Who Is To Blame In Trucking Accidents?
Brian O Sutter
Accident Lawyers
Florida roads are among the busiest in the nation. With the third largest population in the country and millions of tourists visiting every day, it should be no surprise that accidents occur on a sadly regular basis. But among these accidents, the most serious is certainly those that involve large commercial tractor-trailers.
Trucking accidents carry the potential to be dramatic in their damage and are often fatal or nearly fatal. Injuries sustained in trucking accidents often include traumatic brain injury, broken bones, paralysis, and more. Making matters worse, not only are trucking accidents incredibly serious, but they're also very difficult to become involved in when it comes to personal injury cases.
Trucking accident personal injury cases are difficult for numerous reasons. The biggest of these is simply the deep pool of resources that trucking companies and their insurance providers have at their disposal. And a large part of why those resources work against you is simple - it isn't always the driver of the truck that is held to blame for an accident in the Florida courts.
To see what we mean, take a closer look at who can be held liable for injuries in a trucking accident.
- Trucking companies must maintain their vehicles properly. If it is shown that a trucking accident occurred due to faulty truck parts such as brakes, the trucking company may be held responsible.
- Truckers are required to abide by very strict regulations on how long they can drive each day or in a week. Some trucking companies may force their drivers to go over these hours or ignore requirements to keep track of hours. If this is the case, the company may be held to blame.
- Weight requirements must be met as well, and in some cases if a trucking company forces their driver to haul a load that is beyond legal weight limits they could be held responsible.
- Additionally, it might be shown that a driver must meet deadlines that force them to drive at unsafe rates of speed or travel more hours than is legally allowed. Again, if it's shown that the trucking company forced them to do so, they could be held to blame.