Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
If you’ve ever spent any time on an Interstate Highway in the US, you will have had an up close and personal experience with sharing the road with a big rig.
There is no doubt that our highways are teeming with all types of vehicles, and some of the largest ones happen to be trucks and trailer units. Thanks to their massive size, these rigs are exceptionally deadly if involved in an accident. You’re looking at close to 80,000 pounds of steel hurtling down the road and it is unable to come to an immediate stop.
In fact, it takes three times the amount of time for an 18-wheeler to stop compared to a normal vehicle. This is a factor that people should keep in the back of their minds when they cut in front of a rig and then do something incredibly stupid like slow down or suddenly stop.
Most large rigs should really be looked at as accidents waiting to happen given their size and the number of things that may go wrong when they are traveling at high speeds on a highway. Aside from trucker negligence, there may be vehicle maintenance problems, tire problems, bad weather that makes it hard to drive or even uneven load distribution.
Whatever the cause of the accident, it’s a sad fact that roughly every 16 minutes there is a large rig accident in the US that takes a life or severely injures or disables another person. Large rig accidents cause some very traumatic injuries that include spinal cord injuries, brain injuries (coup and contre coup), broken bones, scars, acute bruising, paralysis, amputation and disfigurement.
While it may be the trucker at fault for the accident, or his employer, it’s best to discuss your case with an expert personal injury lawyer. Big rig accidents are never easy on the victim as they are complex and require a lot of groundwork to make a solid case. These cases are incredibly complex because of the nature of the liability and the number of people involved from the insurance company to the trucker and from the employer to the crew who maintained the road where the accident happened. Suffice it to say that there are a multitude of factors that need to be considered in big rig cases and only an experience personal injury attorney will be able to handle them.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact that many road rules go by the wayside when tired truckers attempt to meet often unrealistic delivery deadlines. Fatigue plays a significant role in accidents, as does the condition the driver and the truck itself, prior to the accident.
It’s the little details that count in preparing a personal injury lawsuit. Trust your attorney to do his job and make sure you obtain justice.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.