When you’re injured in a truck accident, your injuries are much more severe due to the truck’s heavy weight. But our Escondido truck accident lawyers can help you recover from your injuries through financial compensation.
At Simmrin Law Group, our personal injury lawyers in Escondido can help you recover compensation after a negligent truck driver hits you. We can help you build a case that stands up to the insurance company.
What Causes Truck Accidents in Escondido?
Large commercial trucks pose unique safety risks on the road compared to smaller passenger vehicles. Weighing many tons and struggling to drive through tight urban spaces, trucks require heightened care and experience behind the wheel. Unfortunately, accidents between trucks and other motorists occur all too frequently in and around Escondido due to:
Driver Fatigue
Truck drivers work long hours, which can lead to a number of hazards that could result in a crash. When truck drivers are on the road for too long, they may drift off to sleep or get “tunnel vision” from staring at the road.
Both of these situations can result in the driver drifting into the next lane and hitting other drivers. This can cause severe injuries that take thousands of dollars to recover from. Trucks also take a longer time to stop compared to cars.
So, even if the driver wakes up or snaps out of the daze, it will still take time to avoid further damage, which will result in more injuries to surrounding drivers.
Failure To Follow Traffic Rules
Another common cause of truck accidents is truck drivers failing to follow traffic rules. Truck drivers are responsible for operating large and heavy vehicles, but sometimes they still drive recklessly. Some of the most common mistakes truck drivers make include:
- Failing to check blind spots
- Not merging properly
- Failing to stop in time
- Making delayed left turns
- Failing to use blinkers
- Staying in passing lanes
Violating these traffic rules can lead to injuries for other drivers and even the truck driver. If you’ve been in a truck accident due to one of these negligent actions, our team of Escondido truck accident lawyers can help you.
Texting and Driving
Truck drivers have to communicate with other drivers while they are driving. Usually, they use a radio, which can be hands-free. However, some truck drivers choose to text while they are driving, which is dangerous and violates California Vehicle Code § 23123(a).
When operating such a large vehicle, truck drivers cannot afford to look away from the road for even a second because of changing conditions.
Many more causes could be responsible for your truck accident in Escondido. Our truck accident attorneys in Escondido can help you identify the cause and help you recover compensation.
How Do You Recover Damages After an Escondido Truck Accident?
The first step to recovering compensation after a truck accident is hiring a lawyer who has experience with commercial truck accidents. By hiring a lawyer from Simmrin Law Group, you’ll have someone who can advocate for you and help you understand your case.
After you’ve hired a lawyer, you need to file your personal injury claim within the deadline. According to California’s statute of limitations, you have two years from the accident date to file your claim. Our team can help you make sure that you file your claim on time.
The next thing you need to do is gather evidence with your lawyer to support your case. Your Escondido truck accident attorney can help you gather evidence such as:
- Police reports and any witness statements made at the scene.
- Photos and videos of the accident location, vehicles, property damage, and injuries.
- Medical records from ambulance transport and emergency treatment.
- Itemized bills for ongoing medical care, prescriptions, and equipment.
- Records of time off work and lost wages due to the injuries.
- Maintenance records and inspection logs for the vehicles involved.
- The trucking company’s data recorder or black box information.
- Cell phone records to check for distracted driving as a possible cause.
- Video footage from any security cameras near where the accident occurred.
- Expert reports on factors like vehicle defects, road conditions, and speed.
After you do these legal tasks with the help of your legal team, you could be eligible to recover economic and non-economic damages.
What Losses Can You Recover With an Escondido Truck Accident Attorney?
Our Escondido truck accident lawyers can help you recover the losses you’ve suffered in the truck accident. You can recover financial losses, which are called economic damages, and you can recover emotional losses, which are called non-economic damages. Here are some of the most common damages you can recover:
- Disfigurement
- Permanent disability
- Death benefits
- Future medical costs
- Loss of consortium
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Property damage
What Injuries Are Common in Commercial Truck Accidents?
You can sustain several injuries in an accident with a commercial truck. Some of the most common accidents include:
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Truck accidents frequently cause traumatic brain injuries due to the rapid back-and-forth motion of the head and brain during impact. Even if wearing a seatbelt, your head may hit the inside of the vehicle hard or collide with another object in the vehicle, like the steering wheel or windows.
This can lead to bruising of your brain tissue and damaging shearing forces on neurons. More severe crashes run the risk of fracturing the skull if the head strikes with enough force. Without prompt emergency medical care, internal bleeding or swelling in the brain can also cause permanent harm or death.
Burns and Lacerations
Truck accidents sometimes involve fires, especially those transporting hazardous cargo that may ignite on impact. You could bear the trauma of being burned as well as smoke inhalation.
Deep-thickness and full-thickness burns destroy protective skin layers, nerve endings, and tissues. Even severe first and second-degree burns covering large areas cause unbearable pain for months. Lacerations can result when your body is pushed through shattered glass or metal during collisions, leaving deep wounds vulnerable to infection.
Neck Injuries
During high-speed accidents on the freeway, the neck acts as a barrier between the heavy skull and trunk. Without enough headrest support or whiplash protection, the neck can forcibly flex, extend, and rotate beyond safe anatomical limits.
This stretches spinal cords and tears discs, facet joints, and muscles in the neck. Whiplash injuries commonly involve damage to the thin surrounding ligaments and injury to the vertebral artery, which supplies blood to the brain.
Contact Us After Your Escondido Truck Accident
At Simmrin Law Group, we do all the legal work while you rest and heal from your injuries. After you’ve been injured in an accident, our Escondido truck accident attorneys are here for you.
Contact us today for a free consultation.