It’s not difficult to see why many drivers feel afraid when they share the roads with large commercial trucks. Tractor-trailers and other trucks are many times the size and weight of ordinary passenger vehicles -- up to ten times the weight of an import economy car. All of that extra weight translates into extra force when trucks and cars collide -- which means the smaller cars are at risk of being crushed. Much more than in ordinary car accidents, the people inside those cars are at risk of wrongful deaths or very serious injuries, including brain damage, paralysis and severe burns. This is one reason federal accident statistics show that large trucks have a disproportionately high rate of fatal crashes -- and that only a fraction of those deaths are the deaths of truck drivers.

Because driving is the business of truckers and trucking companies, they expect and even plan for catastrophic accidents. Trucking companies, and their insurance companies, know that semi truck accident injuries can be very expensive to treat, so unscrupulous companies start trying to minimize their financial payouts early, sometimes while victims and their families are still in shock. Companies may call to offer a small settlement in exchange for a promise not to sue; pressure victims into signing or recording a statement they don’t agree with; or even try to bully victims into saying the crash was their fault. If this happens to you, don’t agree just to be polite, because you could sign away your right to fair compensation. Instead, you should call the Fort Lauderdale tractor-trailer accident lawyers at Balliro for advice on protecting your rights.

The federal government acknowledges that truck accidents pose special risks, so it subjects interstate truck drivers and trucking companies to a variety of special safety regulations. Unfortunately, some companies routinely ignore safety laws in order to save money -- hiring underqualified drivers, skipping safety tests and skimping on maintenance of trucks and equipment. Drivers under pressure to meet shipping deadlines may also break the law by falsifying their mandatory rest periods, using alcohol or drugs or driving under unsafe conditions. All of these legal violations may put the trucker or trucking company at fault for a serious accident. That means victims may hold them legally and financially responsible for all of the resulting injuries -- physical, emotional and financial.

Our Miami semi truck crash attorneys understand how to handle a complex trucking accident case. In cases of severe injury, victims may never work again and need lifelong medical care -- and those costs add up very quickly. To ensure that families claim enough to cover these costs, attorneys must calculate the value of all future medical needs; future lost earnings; and the victim’s own disability or bereavement. At Balliro, we have ten years of experience and hundreds of completed trials under our belts. We also have the resources to hire the outside experts that are sometimes necessary to prove these financial claims to a jury. The goal of our West Palm Beach 18-wheeler accident attorneys is always to ensure our clients are fairly and thoroughly compensated for their injuries.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury in a crash with a commercial truck, don’t wait to call Balliro for help. To set up a free evaluation of your case, you can send a message through our Web site or call toll-free from anywhere in Florida at 1-866-INJURED.