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How can a lawyer help you with your accident involving an 18 wheeler?

While hiring a lawyer in the immediate aftermath of a serious truck accident may not be your first priority, the clock is ticking, and essential evidence saving measures should be implemented immediately.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN AN 18 WHEELER ACCIDENT

Accidents involving 18 wheeler trucks pose a much greater certainty of injury and/or fatality, than those involving smaller vehicles. If you or a loved one have suffered a serious injury or death due to an accident with an 18 wheeler truck, the following information could help you with your case.

The following information should be taken into consideration if you have been involved in an accident with an 18 wheeler truck:

1.Report the accident to the authorities

• Call 911 to alert the police department and emergency vehicles, so that they can assist you at the scene of the accident. Failure to report a serious accident that you've been involved in and leaving the scene, is a serious crime.
• If you drive for a living, contact your employer as soon as possible.

2. If you have a camera or camera phone, take pictures of the scene and vehicles

• Pictures of the scene, as close to the time of the accident as possible, could end up being key evidence in a trial.

3. Get the names and numbers of witnesses at the accident scene

• Eye witnesses often play a key role in vehicle accident cases.

4. Preserve the scene and the vehicle

• First and foremost, make sure the vehicle is preserved. While it is normal to grieve during a loss of a family member or serious injury, if the vehicle is destroyed or lost by the family or insurance company, sometimes it is impossible to prove a products liability case. Some judges will not allow an injured victim or the family of a lost loved one to pursue their lawsuit if they have failed to act to make sure the vehicle is not destroyed or lost.

5. Visit a doctor

• Medical attention is key to helping you recover from or discover any injuries you may have received due to the accident you were involved in. Some injuries are not obvious to us and can pose serious danger if they go unreported.

6. Contact an 18 wheeler truck accident lawyer

• Proper legal counsel will help you to understand your rights, legal options and liabilities.

An experienced lawyer can assist you or your family in gathering and preserving evidence to protect your legal rights. Other must dos in an 18 wheeler accident case are as follows:

1. An immediate site inspection by a qualified accident investigator/accident reconstruction engineer. This is important because skid marks, roll marks, gouge marks and other important pieces of evidence on and off the roadway may disappear in days or weeks after an accident.
   
2. Gathering statements from witnesses, vehicle occupants, law enforcement individuals, EMS personnel and other first responders.
   

1. Obtaining a bio mechanical or biomedical engineer to determine what part of the vehicle caused the injury or death.
   
2. Pulling together the victim's treating physicians, together with hired experts such a life care planners and other consultants to ensure the victim gets the care they need after the lawsuit is resolved.

A federal court issued a split ruling Tuesday on the government’s rules governing truck driver hours of service, rejecting a petition by a group representing owner-operators but granting a separate request by a public safety advocate group.

American Trucking Associations said it will seek a stay from the court to keep current rules in place until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration provides the court with explanations for two of the rules provisions, the group said following the ruling.

“ATA believes the existing rules have proven to be a significant improvement over the old rules in terms of reducing driver fatigue and related incidents,” said ATA President Bill Graves.

“Motor carrier experience and FMCSA data dramatically illustrate this. ATA plans to provide additional real-world documentation of the effectiveness of the current rules,” Graves said in a statement.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s decision denied a motion by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association but granted a request by Public Citizen and other groups to overturn portions of the HOS rule.

The court’s ruling ends nearly eight months of speculating about the fate of the rule, which will now go back to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The three-judge panel ruled that FMCSA “failed to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the methodology of the crash-risk model that the agency used to justify an increase in the maximum number of daily and weekly hours that truck drivers may drive and work.”

“We also find that the agency failed to provide an explanation for critical elements of that methodology,” the court stated.

In a written statement, FMCSA said it was evaluating its next step.

“We are analyzing the decision issued today to understand the court’s findings as well as determine the agency’s next steps to prevent driver fatigue, ensure safe and efficient motor carrier operations and save lives,” FMCSA said. “This decision does not go into effect until Sept. 14, unless the court orders otherwise.”

The court vacated the portions of the rule that extended the maximum allowable driving time to 11 hours from the previous limit of 10, and eliminated the so-called 34-hour restart, which allows drivers to reset their maximum allowable hours in a week.

The ruling maintains the limit for drivers’ work time of 14 consecutive hours. Previously, the agency had allowed drivers to work for 15 hours per day, but had let them clock on and off duty.

The court setback is FMCSA’s second since it first tried to rewrite the hours rules in 2003. The 2003 regulation was entirely vacated by the court in July 2004, but a one-year congressional extension allowed the agency to work on a revision with the struck-down rule in place.

FMCSA issued a new rule in 2005, making almost no changes to the previously voided rule, but making modifications to the provisions governing sleeper berth use.

OOIDA had challenged these rules, saying they were too inflexible and created an unsafe driving environment, but that challenge was rejected by the court.

By Transport Topics