Hiring a Tractor-Trailer Accident Attorney Makes Your Legal Case Much Easier
There are over 10,000 truck accidents every year. Those crashes lead to more than 24,000 injuries and 150 deaths each year in North Carolina. In fact, roughly 23% of all tractor-trailer accidents will result in an injury or fatality.
Hopefully this is the first tractor-trailer accident in which you have ever been involved. These accidents can be terrifying. Tractor-trailers are huge vehicles that carry thousands of pounds of weight throughout Raleigh. They are hard to stop, start, and get around most corners. They are massive vehicles compared to the average passenger car in Raleigh.
The huge size difference between a tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle means that these vehicles can cause a significant amount of damage, even more so than the average car or SUV. Although they can crush a passenger car, the truck itself is rarely harmed in any meaningful way. Instead, those in smaller cars and trucks end up with severe injuries and a lot of property damage.
Because you have likely never been involved in a tractor-trailer accident before, you likely don’t know what you should do after a crash. Thankfully, an experienced tractor attorney will be able to walk you through the legal process and help you get the compensation that you deserve to address your injuries and damage after this type of crash.
Crashes involving a tractor-trailer are different from your average car accident. They are often severe and complicated, which makes getting an experienced Raleigh NC tractor accident lawyer that much more important.
Tractor-Trailer Accidents Can Be Very Serious
The huge size difference between a tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle will often mean that any crash that involves these two very different types of vehicles will be serious. Some examples of injuries caused by a tractor-trailer accident include:
Even injuries that seem somewhat minor at the time of the crash can end up haunting you for years to come. Back and neck injuries, for example, will commonly lead to chronic pain that you have to deal with for the rest of your life. That type of injury can also limit your functionality, ability to work, and even how you interact with your family.
In cases that involve serious injuries, it can be very difficult to estimate what kind of medical care you will need down the road. You may not know how your injury will affect your working or home life, either.
A Raleigh tractor accident lawyer will be able to help you evaluate your situation and better estimate what kind of compensation you will need in the future. He or she can also put you in touch with doctors and other specialists who can give you an idea of what your medical future will look like, too.
In the average passenger vehicle case, you will deal with the car’s driver and their insurance company—and that’s it. That is not the case in most tractor-trailer accidents. Instead, you may need to involve many parties in the process, including:
If you do not involve the right party within a specific amount of time, you may lose the right to get money damages from that person or that company. Making sure you have the correct people involved is vital in this type of case, and a tractor accident law firm can help you do the investigation to make sure you get it right.
Those who drive commercial tractor-trailers have to follow the normal rules of the road, such as adhering to stoplights and stop signs. However, they also have an entirely different set of laws that they must follow, too.
For example, there are federal regulations on how long a truck driver can be on the road and how much weight they can carry. These laws are put in place for a reason—operating a tractor-trailer in violation of any of these regulations is unsafe (and illegal). When truck drivers operate their vehicles tired or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, for example, accidents are bound to happen.
An experienced Raleigh tractor accident lawyer knows these additional laws and regulations, and he or she will be able to spot when there may have been a potential violation that you can point out in your personal injury case. The team of tractor accident attorneys at the Clausen Law Firm has this type of experience, and we can put that knowledge to work for you. Call today to set up an appointment or get more information.
