Time is important

In a semi tractor-trailer accident, time is very important. Our law firm prefers to have our investigators go to the scene, take photographs, make measurements, and look for witnesses within hours after the crash.

You can be certain that the trucking company will have its investigators, photographers, and supervisors at the scene of the accident within 24 hours. Any delay on your part will work to the advantage of the trucking insurance company.

Trucking logs, cell phone records, and internal trucking company documents often become the center of a truck accident claim. Federal law does not require that the trucking company or its employees keep most of these materials for more than six months!

Accordingly, it is very important that you obtain a lawyer as soon after the accident as possible to allow the lawyer to send out a letter requiring that these documents be preserved. Otherwise, the trucking company will say that they destroyed all of the records after 6 months as a matter of business practices.

Ohio and Pennsylvania Truck Accidents - The Gervelis Law Firm Can Help

Have you, or someone you love, been injured in a motor vehicle accident involving a truck or trailer in Ohio or Pennsylvania? If the answer is yes, you need a qualified attorney to represent you to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. Both the motor carrier and the truck driver have a great responsibility to other drivers on the road like you. Vehicle crashes are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Sixty percent of accidents resulting in injuries or deaths involve trucks. Historically, 98 % of the people killed in two vehicle collisions involving a passenger vehicle and a large truck are the occupants of the passenger vehicle.

Causes of Accidents

Causes of accidents are numerous and may be attributable to driver, machine, or environment, either alone or combined with excessive speed, poor driving judgment or operation, improperly loaded cargo, defects in equipment, roadway conditions, and driver fatigue.

Three of the main causes for trucking accidents are lack of vehicle maintenance, the abuse of alcohol or other drugs by the driver, and over-hours driving. Each can be documented through careful examination of mandatory records.

Noncompliance with Hours-Of-Service Regulations · Trucker Fatigue

According to National Transportation Safety Board estimates, fatigue among drivers of large trucks is a factor in at least 30% of fatal crashes involving those vehicles. Truck accident cases differ from those involving only passenger cars.

Truck accidents provide the investigator and attorney with information and evidence that is not routinely available in the ordinary collision case. This information may facilitate proof of liability and enhance the value of the claim, but understanding and applying this information requires the special knowledge of an attorney who is skilled and experienced in handling truck collision cases.

Special knowledge acquired by the attorney includes an understanding of extensive and detailed State and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. A motor carrier's independent liability most often results from requiring, encouraging, permitting, or failing to discover the driver's noncompliance with the hours-of-service regulations. With limited exceptions, these regulations forbid a trucker to drive more than 10 hours following 8 consecutive hours off-duty, and prohibit any driving once a driver has been on duty 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days.

Because they are paid by the mile or the load they carry in a given amount of time, many truck drivers ignore this law and do not log all of their driving time. Although it is illegal for the driver to submit false logs to the carrier and for the carrier to accept them, it is rare for a driver to document a violation of the maximum hour regulation.

In a study where 63% of drivers admitted to regularly driving in excess of the maximum hours of service permitted by law, 36% acknowledged that they sometimes used illegal drugs, presumably to keep themselves awake.

Evaluating the Logs

Federal law requires all interstate truck drivers to keep daily logs that track their activities for every 24-hour period that they are actively employed as a truck driver. Trucking companies must keep copies of the logs for six months.

In evaluating the logs, the attorney must: determine whether the logs reflect violations of federal hours-of-service regulations, other conduct indicating intentional impropriety, or negligent conduct by the driver or trucking company; compare the logs with other available information to determine whether they have been falsified; and analyze U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reviews and investigations of the company to determine whether the company has promoted or acquiesced to hours-of-service violations.

Truck Underride Tragedies

Every year, hundreds are killed and thousands are severely injured in rear underride accidents. A rear underride crash occurs when an automobile collides with and slides under the rear of a truck. This may occur because the rear end of the truck is high off the ground, or because the truck's structure is so weak that it does not adequately resist the impacting vehicle. Frequently, the rear end of the truck penetrates the occupant compartment of the automobile, resulting in death or serious injury to the occupants.

Rear underride crashes may involve any truck, such as a tractor-trailer, straight truck, or even a smaller cargo vehicle whose rear end or rear corners are sufficiently high off the ground and unprotected enough to permit a car to get underneath. Some trucks provide little or no protection against underride, some are equipped with underride guards or other structures that may be inadequate to restrain impacting cars, and others are designed in such a way that they may discourage impacting cars from underriding.

Usually the main cause of these accidents is the lack of visibility and underride protection at the rear of trucks and trailers. The rear-end guard on large trucks is a flimsy U-shaped device, usually made from three pieces of steel angle-iron, welded together and bolted to the trailer's chassis. These guards comply with the ineffective 1953 regulation, but when a vehicle crashes into them, they are easily bent away or knocked off.

Conclusion

Motor carriers' conscious disregard for the dangerous conduct of their drivers, or for the dangerous condition of their equipment, must be stopped. A favorable outcome for a tractor-trailer accident victim is likely if the attorney prepares the case recognizing the differences between collisions involving ordinary vehicles and those involving tractor-trailers.

PROFESSIONAL LEGAL TRUCK ACCIDENT SERVICES

The Gervelis Law Firm has a professional reputation in the legal community for aggressive, thorough, and successful handling of tractor-trailer accidents on behalf of injured families. Our lawyers represent clients throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania, including cities in Ohio such as Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Warren, Columbus, Cleveland, and Ashtabula. Our lawyers have handled trucking accidents in Pennsylvania in locations such as Erie, Pittsburgh, Sharon, Uniontown, Johnstown, Altoona, and Breezewood.

Often the trucking accidents that we handle occur on the Ohio Turnpike or Pennsylvania Turnpike as well as Interstate 90, Interstate 71, Interstate 80, Interstate 75, Interstate 76, Interstate 77, Interstate 70, and Interstate 79. The Gervelis Law Firm stands ready to assist you with trucking crashes wherever they may occur in Ohio or Pennsylvania.

It is the attorney's job to determine whether the truck involved in the collision met government safety regulations, and whether or not the driver was tired. All of the information on a driver or company must also be critically analyzed for discrepancies.

The Gervelis Law Firm is experienced in successfully handling truck accident cases that result in disabling injuries. Because time is critical in preparing your case, it is important to contact The Gervelis Law Firm as soon as possible after an accident. Contact us today to discuss your Ohio or Pennsylvania truck accident case.

For information on Parents Against Tired Truckers, contact P.A.T.T. at (207) 353-4572; P.O. Box 209, Lisbon Falls, ME 04252-0209.