McAllen – Harlingen – Brownsville – Rio Grande Valley Trucking Accident Lawyer

When truck collisions occur, trucking companies involved in the accident often send representatives to the accident scene to confront accident victims immediately following the event, when they are most vulnerable. These agents work to handle everything at the scene of the accident so that they can limit their company’s liability. It is important that you contact a Rio Grande Valley Personal Injury Attorney at O'Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath to work to preserve the evidence and advocate for your rights and help you get the compensation you deserve. The Highways through the Rio Grande Valley are becoming more and more crowded. The construction on Highway 83 seems to be never ending. There are significant risks posed by these conditions.

We all know the feeling: that uncomfortable tightening of the chest we get when we look into our rearview mirror and see an 80,000 pound 18-wheeler truck barreling down on our back bumper. According to federal statistics, commercial trucks are involved in thousands of collisions each year. Some of the reasons are obvious, others are not. A collision between a big rig and a car is likely to come out badly for the car. Trucks are bigger, heavier, and longer than cars; trucks need more room to maneuver; trucks take a lot more road to come to a stop. Given their size and weight, common sense tells you that a collision between a big rig and a car, or even an SUV, is likely to come out badly for the car. In fact, commercial truck crashes killed over 5,300 people in 2001 and injured over 125,000 more, many of them seriously.

Reasons for Crashes

As with other kinds of automobile collisions, there are various causes of big-rig accidents. Many of these collisions are caused by the same things that cause run-of-the mill car accidents: poorly maintained trucks, speeding, overly aggressive driving, failing to yield the right of way, or bad driving conditions caused by rain or snow. However, some of the collisions are caused by other factors unique to commercial trucks.

For example, some collisions are caused by trucks that are overloaded and therefore cannot stop in time. Other collisions are caused by the driver’s inexperience in operating a particular kind or size of truck. Still other collisions are caused by tired truckers who have been on the road for too long and who are fatigued. Tired truck drivers are now more likely to be on the road, with the deregulation of the trucking industry, changes in the way goods are shipped to a “just in-time” delivery system, and recent changes in the rules governing how long a trucker may drive before he is required to stop for a rest.

What We Can Do For You

People injured by the negligence of commercial truck drivers are entitled to compensation for their injuries. But, be aware that lawsuits involving truckers are often more difficult than other kinds of collision lawsuits, for several reasons. First, it may be difficult to find the trucker after the collision. The nature of a trucker’s job means that he might be involved in a collision in a state far from where he lives and to which he will never return. Trucking companies are also very skilled in defending themselves against negligence claims (which, to them, are just a part of doing business), and they can be very aggressive in denying claims because every dollar they pay out in compensation to accident victims is a dollar that does not go into their pockets.

Further complicating matters is the fact that most commercial big rig accidents involve far more parties than the typical fender-bender. Parties can include the truck driver, the trucking company, the shipper(s), the insurance adjuster, and the insurer, and the legal relationships among all of these parties can be difficult to unravel.

People who have been involved in a collision with a trucker are entitled to recover compensation for items such as medical bills, time lost from work, pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, and loss of earning capacity. The complexity of these cases means that you should consult an experienced attorney and should NOT rely on the trucking company’s insurance adjuster to look out for your interests. If you or someone you know has been involved in a big-rig collision, contact us. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you and work to get you the compensation that you deserve.