How to Proceed Following a Truck Accident
Delivery trucks and vans fill roads daily, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more of them than ever, as people were more inclined to online shopping. We must recognize their importance to the economy, but we must also recognize that an accident with one can be devastating.
Truck or van accidents are common, and, most of the time, passenger vehicles receive the most damage. Occupants of those passenger vehicles, both drivers and passengers, tend to face life-changing injuries. If you are in a truck or van accident, you should know the steps to take.
Get Immediate Medical Help
First, you must check whether you can see any obvious injuries. As far as truck accidents are concerned, you cannot be too careful with your health status. Paramedics will likely show up to administer first aid treatment, after which you will be referred to a hospital.
Whether or not you had first aid treatment, you need to have a medical professional look at your condition post-accident. They say ignorance is bliss, but it can be deadly regarding road crashes.
Get Legal Counsel as Soon as Possible
After you are certain what kind of damage the accident has caused, the next thing is to contact a truck accident attorney. Trucks and vans are larger than most, and an accident with one can cause significantly more damage. Contact and discuss your situation with a truck accident attorney who can guide you to recovering the compensation you rightly deserve.
Your attorney’s job will include gathering necessary evidence of the faulty party in the accident. You might need pictures of the accident and the damage your vehicle and the other vehicle suffered. Also, take pictures of your injuries and everything directly or indirectly linked to the crash.
Gather Sufficient and Helpful Evidence
Gathering evidence immediately after an accident is important, but you are likely in too much of a haze to do that. This is why getting an attorney immediately after the accident is key. Some evidence they can get on your behalf includes the police reports of what happened.
Police reports are critical to your case as they contain vital foundational information such as where the accident happened and to whom. Also, your attorney can get a certified truck inspection report stating that your vehicle was in good shape before the accident. Other evidence includes:
- The truck’s black box
- The driver’s logbooks
- Other electronic monitoring data
- Anything that can strengthen your case
These pieces of evidence aim to prove that the truck driver was at fault without a shadow of a doubt. Perhaps they had been distracted while driving or over the hours federal regulations allow.
The next required evidence to gather is witness statements to support your version of the incident. Also, traffic camera videos can be very helpful as they most likely caught the accident when it happened.
Conclusion: Who is Liable?
After gathering sufficient evidence, you can file a lawsuit claiming damages against the truck driver and the trucking company. Trucking companies can be liable for accidents if evidence shows they pushed drivers to be unsafe, if they did not do proper background checks on the driver before hiring them, or if they improperly maintained their trucks.
“If you have been in a truck accident, the last things you want to worry about are the legal proceedings. A dedicated truck accident attorney can help fight for your deserved compensation while you receive the necessary treatment to recover,” says Attorney Roger K. Gelb of Gelb & Gelb, P.C.
