Suffering an injury due to a truck accident brings catastrophic consequences. Such an accident enhances the chance of suffering a severe injury that might leave you out of job for several months. Coming with pain, agony, frustration and wage loss is realization of unfathomable complexities of who should be held accountable for the mishap. There are many players in the frame – from the driver to employer to manufacturer – and many times, responsibilities are distributed across the hierarchical structure.
For an outsider, who is not a part of the transportation industry or the field of law, it’s most unlikely to have in-depth knowledge about what actually went wrong. But some fundamental know-how is important to achieve a favorable outcome, and a Buffalo truck accident attorney is the right person to enlighten you in this aspect.
Laws Regulating Truck Accidents
Truck industry is regulated by both federal and state laws that set certain and clear standard that must be followed by the trucking companies, drivers and owners. The same laws are the first refuge to figure out what caused the accident and who was actually responsible for your injury.
Who is Responsible?
As mentioned earlier, several players are usually involved in any car accident. They may be:
- The truck driver
- The truck or trailer owner
- The individual or organization that leased the trailer or truck from its owner
- The manufacturer of the vehicle or any of its body parts that may have caused the accident
- The cargo loader or shipper (if it involves improper loading or overloading)
Such an accident often leads to fight among the leasing, hauling and trucking companies over whose insurance company will bear the brunt of injury compensation. All of them try to exploit legal loopholes in their favor and pass the bulk of responsibility to others. At this point, important it is for the victim to stay cool and calculative in order to blast off the false arguments and allegations and come up with a convincing composition of what actually transpired in order to win a justified sum of compensation.
Having a grip on the understanding of common causes of truck accidents, players involved and what roles they had in the entire episode, their interlinking to the vehicle and the loads will help you figure out whether your injury case has a valid point to file a compensation claim.
Can Companies Avoid Liability for Truck Accidents?
The past court cases related to trucking accidents and injuries clearly show a dangerous trend that the trucking companies, in their desperation to save their face, manipulate the reality by distancing themselves from the truck driver, the equipment manufacturer and supplier.
Parting Words
Despite the attempts to mute the truth through modification and mutation, there is a hope for the victims as federal laws and regulations have all the provisions to put the fabricated arguments to grave. According to the current federal law, any company having a trucking permit will be held accountable for any accident involving that truck, irrespective of whether the driver is a paid or independent worker or what the lease says about the owner or operator.
