80,000 Pounds Versus 3,400 Pounds. What Happens In An Accident With a Tractor-Trailer

Trucking supports the backbone of the American economy.  In 2020, truckers will carry nearly 12 billion tons of goods across our great nation.  In fact, almost 6% of the American workforce holds a job related to the trucking industry.  Walmart alone employs roughly 8,600 truckers.  Without truckers, store shelves would be empty, car dealerships would be vacant lots, hospitals wouldn’t have their vital supplies, and construction workers would have no materials with which to work.  While these hard-working professionals safely navigate tens of millions of miles collectively per year, occasionally mistakes happen.

Mistakes that involve 80,000 pounds moving at highway speeds can be catastrophic, and even fatal.  At best, this incident will involve some specialized paperwork and intensive negotiation involving insurance carriers, employers, freight brokers, and electronic logbook maintainers.  At worst, someone’s family must pick up the pieces after losing a loved one.

Therefore, it is important that anyone affected by an accident involving a semi-truck immediately seek counsel from an attorney.  An accident with an 18-wheeler may not be the same as the accident with any other motor vehicle.  These sorts of heavy over-the-road transports are commercial vehicles driven by trained, highly regulated operators.  The person driving the semi may be the owner, an operator, an employee, or a combination thereof.  Sorting the layers of complexity around who handles the costs associated with an accident requires considerable understanding and may be best left to a trained attorney.

If you or someone you know if involved in an accident with a commercial truck, call Baddour, Parker, Hine, and Hale in Goldsboro, NC for a free consultation.  Remember, insurance companies want to settle for as little as possible.  Our job is to protect your interests and secure you and your family the compensation that you need to put the pieces back together.