How Are Truck Accidents Different Than Car Accidents in Suwanee?

Unfortunately, our legal team has seen firsthand how damaging truck accidents can be. We cannot understate the importance of driving with extra caution near semi-trucks, delivery trucks, dump trucks, buses, and the like. Trucks can often cause more damage and injuries, and the resulting claims can be highly complicated. Here are why truck accidents are so different from car accidents.

Trucks Are Commercial Vehicles

Trucks are mostly driven by people who are on the job. These drivers are often compensated using payment systems that reward them for driving long stretches without resting or stopping. Most packages, for example, are guaranteed to arrive by a certain hour, giving the drivers strict deadlines. Factor in that seasonal drivers are often less trained and that delivery trucks often double park, and you begin to see why Banks, Stubbs, & McFarland LLP handles so many truck accident cases.

Furthermore, many delivery trucks are already maxed out with additional online purchases and retail demands due to Covid-19. Last month, for example, FedEx reported that they expected to deliver 100 million more holiday packages than in the previous year. Due to this huge demand, fatigued delivery drivers may make errors in judgment, including traveling over the speed limit or too fast for road or traffic conditions. 

Size Matters

The reason welterweights only fight other welterweights and heavyweights only fight other heavyweights is that a heavyweight (or a semi-truck) is going to do too much damage to a welterweight (or a passenger car). A loaded tractor-trailer weighs approximately 80,000 pounds, while a passenger car or SUV ranges from 3,000 to 4,000 pounds. When a truck causes a wreck, the chances of serious injuries or death are generally significantly higher. 

Truck Accident Claims 

Not only can trucks cause different types of damage and injuries in the crash itself, but the ins and outs of truck accident injury claims can also differ significantly from a car accident claim. First, car accident claims often involve other drivers, while truck accident cases might be against the truck driver, trucking company, employer, shipper, and other parties, all at the same time.

It’s important to find legal representation with a working knowledge of the applicable federal regulations (FMCSRs), which are the special rules for commercial drivers and their employers. Simply put, the rules of the road are different for commercial vehicles. They are subject to additional stipulations (professional licensing, for example), not just Georgia traffic laws.

More thorough investigations are required for in truck accidents to ensure your attorney can get you the maximum compensation possible to make you whole. Trucking companies know how to conduct investigations and some have been known to conceal or destroy evidence that might demonstrate liability, so it is critical to get the right law firm working on your case as soon as possible.

If You’ve Been in a Crash, our Suwanee Truck Accident Lawyers Can Help

At Banks, Stubbs, & McFarland - a Suwanee, Georgia personal injury law firm - we can help if you’ve been injured by a truck driver. Set up your consultation with one of our truck accident lawyers today by contacting us at 770.887.1209 or submitting this contact form.