Request FREE consultation - 1866-758-4529 
Texas has thousands of miles of highways, including major interstates such as I-10, which runs east and west; I-45 and I-35, which run north and south; and US 290, which runs from Houston to Austin. Thousands of 18-wheeler tractor-trailers travel each highway daily, and the sheer number of trucks leads to record numbers of commercial vehicle accidents.
According to the annual report prepared by the Texas Department of Transportation, over 70,000 registered commercial trucks and over 50,000 registered Motor Carriers operate in the US.
The transportation business is expected to grow annually by double digits for several years, leading to a severe driver shortage. We have too many trucks to regulate and finite governmental resources to monitor carriers and drivers regarding safety issues. Usually, safety issues become known only after a serious crash.
It has been reported that over 400 fatalities occurred in Texas due to commercial vehicle accidents in one year alone. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in one year alone, we had 4,321 fatal accidents in the US involving commercial vehicles.
The Texas Highway Patrol investigates most serious injury cases involving commercial vehicles on interstate highways. Its special accident reconstruction team has the latest mapping and surveying equipment.
In serious cases, the Texas Highway Patrol will “reconstruct” the accident, and the results may often be used in a truck accident lawsuit. The Highway Patrol investigates trucking accidents all across the state, including The Woodlands and Conroe, TX. The trucking company’s insurance company will be at the scene of an accident involving a wrongful death within 24 hours of learning about it and often before the authorities have removed the vehicles.
The victim or the victim’s family must hire a big-rig accident lawyer early on. The lawyer must investigate the accident before evidence disappears or vehicles are repaired.
Given the extreme weight of 18-wheeler tractor-trailers, the aftermath of a wreck is usually ugly. Those lucky enough to survive often have serious injuries such as spinal cord fractures, traumatic brain injury, and paralysis, and many require at least one surgery (if not multiple) at great expense.
Recovering from a tractor-trailer accident can be a job enough for anyone, yet victims are also forced to pay high medical bills or deductibles when they cannot work. This puts a heavy burden on the victim or their family. Some have good health insurance that pays most bills, but others face large out-of-pocket expenses, and sometimes, the medical expenses can go on indefinitely.
Truck wreck damages:
Legal damages for personal injury in Texas include such items as:
These damages are posed to a jury to answer in the past and the future.
Often, a life care planner calculates the total lifetime cost of medical care for permanent injuries with significant future medical expenses. These professionals are Doctors who work with a team of medical professionals to protect the victim’s future medical needs.
Where the victim of a trucking accident did not survive, the family seeks damages for the wrongful death and survival claims. The wrongful death case involves damages known in law as “pecuniary loss,” which is the loss of the person and their economic contribution to the family. The human loss in a wrongful death case is called “loss of companionship and society,” and a separate question is posed for “mental anguish.”
Where the driver’s company acted with “Malice,” more than mere negligence or thoughtlessness, exemplary damages in a truck accident may be appropriate. In Texas, such damages have been capped by statute under recent “tort reform.” However, when exemplary damages can be submitted to a jury, they can help the family recover economic justice for the bad actions of a trucker or his company.
Most commercial vehicle accidents involve serious injury and /or death. Because a typical rig can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, occupants of a 4000-pound passenger car hit by a semi-truck have little hope of escaping serious injury on impact.
Fortunately, trucking companies usually have significant insurance coverage for legal injury damages.
Given the serious injury potential of large commercial vehicles, the minimum insurance required for commercial trucks over 10,000 pounds subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations is $750,000. In our experience, most motor carriers carry at least a one-million-dollar primary policy, and companies with more than a few trucks carry an umbrella policy.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require larger insurance coverage for trucks carrying hazardous material and commercial passenger vehicles.
Given the propensity for serious injury and wrongful death arising from an 18-wheeler accident, most insurance companies who underwrite large Truckers’ Insurance Policies have “quick response teams” on the site of the accident in 24 hours or less.
Such teams gather information to defend a wrongful death or serious injury lawsuit. The defense of truck accident cases frequently centers on efforts to shift responsibility from the driver or company to the plaintiff or other third parties.
18-wheeler accidents can cause the death of one or more occupants of the car struck by the tractor-trailer. The sheer weight and size of the trucks magnify the possibility of death or serious injury. Trucks are much more difficult to stop and control than the family car.
Trucking regulations such as driver hours and pre-trip inspections attempt to make our roads safer. However, estimates of traffic fatalities in the US are as high as 45,000 annually, and many of these involve commercial trucks.
Violating the safety rules can be very important evidence in personal injury or wrongful death litigation involving a truck driver and a trucking company. The federal regulations, which have been largely adopted in the state of Texas, are additional standards of care over and above those placed upon everyday drivers.
The safety rules are necessary because of the injury potential of an 80,000-pound vehicle.
Get the best truck accident attorney if you have lost a loved one in a truck accident. You can find one when you can, as the earlier you retain a truck accident attorney, the better position you put them to help your family.
Read More:Why Hire Truck Accident Lawyer Greg Baumgartner?
Be wary of hiring an attorney without a significant track record in successfully prosecuting truck accidents. Do your homework and call the best commercial vehicle accident lawyers in Texas.
Related Articles:
Texas Wrongful Death 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyer
About Texas Wrongful Death Trucking Accident Lawsuits
Understanding the Role of Wrongful Death Attorneys
Some helpful links are http://www.txdps.state.tx.us – the Texas DPS, and https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
