Determining Fault in a Commercial Truck Accident

If you find yourself involved in a commercial truck accident, you no doubt must feel caught in a very stressful situation. Even if you got away without suffering actual injury, the property damages to your vehicle would probably be pretty extensive, and getting compensation through the legal system is often a nightmare for the inexperienced. Making matters worse are trucking and insurance companies that deny fault or try to pass it on to another party, spinning you around in circles and denying you benefits.

To prevent yourself from this turmoil, it is best to get a truck accident lawyer on your side as soon into the process as possible, and the attorneys at the Tatum Law Firm would like to be the ones to step up. With years of experience representing accident victims, we know exactly what to look out for when trying to determine fault in a truck accident.

What Caused the Accident?

A typical truck accident could be caused by anything from driver error to mechanical failure to nasty weather conditions, and a big part of determining fault is factoring in these causes.

Driver error typically will result in a speedy diagnosis. For example, left-turn accidents or rear-end collisions almost always point directly to one person when it comes to fault. You should also keep in mind that driver error can be caused by fatigue, which is common among truck drivers.

Equipment failure can cause many accidents as well, though determining whether the flaw was due to a manufacturing or design error can be tough to tell for certain. A lot of equipment, however, will fail when used improperly, such as tires, steering, brakes and transmission.

What Does the “Black Box” Say?

Like airplanes, more and more commercial trucks are starting to get outfitted with small “black boxes,” which can record the very information you need to determine fault. Typical data measured includes speed, duration of the drive, GPS location and use of brakes.

What Does the Law Say?

Unfortunately, the trucking industry is largely regulated at the federal level, and these laws can be a little vague. In general, fault can be placed on any number of parties: the truck driver, truck owner, truck leaser, truck manufacturer and the truck loader could all be responsible based on your specific accident. All of these parts will also do their best to pass blame to the next link in the chain, making the process even stickier.

Contact a Truck Accident Lawyer

When involved in a commercial trucking accident, you should do your best to make sure you are protected against all possible legal scenarios. More often than not, this means hiring a professional truck accident lawyer to represent you.

1The attorneys at the Tatum Law Firm know exactly what you will want to watch out for if involved in an accident, and we look forward to sharing this knowledge with you, so please do not hesitate to contact a representative today for more information of if you have any additional questions on what to do next.