Need an Injury Lawyer for a Maine Truck Accident?
Every year, truck accidents happen in Maine when drivers fail to take precautions on the roadways to keep other drivers safe from harm. Think about it this way: Large commercial trucks reach upwards of 40-80,000 pounds. Your regular passenger vehicle weighs only a few thousand pounds, which means that you are more likely to sustain serious damages in these accidents. There are many risks to passenger vehicle drivers on our roads today, such as serious injuries that can impact you for the rest of your life to fatalities.
Both passenger vehicle drivers and truck drivers contribute to the occurrence of catastrophic truck accidents, though truck drivers are supposed to do everything in their nature to protect drivers from harm. Here are some of the most common reasons why these accidents occur on our roadways in Maine every year:
- Failure to see vehicles due to blind spots behind or beside trucks
- Left-turn accidents that happen when a truck driver drives in front of a vehicle driver
- Unsafe passing
- Speeding
- When a trucking company inadequately trains a driver on safety, defensive driving, and many other useful road tactics
- Systems of compensation that truck companies instill to encourage speeding, which gets the job done more “quickly:
- Unrealistic schedules that put drowsy drivers behind the wheel
Today’s Trucking Regulations
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has put many regulations in place to ensure that truck drivers are properly trained and ready to enter the roadways. Some of the rules put in place for drivers to abide by include aspects like drug and alcohol testing in drivers, vehicle marking, adequate training, and hours of service regulations. One of the most frequently disregarded regulations are the hours of service regulations, with many violations happening every year in the U.S.
The hours of service regulations state that drivers can only work a certain amount of hours before they have to rest. These rules exist so that drivers take adequate breaks and do not fall asleep at the wheel while they are driving, causing catastrophic accidents that can leave a lasting impact on drivers. If a company does not abide by these regulations and a driver drives on the roadways for days at a time without adequate breaks, the company could then be held liable in the event of an accident.
How Can We Help When You’ve Been Injured?
So, where do you turn when you have been injured in one of these serious accidents? You may think that holding a driver liable for your injuries is the only acceptable party to accept the blame. However, many other parties could also be at fault for your injuries, such as the trucking company, maintenance companies, cargo loader, and more depending on the circumstances in your case. If you are able to name negligent parties and move forward with your case, we can help you obtain damages for things like medical expenses, emotional suffering, loss of income, and many other aspects. Let us help you from start to finish and help you gain compensation you deserve in your case. We want to help you get the results you deserve after struggling with your injuries.