A Complete Guide to Trucking Accidents: Injuries, Causes & How A Lawyer Can Help

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration might have been the government’s most effective safety watchdog group. The FMCSA successfully pushed for the Electronic Logging Device mandate, even though the trucking industry fought this requirement all the way to the Supreme Court.

However, since the pandemic, the FMCSA has watered down rule after rule after rule. Truckers can now travel longer distances with less oversight than ever before. Even the ELD mandate, the agency’s crown jewel, isn’t safe. The agency granted the first permanent ELD waiver in February 2024. More waivers are almost sure to follow.

So, it’s the same old story. People simply cannot count on government bureaucrats to protect them. However, they can count on a Commercial Truck Accident Attorney in California. Attorneys protect people by holding negligent parties responsible for the damages they cause. This responsibility includes paying compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Truck Accident Injuries

Head injuries, broken bones, and serious burns might be the most common serious injuries in a truck accident claim.

The severe, violent motion of a truck wreck, not a trauma impact, often causes a head injury. This motion causes the brain to slam against the inside of the skull. That internal impact causes brain bleeding, swelling, and other serious injuries that are usually permanent.

Broken bones are usually permanent as well, at least to an extent. For example, if Paulo breaks his leg in a truck accident, he’ll probably be able to walk again, but he’ll permanently lose range of motion in his hip, knee, and other joints.

As for burns, diesel fuel and ordinary gasoline burn at different temperatures. This temperature difference usually causes serious burns that must be treated at speciality bur centers. These victims can expect long stays, painful treatments, and sky-high medical bills.

What Causes Trucking Accidents?

Negligence, which is basically a lack of care, usually involves a breakdown in one of the four following areas:

• Recognition: Impaired drivers cannot recognize hazards and quickly react to them. Their judgment is cloudy and their motor skills are impaired. Among truck drivers, fatigue might be the most common impairment. Quite simply, many truckers stay on the road too long. Driving after eighteen consecutive awake hours is like driving with a .05 BAC level, which is above the legal limit in California.
• Decision: IMpaired drivers also cannot make good decisions. Drug impairment is a good example. A third of truckers admit they use amphetamines to counteract fatigue. These drugs make users edgy and suspicious. Furthermore, when the drug wears off, the user crashes fast and hard.
• Performance:  Most performance errors involve aggressive driving, such as excessive speed. Large trucks are so heavy and so hard to control that a tiny amo8nt of excess speed could have disastrous consequences. Speed increases the risk of a collision and the force in a wreck. Other aggressive driving issues include unsafe turning and tailgating.
• Non-Performance: Before they hit the road, truckers have a responsibility to inspect their rigs. We aren’t talking about a government safety inspection, but we mean more than a visual inspection. Furthermore, if their rigs have any operational issues, like soft breaks, drivers must immediately address these issues.

One of these four categories of driver error causes over 98 percent of the truck wrecks in California. If you have further questions about your case, you can consult a Commercial Truck Accident Attorney. 

How a Trucking Accident Injury Lawyer in Los Angeles Establishes Liability

These negligence claims are quite complex. Usually, a trucking accident injury lawyer in Los Angeles must prove first-party liability and third-party liability.

We discussed many aspects of first-party liability, or negligence, above. We have yet to discuss some other critical areas, such as the duty of care and the difference between fault and liability.

Commercial operators have a duty of utmost care in California. They must go above and beyond to prevent accidents. This responsibility is different from the duty of reasonable care, which applies to most noncommercial drivers.

Following distance is a good example. Noncommercial drivers usually must adhere to the two-second rule. The recommended truck driver’s following distance is seven seconds. Many truck drivers routinely ignore this responsibility.

Furthermore, there’s a difference between accident fault, which is like a halftime score, and legal liability, which is like a final score. Liability is based on all the facts and applicable law in a case, not just some of these things.

So, if you were involved in a truck accident and an investigator said you were at fault, reach out to a Los Angeles trucking accident injury lawyer anyway. You may still be entitled to significant compensation.

Consult Our Experienced California Truck Accident Lawyers

Injury victims need and deserve substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an Accident Attorneys Los Angeles, contact the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.