Truck Accident Attorney in Bridgeport, CT

Large semi-trucks and 18-wheelers play an important role in commerce. Without them, transporting materials and products at scale would be near impossible. However, when driven irresponsibly, large trucks can cause horrible accidents and injuries. 

If you have been hurt in a truck accident, you could be facing a long recovery and expensive medical bills. You can’t work due to your injury, and you might be wondering how you will make ends meet. A Bridgeport truck accident lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve. 

At Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers, our Bridgeport personal injury lawyers have recovered over $500 million for accident victims in Connecticut. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can help. 

Should You Take a Settlement for a Truck Accident?

It is always smart to consult with an attorney before agreeing to any settlement. Insurance companies are supposed to help when disaster strikes. However, they are businesses with bottom lines to worry about, and they aren’t always on your side. 

Sometimes they offer lowball settlements, hoping you don’t understand what your claim is really worth. If you accept, you waive your rights to future compensation, and they can close your case for a fraction of what you deserve. 

Our Bridgeport truck accident attorneys will understand the true value of your case. We will not allow an insurance company to take advantage of you. Although they may not have your best interests in mind, we’ll fight to ensure that you are treated fairly.  

What Is a Truck Accident Claim Worth?

The compensation you can receive for your truck accident depends on the extent of your injuries and other damages. It isn’t possible to estimate without a thorough evaluation of your case. 

Your truck accident lawyer in Bridgeport can calculate your potential awards based on your economic and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Your economic damages are those you can relate to a specific cost. Typically, you receive a bill or an invoice telling you what you owe. You may be able to recover economic damages for costs such as:

• Ambulance transportation and emergency room care
• Medical care such as doctor appointments, specialist visits, and surgery
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Medications
• Anticipated future medical needs like medications, therapy, and additional surgical procedures
• Lost wages for the time when you were unable to work after your accident
• Future employment issues such as lost income and job retraining
• Property damage, as in the expense of repairing your vehicle

It can help your Bridgeport truck accident attorney if you keep track of receipts and paperwork related to your expenses so that they can ensure that they include all of your costs. 

Non-Economic Damages

Your hardships related to your mental, emotional, and social issues that have emerged as a result of your accident are considered non-economic damages. They are harder to prove and are not available in all cases. Non-economic damages include things like:

• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish

Keeping notes on how the accident has impacted the wellbeing of you and your family can help your attorney understand if non-economic damages may be part of your compensation. 

Who Is Liable in a Truck Accident?

Usually, people expect the truck operator to take the blame for an accident, but drivers are not always at fault. Some of the parties that can be fully or partially responsible for an accident include:

• Truck driver: The driver may be liable if they recklessly operated the vehicle, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, ignored speed limits, or violated other traffic laws.
• Trucking company: A trucking company may be liable for the accident if it fails to maintain the trucks, engages in poor hiring practices, pushes its drivers to work long hours without sleep, or does not offer proper training. 
• Truck manufacturer: If defects in parts or equipment caused the accident, the vehicle or parts manufacturer may be held liable. 
• Cargo loaders: If a truck tips due to improperly loaded cargo, the shipper or the cargo loader may be responsible for the accident
• Other drivers: Another careless driver may cause a truck to swerve to avoid a collision, only to crash into your vehicle. 

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

Truck accidents can occur in almost any way. Here are some of the most frequent causes in the Bridgeport area. 

• Driver fatigue: Truck drivers who log long hours without sleep can have impaired reaction times and may even fall asleep at the wheel. 
• Distracted driving: Texts, phone calls, and other distractions can distract a truck driver from the road and cause an accident. 
• Equipment malfunctions: Faulty brakes or blown tires can cause trucks to lose control and cause tremendous damage.
• Speeding: Trucks traveling at high speeds are harder to stop, and speeding gives truck drivers less time to react to danger 
• Driving under the influence: Truck operators under the influence of drugs or alcohol are breaking the law, risking their licenses, and putting other drivers in jeopardy.
• Poor weather conditions: Rain, ice, snow, and fog can create problems on roadways when truck drivers do not adapt their driving to dangerous conditions.
• Inexperienced drivers: Drivers who lack proper training or experience can make poor decisions and cause accidents.
• Reckless driving by others: Other drivers who do not respect the difficulty of operating a large truck can put truck drivers in dangerous situations.

Common Types of Truck Accidents in Connecticut

Any person engaged in a vehicle accident might suffer grave repercussions as a result. Trucks carry more than 63% of all products moving daily between the United States and Mexico. For truckers throughout the country, that translates to thousands of hours behind the wheel, and during those thousands of hours, more than eleven people pass away in truck accidents every day.

A yearly report on auto accidents, including truck accidents, is released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It contains a number of noteworthy details concerning truck accidents from the previous years. In the most recent study, a few significant things stood out.

Every year, reports of heavy truck collisions total over 510,000. 4,400 truck incidents, or 1% of all crashes, result in fatalities.

For a variety of causes, truck drivers may lose control of their trucks. Driver mistakes and speeding are a few of the causes, while jackknife collisions are another. Approximately 29% of truck accidents are the result of the driver losing control of the truck.

Jackknife Truck Accidents

In a jackknife tractor-trailer collision, an articulated vehicle—more broadly, a truck or other vehicle that pulls a trailer of any kind—actually collapses. The trucks may perform abrupt bends with the help of this trailer, which can be either permanent or semipermanent.

In a jackknife truck accident, a semi-truck’s trailer swings outward, usually forcing the truck’s cab to turn into the trailer. Jackknifing frequently happens when a vehicle’s braking system is malfunctioning, whether as a result of poor maintenance or negligent truck driver behavior. For instance, they might have to stop harder than necessary if the truck driver does not provide enough space between the truck and the following vehicle. Axles on trucks can lock up when braking abruptly and forcefully. The tractor-trailer will keep moving while pressing firmly against the cab, causing it to collapse in on itself.

Truck Underride Collisions

The following circumstances commonly result in truck underride collisions:

• A truck that is moving significantly slower than all other vehicles on the road.
• Inadequate or inoperative side safety lighting when a driver is either turning or obstructing a lane of traffic.
• A broken-down commercial vehicle and a driver who does not properly use reflective triangles.
• An extremely slow-moving truck and a driver who fails to turn on their emergency flashers.
• Dim, dirty or faulty taillights on the truck.

A truck underride collision is not always avoidable. If you or a loved one has been involved in this type of truck accident, we encourage you to contact our firm right away to see how we may be able to help you with your claim.

Oversized Cargo Accidents

Oversized cargo refers to loads that are higher or wider than what will fit in standard containers but are still able to be transported on top, open-side, open-top or flat-rack containers. Oversized loads are also sometimes called over-dimensional loads. It can be very difficult for truckers to transport oversize cargo; it is not uncommon for large trucks carrying this type of cargo to be involved in collisions.

If a truck driver or a trucking company violates the cargo regulations, they may be held liable for any damages that occur in a truck crash. Our experienced lawyers may use weigh station records, trucking company logs and records of what was shipped to prove that a truck was overweight or overloaded at the time of the collision.

Blind Spot Truck Accidents

A blind spot is simply the area around a truck that cannot be observed by the driver while they are in control of the vehicle. Blind spots are created by a number of objects and factors including; vehicle design, the windshield, dashboard, weather conditions, location of the mirrors and other features on the truck. Any of these features including having another person riding in the vehicle can cause a blind spot that hinders the driver’s ability to see their surroundings.

It is common for most new drivers to fail to recognize truck blind spots, which oftentimes results in a serious crash. Many times blind spot accidents may be unavoidable and may result in serious injuries due to the enormous size difference of a truck and a passenger vehicle. A fully loaded truck can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, whereas the average passenger vehicle weighs around 3,000 pounds. As we can imagine the result of these accidents can cause an immense amount of damage and can cause life-changing injuries.

Unsecured Cargo Accidents

Incorrectly secured cargo is one of the leading causes of commercial vehicle collisions. When the cargo is not secured properly, a wide range of possible collisions may occur. While a number of strict regulations exist to prevent this type of crash, incorrectly secured cargo accidents continue to be a serious traffic issue in the United States and, more specifically, in the state of Connecticut.

In recent years, some of the most common causes of unsecured truck loads include but are not limited to:

• Truck fails to check cargo security at appropriate intervals during travel.
• Tie-downs are not correct.
• Cargo is stacked insecurely.
• There is improper balancing of freight.
• Equipment is loaded so improperly that it ends falling from the back of the truck.

When equipment falls from the back of a large truck, the property damage and injuries associated with the error are often rather enormous.

Connect With a Bridgeport Truck Accident Attorney

Most truck drivers are responsible professionals who take safety seriously. Unfortunately, all it takes is one negligent, reckless, or overly aggressive driver to cause an accident. Suddenly, you are struggling to pay your bills and care for your family due to an injury. 

Our Bridgeport truck accident attorneys can hold careless drivers and their insurance companies responsible for the hardships they have caused. We will fight for fair compensation so you can begin to heal and move forward with your life.

Our team at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers has a 95% success rate. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and tell us your story.