Florida Truck Accident Attorney

While safety technology and driver training have supposedly improved safety on our nation’s roads, truck accidents and fatal truck crashes have been increasing each year.  According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the number of injury crashes involving trucks has increased every year since 2009, including an 8% increase to 121,000 from 2016 to 2018.

Unfortunately, truck accidents can have very serious consequences.  A commercial truck typically weighs 25 times as much as an automobile and is not as responsive. Therefore, when a truck collides with an automobile, it can cause serious, life-threatening or fatal injuries.

If you (or a loved one) have been injured in a truck accident, you may be entitled to collect compensation for your injuries, pain and suffering. It’s important to consult with an experienced Florida truck accident lawyer as soon as possible to discuss the possibility of pursuing a claim against the at-fault party.

The truck accident attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA have helped hundreds of Florida accident victims get the compensation they deserve. We want to hear what happened to you and help you get compensated fairly for your injuries, pain and suffering.

Causes of Florida Trucking Accidents

Collisions involving a large truck can occur for a variety of reasons, including road conditions, driver condition, and condition of the truck. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration lists ten factors involved in truck accidents: brake problems, roadway problems, prescription and over-the-counter drug use, fatigue, unfamiliarity with the road, traveling too fast for the conditions, traffic flow interruption, required to stop before crash, and inadequate surveillance.

According to other reports, the main causes of truck collisions are:

• Driving when drowsy
  Federal laws have been in place for years that set strict limits on the number of hours a truck driver may consistently drive a truck. Those same laws also impose rest requirements between days worked.

  Despite these rules, drowsy driving is a leading cause of trucking accidents in the U.S. According to figures released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), in crashes where the truck was the main cause of the accident, 87 percent were due to driver fatigue. Moreover, if a driver remains on the road beyond the allotted eight hours, the driver doubles the risk of crashing compared to drivers on the road for less than eight hours.

• Distracted driving
  Distracted driving is a common cause of all motor vehicle accidents; however, it can be deadly when the distracted driver is a truck driver. Federal law prohibits all truck drivers from texting while driving. Nevertheless, many truck drivers continue to use handheld electronic devices while driving.

  A study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) determined that to send or receive a text a truck driver traveling at just 55 MPH will drive the equivalent of the full length of a football field without once looking at the road. That same study found that a truck driver is 8.9 times more likely to cause an accident when they use a dispatch device and seven times more likely to cause an accident when they look at a map.

• Maintenance issues
  State and federal laws require pre-trip inspections of a large truck prior to operating the truck. In addition, owners/operators must perform routine maintenance on the truck. When an inspection is rushed, or bypassed altogether, a catastrophic accident can occur. Common inspection and maintenance issues that result in collisions include tire/wheel defects, brake defects, and unsecured or overloaded trailers.

Who Is Responsible When for a Truck Accident?

If you were injured in a truck accident, or a family member was fatally injured in one, you may be entitled to obtain compensation for the injuries. To do so, you will need file a truck accident injury claim and prove that another party’s negligence was partially or wholly responsible for your injuries or loss.

First, however, you will need to identify the at-fault party or parties. Unlike a collision involving two passenger vehicles, identifying the responsible party in a trucking accident can be a complex task because the negligent party (or parties) could be any of the following:

• Driver
• Trucking company
• Owner of the cargo
• Truck manufacturer
• Company responsible for maintenance/repairs

An experienced truck accident attorney will identify all possible defendants and bring each one into the lawsuit to ensure that you are fully and fairly compensated for your injuries or loss.

Recovering Damages with a Florida Truck Accident Lawsuit

If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, you may be entitled to recover damages to help compensate you for your injuries. With a Florida truck accident lawsuit, you can pursue compensation for the following damages:

• Medical expenses
• Rehabilitation and other care costs
• Income lost because of time off because of accident injuries
• Loss of earning capacity in the future
• Physical and emotional pain and suffering
• Disfigurement and permanent scarring
• Diminished qualify of life

In some cases, the injured victim’s family can also pursue compensation for loss of consortium because their spouse or parent can no longer provide the companionship, care and support they did before the accident. If you lost a family member in a trucking accident, you may also be able to pursue compensation as the claimant in a wrongful death lawsuit.

An Experienced Florida Truck Accident Attorney Can Help You Get Compensated Fully and Fairly

If you or a family member has been injured in a truck accident, please contact the experienced Florida truck accident attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA as soon as possible. We are committed to helping accident victims obtain justice and get compensated fully and fairly for their injuries.

Getting help from the attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA means you will have expert support through the entire legal process – from gathering evidence, through filing a lawsuit, to going to trial, if necessary. We assure that we’ve collected all the evidence needed to prove negligence and filed all forms in a timely manner, and we negotiate directly and vigorously with insurance companies on your behalf. We build a powerful case demonstrating your need for compensation for physical, emotional, and financial damages resulting from the truck accident.

Many injury lawyers try to avoid going to trial by settling early with insurance companies, but we won’t let you down in this way. We will put our trial experience and litigation skill to work fighting for maximum compensation for you.

Call us at 855-LAW-DENNIS or fill in the FREE CASE EVALUATION form on our website to get started on your case.

Sources:

Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. (2018). Traffic crash facts.
https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/crashreports/crash_facts_2018.pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (2018). Large truck and bus crash facts 2018.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2018#A1

U.S. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (2020). Our roads our safety. Tips for truck and bus drivers.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ourroads/tips-truck-and-bus-drivers