Accidents between large commercial trucks and passenger vehicles are consumed by a greater level of vulnerability for the drivers and passengers in the smaller vehicles, because the average semi-truck is traveling at a weight 20-30 times greater than a car and can be approximately 60 feet long.1 The share size and power behind a commercial truck in comparison to that of a passenger vehicle, can often result in serious or fatal consequences, recognized by the fact that in a large truck accident averages indicate that 16 percent of deaths are truck occupants while 67 percent are passenger vehicle occupants.2 Recovering from these types of serious truck accidents, requires a significant amount of resources and extensive investigation in order to gather evidence and capture testimony that will work as the basis for earning fair compensation.
Investigating the Claim
In order to investigate and subsequently litigate a truck accident claim requires a significant amount of time, money, and work with specialized individuals. One of the major resources during an investigation of a truck accident is to hire a forensic crash reconstruction service.3 The reconstructive analysts try to determine factors including truck speed based on skid marks and calculations of the frictions values and brake factors such as the rubber efficiency, air brake deployment speed, brake balance, and brake lag time.4 The second part of the investigation and reconstruction process is to examine the truck’s safety and compliance with state as well as national standards. Trucks must be operated under the Code of Federal Regulations also known as the Federal Motor Carrier Regulations which holds corresponding documents and records that will be collected and reviewed to determine accident liability such as the licensing and knowledge requirements of truck drivers, qualifications of drivers, safe driving requirements for commercial motor vehicles, equipment requirements, hours of service requirements, and the equipment inspection and maintence.5 The remainder of the investigation will be focused on the collection of a range of evidence such as phone records, logbooks, police reports, witness statements, expert testimony, document requests, gathering insurance policies, photographic evidence, and surveillance footage.
Contact an Experienced St. Louis Personal Injury Attorney for a Free Consultation
If you have been involved in a truck wreck, it is important to discuss the circumstances of your injury with an experienced St. Louis truck accident attorney, who can help to protect your legal rights and interests. To contact a personal injury attorney for a free consultation please feel free to call the The Bruning Law Firm trial attorneys at 314-735-8100.
Resources:
- http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/large-trucks/fatalityfacts/large-trucks
- http://www.crashforensics.com/truckcrashreconstruction.cfm
