A collision of any kind on the road is a terrifying prospect – even the smallest cars can do major damage to each other when they collide at speed. Crashes involving large trucks like eighteen-wheelers, however, can be a whole new level of nightmarish. If you were injured in a Woodbury truck accident, contact the experienced lawyers at Sand Law LLC.
In 2017, over 4,000 people were killed in accidents involving large trucks. Even if the crash isn’t fatal, often the injuries sustained are debilitating and permanent due to the sheer size and force of a truck smashing into a passenger vehicle. Accidents of this kind often result in spinal cord damage, whiplash, brain injuries, and chronic pain that can last for years or a lifetime – injuries that can make day-to-day life difficult, maybe even impossible.
While no amount of financial compensation can erase the trauma of the experience, it can help in the immediate and long-term aftermath. Medical bills for your injuries can climb to six figures or more. You deserve to be compensated for the income lost from your injuries, and our experienced team of truck accident lawyers can help you get it.
Common Types of Injuries Associated with Truck Accidents
Truck accidents can and do cause severe and life-threatening injuries that result in high medical costs, lost wages from multiple weeks or months taken off work, and great pain and suffering. However, even more minor injuries resulting from these types of accidents should be taken seriously. Common types of injuries caused by truck accidents include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Head, neck, and back injuries
- Soft tissue injuries, such as sprains, strains, and tears
- Broken bones or fractures
- Cuts and bruises
- Amputation
- Burns
In some cases, unfortunately, death may also occur. If your loved one has passed away after a truck accident, our team of experienced wrongful death attorneys can also help you seek justice and compensation for the loss of your loved one.
Causes of Truck Accidents
Truck accidents are frequently caused by driver error, also referred to as “negligence.” If a person was acting with negligence, it simply means that they didn’t take proper care in their actions. Negligent people often don’t mean to cause harm to another person. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t legally responsible for the damage they cause.
Common instances of driver negligence include the following:
- Texting while driving or engaging in other distractions
- Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Lack of awareness
- Speeding
- Road rage or aggressive driving
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Failing to look before merging or changing lanes
- Tailgating
- Exhaustion or fatigue
However, in some rare circumstances, truck accidents may be caused by a third party. Potential third parties include mechanics, manufacturers of vehicles and parts, or rental companies. For example, if you’re driving and defective brakes cause you to crash, the manufacturer of the brakes may be held responsible.
Other potentially liable parties include:
- Trucking companies
- Truck rental companies
- Loading teams
- Manufacturers
Damages You Can Recover After a Woodbury Truck Accident
Unfortunately, treating a truck accident injury can be incredibly expensive. Some victims pay up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for their injuries over the course of their lifetime. Thankfully, by working with Sand Law, you’ll be able to recover the damages that you’ve incurred as a result of the accident.
You can recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical bills, lost wages, and lost earning capacity. That includes any medical bills related to the accident and your injuries, even in-home care or medical equipment. Future lost wages and future medical bills can also be recovered. Lost earning capacity damages are awarded if you are unable to return to your same job or work the same amount of time in the future.
Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and more. These types of damages are more abstract and can be more difficult to calculate. Most lawyers calculate these damages by looking at the change to your quality of life. The greater the change you’ve experienced, the more compensation they’ll ask for.
In the case of death, a loved one may be able to claim wrongful death damages such as funeral and burial costs. They may also be able to claim other damages on behalf of their loved one, such as pain and suffering and lost wages.
What To Do After A Woodbury Truck Accident
Woodbury truck accidents are messy situations by nature. Often, victims are stuck in their vehicles, incapacitated, unable to do anything but wait for paramedics and law enforcement to arrive. Other truck collisions involve injuries in which the car driver can still move around. When the damage is on this level, often, the injuries sustained are minor and do not hinder the occupants’ ability to take action after the crash.
There are steps you can take in the immediate aftermath of any accident, truck accidents included, that can help prove who caused it. You can also collect important insurance information from the other drivers, begin the official report with the police, and gather witness information.
The details collected at the scene of the crash are essential when insurance companies become involved. Drivers will sometimes simply leave a scene without calling the police, only for the full extent of their injuries to reveal themselves days or weeks later. Evidence at the site of the crash may go unaccounted for and may render it impossible to prove who was at fault for the collision.
To prevent costing yourself money, be sure to follow these steps after any truck accident, no matter how minor it may seem:
- Evaluate your situation. Take every precaution after the crash to not make any injuries you or others have any worse. The size difference in vehicles involved means the odds are not in your favor. You and your passengers will have the most severe injuries, not the truck driver in his multi-ton rig. If you are unable to exit your vehicle or reach your phone, don’t force it. Have the truck driver or a bystander call the paramedics, then sit tight and wait for them to arrive and take over. In this scenario, this is what you need to do.
- Move to safety. If you and/or your passenger’s injuries are not immediately life-threatening, there is more you can do. Move to the side of the road so as to let traffic go past, and, if you’re able or can enlist nearby bystanders for help, move your vehicle to the side of the road.
- Collect basic information. Talk to the truck operator, and get all of the contact information you can. Write down the plate number on the truck, the license number, the company they work for, the ID number on the truck, their personal phone number if you can, and any other information that’s pertinent.
- Contact the police. When the police arrive, give your report to them, and be as exact as you can. Gather contact information of any bystanders on the scene who witnessed the crash.
- Seek medical attention. Go to the emergency room as soon as possible. Doctors will be able to find injuries you yourself may not be aware of.
- Notify your insurance company. Contact your insurance provider to inform them of the incident. Just give them the basics and don’t agree to record a statement or sign anything.
- Contact an attorney. Finally, call an experienced attorney who can begin helping you with the legal process if the truck driver’s negligence was at fault for the accident.
CONTACT A WOODBURY TRUCK ACCIDENT ATTORNEY
Sand Law is here to assist you if you have been injured in a Woodbury Truck Accident. We have worked with many injured truck accident victims and assure you that we will pursue your claim aggressively and with the professional service we have become known for. Sand Law will seek to receive maximum compensation for your commercial truck accident injury so that you can recover physically and mentally.
To arrange a free consultation with a top-rated injury attorney, please call us at 651-291-SAND (651-291-7263) or contact us online to request your free consultation and case evaluation. We look forward to hearing from you and to seeing how we can help your family. There is no fee unless we obtain compensation for your injury.