Truck accidents are devastating, painful experiences that leave victims and their families facing massive bills. Recovering compensation in these cases is an uphill battle because fault in a trucking accident is extremely complicated. Even accidents with cut-and-dried causes can have surprising complications, such as:
Driver fatigue may not be the driver’s fault.
Simply put, drivers who become overtired make mistakes. Those mistakes lead to crashes. Those crashes lead to injuries. Fatigue does not happen all on its own. A commercial truck driver must meet deadlines and schedules that are not under their control.
There are legal requirements for drivers to take breaks at certain times. If you can prove that a driver’s schedule doesn’t allow for breaks, then that fatigue may actually be the fault of their employer.
Overloading-unbalanced loading may not be the trucking company’s fault.
Over-land shipping is the movement of extremely heavy loads across long distances. That weight must be appropriate for the vehicle and balanced, which requires a thoughtful loading process. That’s not always happening under strict deadlines. An unbalanced, overloaded truck is much harder to control.
Truck drivers and shipping companies may not be the ones loading the vehicle. Often trucks are subcontracted to a larger company that loads the truck themselves. If proper care isn’t taken, and an overloaded truck causes an accident, then the entity responsible for loading the truck is liable.
Inexperienced drivers may be the fault of the shipping company
An inexperienced driver must take responsibility for the accidents they have, but who hired the driver? Hiring practices can directly lead to devastating accidents if shipping accompanies do not adequately vet their employees’ credentials and skills.
Improper maintenance might be caused by bad parts
The maintenance and upkeep that keep trucks safe is the responsibility of the truck’s owner. Failures here are obviously on the shipping company unless the parts themselves were defective.
Complicated accident calculations
Liability is a complex chain of cause and effect that can and does lead to significant legal battles. However, if your injuries are not your fault, you deserve representation that will pursue your case as far as necessary.
