Cincinnati Truck Driver Reckless Driving Attorneys
No one should have to pay the price for another driver’s reckless driving. This is especially true for accidents involving large trucks like tractor-trailer trucks. Crashes involving large trucks are unfortunately common, and they tend to be devastating for any passenger vehicles involved. A truck driver can be alert, sober, and focused on the road and still cause an accident due to aggressive or careless driving.
The 2013 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) large truck and bus crash facts report says that 241 passenger vehicle occupants were fatally injured by large trucks engaged in aggressive driving or road rage. The injuries from such crashes can be life-altering and expensive, and they can severely reduce a person’s quality of life.
What is Truck Driver Reckless Driving?
There are several different types of behavior that can count as reckless driving. Say, for instance, a truck aggressively tailgates you and then cuts in front of you, causing you to abruptly brake. According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), aggressive driving involves a combination of different driving behaviors that can endanger the lives of others. These are just a few such examples:
- Committing speeding violations
- Aggressively passing other cars or trucks
- Failing to yield the right of way
- Neglecting to use proper turn signals
- Tailgating other vehicles
- Cutting off other drivers while aggressively weaving in and out of traffic
Tractor-trailer trucks are inherently intimidating, but when commercial truck drivers use their trucks to intimidate other drivers or drive aggressively, serious injuries can occur. In cases like these, the truck’s behavior goes from a traffic ticket to a criminal action.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the FMCSA have recently instituted a program called TACT, or Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks. The goal of this program is to deter reckless driving by large trucks on the nation’s freeways in order to avoid reckless driving accidents. The FMCSA also keeps a consumer complaint database for complaints against any large commercial vehicle.
Why You Need a Lawyer
In cases of reckless driving in Ohio and Kentucky, it is important to contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible. A skilled reckless truck driving lawyer can help you hold the driver and trucking company accountable. Because both the driver and trucking company can be held liable, trucking companies will often use their considerable resources to fight any reckless driving claims.
For these reasons, it is important to contact an experienced truck driver reckless driving lawyer as soon as possible and get his/her opinion on what to do. An experienced truck injury attorney will collect evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, build an airtight case, and represent you in court if necessary. A lawyer can also fight to make sure you receive the maximum compensation possible for your injuries
Time is always a factor when deciding whether or not to file a claim. In Ohio, a personal injury claim must be made within two years from the date that the injury occurred. In Kentucky, the statute of limitations for personal injury claims is one year from the date that the injury occurred.
There are additional reasons that you need to seek legal counsel as quickly as you can. Over time, evidence related to the truck driver reckless driving accident can get lost or be compromised. Similarly, witnesses to the truck driver reckless accident you were involved in will have less accurate recall of details as time passes, making them less reliable if your case goes to court. If you are able (if you’re not, then enlist the help of family members or friends), you should take pictures, videos, get contact information witnesses and exchange insurance information from the truck driver. This evidence is can be an important part of how your attorney puts together the reckless driving case.
An experienced truck driver reckless driving attorney can help in negotiating a fair and just settlement from the insurance company, or take the case to court if no mutually-agreeable settlement is offered.
The truck driver’s insurance company will probably contact you soon after the accident and offer you a lump-sum payment to settle any claims against them for the accident. However, these settlement offers are a fraction of the compensation that you deserve and are entitled to for all the losses you have suffered because of a truck driver reckless driving accident.
When you hire an Ohio and Kentucky truck driver reckless driving accident attorney as your representative with trucking companies and their insurance companies, you can be assured that they will fight to ensure that you get everything you are entitled to.
At Lawrence & Associates Accident and Injury Lawyers, LLC, we believe that everyone deserves the best legal representation, no matter what their financial circumstances are. This is why we operate on a contingency fee basis. This means we don’t get paid unless we win compensation for you.
Truck Driver Reckless Driving Cases We Handle
When large truck drivers operate their vehicles in a reckless way or they attempt to intimidate other drivers on the road, the consequences can be disastrous. Whether the truck driver was speeding, tailgating, or weaving in between traffic, we will get every bit of pertinent evidence in your truck driver drowsy driving accident and we will a stellar case to help you get the maximum amount of compensation for the injuries and other losses that you have suffered.
The most common injuries in truck driver drowsy driving accidents include, but are not limited to:
- Fractured and crushed bones
- Severe brain and head injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Severe cuts and bruising
- Spinal cord injuries
- Partial or full paralysis
- Wrongful death
If you have lost a loved one in a truck driver drowsy driving accident, there is no amount of compensation that will bring your loved one back or make up for the huge void that their absence has left in your life.
However, hiring an attorney to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the truck driver and trucking company ensures that they are held accountable for their actions that took your loved one from you. You may be able to sue for punitive damages if there is clear evidence of reckless endangerment on the part of the truck driver. Our knowledgeable team of lawyers can help you get justice for your loss and bereavement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Kind of Compensation Can I Expect in a Truck Driver Reckless Driving Case?
The experienced truck injury attorneys at Lawrence & Associates Accident and Injury Lawyers, LLC will seek financial compensation for all of the ways in which the accident has negatively impacted your life. This includes not just physical injuries, but also financial losses and psychological/emotional suffering, including:
- Current and future medical costs
- Lost wages and reduced earning potential
- Partial or full disability
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy costs
- Emotional and physical pain and suffering
- Punitive damages in cases of wrongful death
How Can Reckless Driving Be Proven in a Lawsuit?
There are a number of different types of evidence that can be used to prove truck driver reckless driving. Accident witness testimony is quite important, as is testimony from the arresting officer or first responder on the scene.
In cases of speeding, dashcam or other video evidence can play a huge role, as can radar data or information retrieved from onboard truck computers. However, police officers are also trained in the visual estimation of driving speed, and their speed estimate is admissible in court. Any photographic evidence, driver logbooks, and bystander testimony can also play a huge role in confirming that the truck driver was driving recklessly.
What Can I Do Immediately After the Accident to Help My Case?
First, depending on the severity of the crash, you may be seriously injured. You should always seek medical attention and contact the authorities as soon as possible. If you are able to, there a few steps you can take that may help increase your future options.
If possible, make a note of the truck’s license plate number, description, and DOT number. Take pictures or videos when possible, and reach out to anyone who saw the crash occur for contact information. Such witness testimony can prove invaluable in a court of law.
Truck Driver Reckless Driving Statistics
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 25% of tractor-trailer truck drivers who are involved in fatal injury truck crashes have had at least one prior speeding conviction.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, over one-third of all traffic fatalities that have occurred in the last twenty years have involved speeding. This risk is only magnified when dealing with tractor-trailer trucks and other large trucks. The braking distance for large commercial trucks is much further than it is for most passenger vehicles, so if they are speeding, stopping in time to avoid an accident is almost impossible.
Contact Us
After being in a truck driver reckless driving accident, you may be too overwhelmed with all that you have suffered to know what to do next and how to pick up the pieces of your life to move forward.
Lawrence & Associates Accident and Injury Lawyers, LLC knows how devastating truck driver reckless accidents can be for you and your family. Our knowledgeable and compassionate legal team has many years of experience working to protect the rights of people just like you who have been the victims of serious truck driver accidents they had no control over. We are committed to working diligently to make sure you get the justice that you deserve and the compensation that you need to start on the road to recovery.
Start by contacting us online or calling us today at (513) 351-5997 to schedule a free-of-charge legal consultation.
