Determining liability is essential in truck accidents which often leave people with severe injuries and significant financial damages.
A New Hampshire state police trooper was killed on October 28, 2021, while on duty on I-95, after his car was hit by a tractor. Flags were ordered at half-mast on all official buildings to mourn the loss of Sgt. Jesse Sherrill who was killed in the line of duty. However, countless other New Hampshire residents are killed or injured in truck accidents every year. As if that weren’t enough, many victims and their families struggle with financial problems afterwards as recovering damages from the insurance company is not for the faint of heart. These types of crashes can be incredibly complex and it takes an experienced New Hampshire truck accident lawyer to establish the true cause and who should be held accountable.
In a collision between two passenger cars it is easy to assign blame. Usually it’s one of the drivers that is speeding or distracted and that explains the accident. However, when commercial vehicles are involved the true culprit may not be even present at the scene of the crash.
When they deal with such a crash, skilled truck accident lawyers in Manchester, NH, always start by looking beyond the information contained in the police report.
Take, for instance, an accident caused by the truck driver’s erratic maneuvers. If the driver changes lanes recklessly or fails to pull the brakes to avoid crashing into you, the police might suspect intoxication and order a breath test right away. What if the driver wasn’t drunk, but simply exhausted? Maybe he didn’t pull the brakes on time because he had just closed his eyes for a few seconds and he didn’t see you.
One of the first things your accident lawyers will do is to request access to the driver’s log. This is an electronic device which is mandatory on interstate commercial vehicles. These devices record the number of hours the driver had been behind the wheel over the past few days and how many rest breaks he had. If it turns out he had been driving continuously for more than 11 hours that is a violation of the federal road safety regulations. Your lawyer will want to know why. If the driver had personal reasons to be behind schedule and was trying to make up for lost time, he bears responsibility for the accident. On the other hand, if his employer urged him to keep driving to get to the destination as soon as possible, then it’s the company that should be held accountable.
At the same time, your lawyers will want to investigate the technical state of the truck at the time of the crash. Maybe the driver couldn’t avoid slamming into you because the brake system malfunctioned. Or maybe he had problems with the steering system. Your lawyers might bring in an independent expert to have a look at the truck as any malfunction or defective part could be used as grounds to file a claim against the trucking company or whatever company is in charge of vehicle maintenance. It could also be that the manufacturer is to blame for the defective part, in which case they should be held accountable.
Determining liability is essential in truck accidents which often leave people with severe injuries and significant financial damages.
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