may be a matter of simply staying off the road and away from the curb.

While this may come across as overly simplistic, the real truth is that few people can avoid exposing themselves to potential injury in this modern world. Driving to work, crossing the street, walking through a parking low; each of these activities offers some chance for a personal injury accident. As Maryland automobile, trucking accident lawyers, I and my staff know all too well how easy it can be to get caught up in a roadway accident.

Whether you are a driver, passenger, public transportation commuter, pedestrian or cyclist, the opportunities are all around us. Staying alert to the dangers and pitfalls of car accidents and commercial trucking wrecks is just part of the routine; if one wants to stay as safe as possible. Still, even the mostly vigilant among us can find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a highway collision.

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Sustaining bodily injury as a result of any kind of city or highway traffic accident can be both physically and psychologically traumatic. Car accidents, boating mishaps, motorcycle wrecks and bus collisions can all prove injurious to an individual given the right circumstances. Some of the most serious and deadly traffic accidents are caused by commercial trucks, such as construction vehicles, semi tractor-trailers, large delivery box trucks and even smaller, but heavily-laden commercial work trucks.

In any case, being injured as a result of another party’s negligence may be reason to file a personal injury lawsuit or claim against the negligent individual or individuals. In the case of trucking crashes, the fault — as initially determined by the local law enforcement agency — may lie with the driver of the vehicle, or it may be the fault of the trucking carrier or even a third party, such as a maintenance or repair facility. Naturally, the job of determining which parties should be named in a personal injury suit is typically too much for the average person, especially if that person is incapacitated by the accident.

Finally, injury as a result of a traffic accident involving a large commercial vehicle can be due to a poorly designed or manufactured part or component. Historically, it is not uncommon for motorcycle, truck and car accidents to be caused by incorrectly manufactured tires, steering components and braking systems. Lawsuits stemming from these kinds of car and truck collisions are also known as product liability claims; they can be tied to an injury accident — or in cases of fatal wrecks, may be related to a wrongful death lawsuit.

Because commercial trucking companies conduct the majority of their business operations on public roads — and in close proximity to other vehicles carrying individuals and families — federal and state governments have established numerous laws, legal statutes and industry guidelines to regulate certain critical aspects of these firms’ business conduct that may affect the public adversely should those practices be overlooked or ignored to the detriment of public safety.

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It’s a sad commentary to say that most people only remember the terrible news stories involving commercial trucking accidents, but the fact remains that bad news sells; good news just isn’t that interesting, apparently. Nevertheless, there are many examples of semi tractor-trailers going out of control, crashing into smaller passenger cars and killing and injuring dozens of people every year in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Of course, for every negligent truck driver out there, certainly there are many more conscientious truckers whose names are never in the newspapers or online. As mentioned above, good news isn’t as compelling as news that covers serious or fatal car, truck and motorcycle accidents. Part of the reason is that an 80,000-pound steel hauler can cause a large amount of damage if its brake system fails or the driver loses control and hits a small sedan, minivan or sport utility vehicle.

Injuries associated with commercial trucking accidents can range from that of minor scrapes, cuts and bruises, to compound fractures, third- and fourth-degree burns and concussions due to head trauma. Occupants of a 3,000-pound minivan are more prone to injury when the vehicle that hits them is a 25-plus-ton long-haul 18-wheeler with a load of heavy machinery sitting on the trailer.

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