Skilled Truck Accident Lawyers Serving Clients in San Francisco, CA
Injuries from a truck accident can be devastating. Our firm understands the hardships of recovery, as well as the financial strains one faces from medical expenses, property damage, and everything lost after a semi-truck collision. A San Francisco truck accident attorney at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger can help you rebuild you and your family’s life following a catastrophic injury. Our injury attorneys are experts in handling cases where negligent and careless truck drivers and trucking companies have caused injuries to pedestrians, bicyclists, auto drivers, and motorcyclists.
We are members of the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America (APITLA), an organization formed with the intention of making our highways safer and facilitating networking between lawyers who handle major truck injury collisions. As APITLA members, we are working to help eliminate unsafe and illegal interstate trucking practices. Through litigation, we are trying to help make our highways a safer place for our families, our clients, and all Americans.
Devastating physical injuries, and often wrongful deaths, due to unsafe trucking companies have become an epidemic on our nation’s highways. Walkup’s truck injury litigation team believes that we can bring about change by educating the general public, other lawyers, law students, legislators, truck lines, truck drivers, judges, and juries about the hard facts surrounding common unsafe or illegal trucking practices.
Truck Accidents Are Often A Matter Of Size
The tremendous difference in size and weight between tractor-trailers and passenger cars usually spells disaster for motorists. It has been estimated that as many as 10 percent of all fatal motor vehicle accidents are caused by semi-trucks.
A semi-truck usually weighs in excess of 80,000 pounds and may be 65 to 75 feet long. Because of this tremendous difference in size and weight, big rigs produce distinct and peculiar issues in lawsuits: For instance, it takes a 40-ton 18-wheeler driving at 10 miles above the speed limit an additional 100 feet to stop. In many cases, this failure to brake correctly explains why big rigs are involved in rear-end collisions or overturns trying to avoid rear-end collisions.
Additionally, the size and configuration of semi-trucks, when traveling on city streets, present unique and unusual risks to both pedestrians and motorists as the following trailer swings widely left or right, “squeezing” pedestrians, automobiles and bicyclists who are otherwise observing the legal right of way.
Our Law Firm Know the Ins and Outs of Truck Accident Litigation
Walkup’s personal injury attorneys have experience resolving claims against big rig drivers and the companies that hire them. Semi-truck drivers and the companies they work for have a duty to operate their vehicles in a safe and responsible manner. Unsafe driving, loads that are too big or heavy, substandard equipment, dangerous tires, and other unsafe practices put innocent motorists at risk.
A San Francisco truck accident attorney on our legal team knows what to look for when analyzing commercial vehicle accidents. We are familiar with the unique issues that arise, the federal regulations, and commercial insurance issues that are involved, as well as the accident reconstruction problems that are unique to big rig accidents.
5 Common Trucking Accident Factors in San Francisco
Every traffic accident is unique, but certain factors tend to arise more often than others in truck crashes. The size, shape, and weight of commercial trucks make them more prone to specific types of accidents, such as rollovers and jackknifing. Analyzing the common contributing factors in serious commercial truck accidents can decrease your chances of becoming a victim. Here are five common factors that contribute to semi-truck collisions.
1. Truck Driver Error
The number one driving force behind truck accidents is human error. In 2015, 33% of truck drivers involved in fatal accidents had contributed to the crash in some way. Speeding is the most frequent truck driver error, followed by distraction, inattention, and impairment. Most commercial drivers are patient, skilled, and experienced, but critical errors in judgment can lead to a serious accident.
Driving a big rig is a difficult job that comes with pressures from employers, tight deadlines, and long hours on the road. Truck drivers can make mistakes such as driving drowsy or texting and driving, as well as speeding to make it to destinations on time. All of these poor decisions and mistakes increase the risk of serious collisions. Inadequate training and unrealistic schedules also add to the problem.
2. Other Drivers’ Errors
Truck drivers aren’t the only ones who cause crashes. Passenger vehicle drivers often make mistakes around big rigs, resulting in catastrophic accidents. Driving in a truck’s blind spots, cutting a large truck off, making a left turn in front of a truck, unsafe passing, and driving between trucks are all dangerous driver habits that can be deadly. Commercial trucks, which can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, cannot always stop or maneuver quickly enough to avoid a dangerous driver.
3. Poor Truck Maintenance
Large trucks travel millions of miles around the country every year. It is the trucking company’s job to keep all fleet vehicles properly maintained, no matter how far they have to go. This requires daily maintenance checks of the tires, fluids, lights, and major systems. Failure to keep the truck in proper working condition can lead to tire blowouts and vehicle breakdowns at dangerous times. A truck’s electronic logging system or black box can often record maintenance failures involved in accidents.
4. Bad Weather
While no one can control the weather, drivers should know safe best practices when there is rain, fog, snow, or high winds. Truck drivers should pull into rest stops if the weather is too dangerous to drive, or at least practice special braking techniques on slick roads. Unsafe driving such as speeding in poor weather is a recipe for disaster. Loss of vehicle control because of bad weather can be fatal.
5. Roadway Defect
Large trucks are not impervious to roadway defects such as bumps, potholes, and debris. Trying to maneuver around a defect in the road or a hazard such as a construction zone in a big rig is difficult. Truckers should do their best to avoid roadway defects, but in the event that one causes an accident, the city in charge of road maintenance may be liable for damages. Identifying the main cause of a trucking accident is the first step in assigning liability.
Identifying Negligent Truck Drivers and/or Trucking Companies
Big rig and semi-truck accidents can have many causes: bad driving, faulty equipment, wet roads, fatigue, violation of federal weight limits, inadequate training or licensure, road hazards, and truck driver negligence and recklessness. Thousands of untrained and unskilled commercial truck drivers are on interstates after getting fraudulent commercial licenses, according to government investigators. So far, fraudulent licensing schemes have been uncovered in 24 states, and there are 21 ongoing investigations in 13 other states, according to the Department of Transportation.
The schemes normally involve third parties offering to provide fraudulent documentation for money, and many target immigrants, officials say. “As a result, unskilled drivers could be operating commercial vehicles on the nation’s highways, creating significant risks for death, injury and property damage,” said a report last February from the U.S. Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General. Our San Francisco Truck Accident Attorney knows a thing or two in regards to negligent truck drivers.
Driver fatigue may be a major factor in up to 40 percent of all heavy truck accidents. The risk of an accident dramatically increases after 10 hours of driving, causing deaths, injuries and accident-caused congestion. The Department of Transportation states that fatigue is a direct cause of 15 percent of truck accident fatalities and injuries, resulting in more than 750 deaths and nearly 20,000 injuries each year. Polls show that more than 80 percent of the public believes that fatigued drivers pose a serious danger to others on the highway and that their hours should not be increased.
Transportation experts estimate that as many as 30 percent of all commercial trucks on the road today exceed federal weight limits. Not only is this damaging to the nation’s highway and bridge infrastructure, but it’s also dangerous. Studies show that overweight trucks are more likely to be in accidents. They also roll over more easily and need more time and distance to stop. A truck weighing 120,000 pounds needs 50 percent more space and time to stop than a truck weighing the legal 80,000 pounds.
If a truck driver’s or trucking company’s carelessness caused your loved one’s traumatic brain injury or spinal cord trauma, we can help.
We have extensive experience handling semi-truck accident claims and lawsuits involving:
- Overloaded trucks
- Failure to keep adequate records of driver training and licensure
- Semi-truck rollovers
- Jackknife accidents
- Rear-end collisions
- Unbalanced or shifting loads
- Underride accidents
- Inadequate tractor and trailer visibility
- Semi-trucks merging into cars
- Driver fatigue
- Violations of federal trucking regulations
- Failure to repair and maintain trucks and equipment
- Driver DUI or drug use
Our San Francisco Truck Accident Attorney has more than five decades of success helping truck accident victims and their families receive the fair compensation they need for pain and suffering, lost wages, medical expenses, future care, and surgery, attendant care, and accommodations so they can live as full and fulfilling lives as possible after their accidents. We are skilled in trial, mediation, and settlement negotiations with trucking companies.
Examples Of Successful Representation In Trucking Accidents Cases
18-Wheeler Sideswipes Bicyclist — $15 Million Settlement
Unsafe Merge By 16-Wheeler — $7.75 Million Settlement
Oil Truck Strikes Motorcycle — $4.5 Million Settlement
Crane Truck Hits Senior Citizen — $2 Million Settlement
Big Rig Head-On — $2 Million Settlement
Dump Truck Brake Failure — $1,575,000 Settlement
*Click on the individual result to see details regarding the case.
Negligent truck drivers and trucking companies must be held accountable for the accidents and injuries they cause. If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury in a semi-truck accident or paralysis after a commercial truck accident, contact our law firm.
San Francisco Truck Accident Attorney Specializing Truck Injuries
Walkup lawyers belong to the APITLA, a national association of truck injury collision lawyers who share information and experts to bring justice to truck accident victims. A semi-truck, tractor-trailer or other commercial truck combination can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, while a passenger car may weigh only 3,000 pounds. This weight difference alone is one of the reasons why accidents involving semi-trucks often result in serious internal injuries, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries.
At Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, our Bay Area injury attorneys work with clients who have suffered spinal cord or brain injury, dealing aggressively with negligent truck drivers, trucking companies and transportation companies that cause semi-truck accidents.
We have secured millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for our clients injured by truckers’ negligence.
Our track record in all types of cases speaks for itself. To put our experience to work for your family, contact a San Francisco semi-truck accident lawyer at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger for a free consultation. Call us at (415) 981-7210 or contact the Walkup firm online.