When a large commercial truck crashes, the first question on most people’s lips is, “Is everyone okay?”. The immediate follow-up question to this most important inquiry is usually, “What happened?” When an experienced personal injury lawyer asks the question “What happened?” in the wake of a truck accident, it is understood that this is a broad query meant to encompass dozens and dozens of sub-questions and any number of nuanced, multi-part answers to those questions.

Truck accident cases are notoriously complicated for good reason. It is rare that any single factor causes an injurious truck accident. More often, a host of influences converge at exactly the same time to cause a truck to collide into another vehicle, to roll over, or to otherwise come to an unexpected, abrupt, and potentially catastrophic stop. It is a personal injury attorney’s job to determine what exactly caused a specific accident, whether it was anyone’s fault, and whether an accident victim has solid grounds upon which to file a personal injury and/or workers’ compensation claim as a result of the harm caused by the accident in question. Before an attorney can tell a potential client confidently that they may benefit from filing a personal injury lawsuit, that attorney must first ask questions and objectively evaluate the answers to those questions.

What Kind of Accident Was It?

There are two primary kinds of truck accidents: single-vehicle accidents and multi-vehicle accidents. Single-vehicle accidents occur when the only motor vehicle affected by the crash is the truck in question. Sometimes, large commercial trucks roll over, slam into stationary objects, skid out of control, careen off elevated surfaces, or get stuck as a result of a crash but don’t cause harm to any other motorists in the process. In such instances, it is rare that another motorist would be held accountable for the harm caused by the single-vehicle crash. It is far more likely that a defective auto part, ill-maintained road, weather conditions, or the driver’s personal behavior played a defining role in the accident. As a result, the attorney representing that truck driver would likely focus most of their investigative efforts on determining whether the road, the vehicle itself, or business practices of the truck operator’s employer may be to blame for the harm caused by the crash. However, it is possible that if another motorist was driving aggressively, negligently, or recklessly that their behavior ran the truck driver off the road, etc. In such cases, it would be possible to pursue damages against another motorist in a single-vehicle crash.

In a multi-vehicle accident, an attorney must examine both the truck driver’s vehicle and behaviors as well as those of anyone else involved in the accident. This is true regardless of whether the attorney represents the truck operator or another motorist involved in the crash. The following questions are then examined with all of the motor vehicle operators involved in the crash in mind.

Could the State of the Road or the Vehicles Involved Be to Blame?

Sometimes, accidents occur and it is truly no one’s fault that they unfold in the ways they do. Every winter, videos capturing multi-car pileups on Midwestern highways go viral. In these videos, most of the vehicles involved (although not always all of them) are being operated by drivers going at an appropriate speed for conditions. However, when one vehicle skids out of control on the slick icy and/or snowy road and comes to a sudden stop, even those following a seemingly very safe distance behind them can’t halt in time to prevent a crash. The road is simply too slippery to stop even when the vehicles involved are barely operating at a crawl. Sometimes, road conditions cause accidents and no one is to blame. However, there are times at which ill-maintained roads, inadequate roadway lighting, missing signage, neglected roadside greenery, and other “upkeep” issues cause accidents. When this occurs, attorneys begin asking if they can hold those responsible for maintaining the road upon which their client crashed responsible for the harm that their client has suffered.

Similarly, auto parts can fail or function improperly and lead to accidents, just as road conditions can. For example, in 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the results of a study which concluded that when vehicles operate on tires underinflated by more than 25 percent, these vehicles are three times more likely to be involved in a collision stemming from tire problems than vehicles operating on properly inflated tires. This is just one example of how, when auto parts don’t function properly as a result of neglect or defect, the risk of auto accidents goes up. In the event that an auto part issue contributes to a truck accident, an attorney will need to determine whether the auto part manufacturer, auto part distributor, vehicle sales facility, truck company, and/or any of the drivers involved may be held accountable for the relevant defects or neglect of affected parts.

Was Any Driver Involved Behaving Negligently, Recklessly, or in Intentionally Dangerous Ways?

At the heart of any successful personal injury case is evidence that another caused an injury victim harm as a result of their negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous behavior. Personal injury attorneys need to determine whether any motor vehicle operator involved in a crash was behaving in an unlawfully unsafe way, even if they didn’t mean to be endangering others as a result of their choices. Even the act of being tired behind the wheel may leave one party legally liable for the harm caused to another.

Case Evaluations Are Available at No Cost

 If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, regardless of whether you’re a truck operator or not, you deserve the opportunity to explore your legal options and to make informed decisions about the choices relevant to your legal situation. call our firm directly or submit an online contact form to schedule your no-cost, no-obligation case evaluation today. We look forward to assisting you with your legal needs during this challenging time.