We rely on trucks and commercial vehicles to move goods into, and around, our city. Yet these large vehicles don’t do so well once they get into NYC. They get into a lot of crashes, often with pedestrians and cyclists. 67% of those crashes are fatal.
Yet recovering for these accidents is not easy. Big corporations and trucking companies often fight with everything they have to pin the blame for the accident onto the person they hit.
They do this for several reasons. One, even when the victim lives these crashes are often extremely expensive. Victims often require extensive surgery and long-term care. In many cases they’ve lost their capacity to earn a living and a personal injury settlement must cover this. They have deep pockets so they know if you recover they’ll be forced to pay every cent. In addition, they don’t want the public relations mess that might come from a big personal injury settlement.
It takes an experienced commercial vehicle accident lawyer to really protect your rights.
Commercial Accidents Require a Thorough Evidence Review
When two private passenger vehicles strike one another, the straightforward facts of what happened during that split second on the roadway are all that really matter.
Not so in a commercial vehicle accident. You need a lawyer who understands this.
For example, a truck accident lawyer knows that New York has one of the most complex truck route systems in the nation. Trucks are prohibited on many roadways. If the truck was on the wrong road then that needs to be investigated.
You also want a lawyer who knows how to read truck logs and to look for signs of falsification. Federal safety codes prohibit drivers from operating their vehicle when they are too sick or too tired to drive. Unfortunately, many trucking companies force their workers to do it anyway, threatening their livelihoods so that they don’t lose a single cent.
Truckers are also held to certain standards for hiring, vetting, and training employees before letting them out on the road, and standards for maintaining and servicing trucks. You need an attorney who knows how to look for proof that these standards have not been met.
Be prepared for a fight!
Even if you’re pressing a wrongful death suit for a pedestrian trucking companies and commercial companies will fight and try to tell you it was your loved one’s fault. They do this because if they can prove your loved one was at-fault, they don’t have to pay.
This can be very painful and extremely frustrating.
Involve an attorney early. The faster you involve an attorney the faster we’ll be able to work to secure vital evidence. We may be able to subpoena video camera footage or physical evidence before it gets erased, or lost. We can demand drug tests which might prove the trucker was under the influence. We can secure the records which can help us win your case, or your loved one’s case.
