Harrison County Truck Accident Lawyer
Truck or tractor-trailer accidents could cause significant damages and devastating injuries. Victims could sustain injuries such as broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord damage.
Despite their massive size, the drivers of these commercial trucks have the same obligations to follow the safety rules of the road as all other travelers. Tractor-trailer drivers are also obligated to follow federal regulations when on the road. A failure to follow any of these safety rules and regulations can place blame and liability for injuries and damages caused by a wreck on the trucker or their parent company.
If you or a loved one were injured due to a negligent or reckless tractor-trailer driver, a Harrison County truck accident lawyer could help you prove your case. He or she could advocate on your behalf and help you recover the compensation you need to move forward. Speak to a diligent personal injury attorney to learn about your legal options.
Negligence as the Core of Accident Claims
Most collisions between trucks and other cars occur due to negligence. All motorists on the road assume a duty to follow the safety rules that are designed to protect us all from injury and mayhem when we get behind the wheel and drive on our streets, highways or interstates. This means that truckers must follow all safety rules to prevent accidents. This includes:
- Following the applicable speed limits
- Yielding when appropriate
- Properly maintaining their vehicles
- Refraining from texting while driving
- Taking appropriate rest breaks to avoid dozing off behind the wheel
- Properly changing lanes
A knowledgeable Harrison County truck accident lawyer could help gather evidence that a truck driver has failed in their duty to follow all the applicable safety rules. This could include things like tracking the path of a ticket through traffic court, securing the truck’s “black box” for information about how long the trucker was on the road and how fast he was going, or visiting the scene of an accident to determine the true cause of the collision.
Federal Rules and Regulations for Truck Drivers
In addition to following the safety rules of the road, truckers must also adhere to special laws that regulate the trucking industry to keep motorists who share the roads with big-rigs safe. The most common example of these rules is the limits on maximum driving times.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires that a commercial trucker cannot drive for more than 11 hours at any given time. To reset this timer, a driver must take a rest period of no less than ten hours. Similarly, a driver cannot operate for more than 60 hours during a seven-day period, but this may extend to 70 hours over eight days.
A failure to follow these safety rules places everyone on the road in danger, and at serious risk of injury. Evidence that a trucker was in violation of any one of these safety rules is powerful evidence of negligence. Civil courts may assume that a defendant is negligent if their behavior violated a safety rule intended to protect public safety. A seasoned Harrison County truck accident lawyer could help to use this concept of negligence per se to demonstrate a defendant trucker was at fault following a wreck with a big-rig.
Reach Out to a Harrison County Truck Accident Attorney
Taking on a trucking company and their insurance carriers may seem like an insurmountable task following an accident. It is likely that you may be suffering from disabling physical injuries, need to deal with property damage, be unable to work and losing wages, and enduring physical pain and emotional shock. However, the law says that any negligent party, even those that work for big companies, has an obligation to provide compensation to their injured victims.
A Harrison County truck accident lawyer could help you pursue that compensation. They can help with every portion of the claim from gathering evidence of the defendant’s negligence, to documenting all your compensable injuries and damages, to standing up to big trucking companies and their insurance companies. With the help of a competent injury attorney, many cases end with a fair settlement without going to court. However, your Harrison County truck accident attorney will prepare to go to trial if that is what it takes to get full and fair compensation.
The time to act may be running out. Per Mississippi Code Annotated §15-1-49(1), injured claimants have only three years from the date of the accident to file a civil action claim. In some cases, such as those where the at-fault party is a government employee, claims must be brought within only one year or be forever barred. Call today for a free consultation to get started on your case.
