Is a transportation company to blame for the wreck that hurt you?
Drivers are typically the ones to blame for crashes. Even when the weather is bad, drivers should adjust their habits to minimize their personal risk. Either you or the other driver may have made mistakes that led to the wreck where you got hurt. Sometimes, both drivers make mistakes that contribute to a collision, which can complicate the process of securing compensation afterward.
You might assume that commercial drivers rarely cause crashes because they have special licenses and more training than the average driver. Sometimes, even the most skilled commercial driver could end up in a crash because of something that their employer did.
Could a transportation company be to blame for the wreck that left you injured?
Vehicle maintenance could be the root problem
If you look at federal commercial vehicle crash statistics, you will see that drivers are responsible for the vast majority of collisions. However, approximately 10% of the collisions caused by big trucks are the results of an issue with the vehicle, rather than a result of something either driver did.
Letting someone take out a trailer with nearly bald tires or delaying repairs to the brakes on a truck may potentially be the reason that a collision occurs. When there are obvious maintenance or repair issues that contributed to a collision, the transportation company that owns the truck may be to blame rather than the driver.
Additionally, the way that the company loaded the trailer may have put the driver at a substantially increased risk of a crash occurring. Unbalanced trailers or the undisclosed presence of fluid cargo could potentially lead to a driver losing control and causing a jackknife incident or even a rollover.
Fault matters when you need compensation
Determining who is truly to blame and taking the appropriate steps to hold them accountable are very important to those affected by a truck crash. You may have access to better insurance coverage or even more resources to compensate you in a civil lawsuit when you can hold a business rather than an individual accountable for a crash.
Reviewing the crash report for your recent commercial vehicle wreck could help you pursue financial justice through an insurance claim or a civil lawsuit.
