How To Prove Fault In A Truck Accident

Each truck accident case is different and in many cases, the accident was caused by something completely out of the driver’s control. These are things like faulty parts on the truck, improper maintenance, improper load management and more. Some of the most common parties that are liable are as follows:

• The driver of the commercial truck/vehicle – In many cases, the driver of the truck is the person liable as they often break the rules of responsible professional drivers by doing things such as driving for too many hours, driving while intoxicated or driving while drowsy. They also are notorious for speeding and reckless driving, especially when they are running behind on their deadlines to deliver their load.
• The company responsible for the truck and route – If the trucking company is forcing it’s drivers to continue driving past their legal amount of driving time per day, then they would be liable for any accidents that are caused by their drivers. Many times a company is running behind with their routes due to bad weather or other factors and will overwork their drivers or loading staff which can lead to improper weight distribution or drivers that are not fit to do their routes.
• The company that does maintenance on the truck – If the company that does their truck maintenance service skips over a required step in their maintenance plan or fails to check on something that later turns out to be the root cause of the accident, then the service company would be held liable for the accident. This is a common situation with old bald tires, brake jobs that were done improperly and many other types of faulty systems that could have been prevented with proper maintenance.
• The manufacturer of the truck – If there were parts on the truck that were not manufactured correctly which led them to fail during operation and that part failure led to an accident, then the truck manufacturer would be held liable. Many companies skip steps during their manufacturing processes or overlook something during the design process which can lead to unexpected part failures. When these parts fail and cause an accident, you can bet that the insurance company is going to hold the truck manufacturer liable for their actions.
• The person or company responsible for properly loading the tractor trailer – Sometimes the driver of the truck will load their trailers and sometimes there is a third party that loads the trailer with whatever products they need to transport. But when the person loading the truck does not calculate the entire weight of the load and place the load properly along the right areas of the trailer, this can cause dangerous conditions for the trailer and it could cause it to unexpectedly roll over which can be devastating to the people around you. If this happens, the person loading the truck improperly would be held responsible for improper weight distribution during the loading process and in turn be liable for the accident it caused.
• The other driver or pedestrian – Many times, other drivers or pedestrians are the root cause of accidents with semi trucks. A lot of drivers miscalculate what truck drivers can do with their vehicles or think that they can see them when they can’t, which turns into accidents quite often. The most common accident is truckers rear ending cars because someone cuts them off and slams on the brakes but the truck can’t get stopped in time. Blind spots are notorious areas for collisions with other vehicles as well since people expect the trucker to be able to see them at all times. If you started the accident, you can bet you will be held liable for it.