How Important Is A Trucking Accident Investigation?
Have you been injured in an accident involving a commercial truck, tractor-trailer, or semi-truck? Collisions involving these types of vehicles result in serious, life-altering injuries. In many cases, accidents involving commercial trucks result in a fatality. The number of individuals injured in accidents involving large trucks increased by 18% from 2011 to 2012 and deaths resulting from large truck accidents increased by 4%. In California alone, 244 people died in truck accidents during 2012. Due to the severity of damages related to these accidents, a trucking accident investigation is imperative if the accident victim is to receive just compensation for his or her damages.
The Levinson Law Firm (truck accident lawyer) is led by Gordon R. Levinson who formerly represented large insurance companies before deciding to use his knowledge and experience to help accident victims seek justice against negligent drivers. He has many years of experience conducting trucking accident investigations from both perspectives. This experience greatly benefits our clients as we fight to recover compensation for their losses. Our law office accepts cases on a contingent fee. That means that if there is no recovery in your case you pay no fee. And in most cases, we even advance the costs. For your free consultation, call (760) 642-5475 today.
What is a Trucking Accident Investigation?
An attorney who assumes that a vehicle accident involving a large truck is the same as any other automobile accident is making a mistake. While a trucking accident does have some similarities to accidents involving non-commercial vehicles, several key differences make truck accidents more demanding. For this reason, it is important that a thorough trucking accident investigation begin immediately following an accident involving a commercial truck.
Insurance companies for the trucking industry have teams of adjusters, investigators, and attorneys who work diligently to prove that the other driver was at fault for the accident to mitigate the liability for the truck company. These teams begin investigating the accident within hours of the collision. Therefore, accident victims need an attorney experienced in handling trucking accidents to begin a trucking accident investigation on their behalf to protect their rights to receive compensation.
A trucking accident investigation begins with preserving critical evidence to prove liability on the part of the trucking company, the driver, and other parties that may be at-fault for the accident. The attorney must work quickly to preserve evidence at the accident scene, the evidence on the truck’s black box, and physical evidence on the truck itself. If the attorney does not act quickly, this evidence may be altered, lost, or destroyed.
Other important elements of a trucking accident investigation include interviewing witnesses, retaining experts to reconstruct the accident, communicating closely with the victim’s healthcare providers, reviewing the truck’s maintenance records, investigating the truck driver, and identifying other liable parties. The ultimate goal of a trucking accident investigation is gathering and preserving evidence that will be used to prove liability and fault on the part of the trucking company, truck driver, and other liable parties. Without a thorough trucking accident investigation, the victim may not receive the full compensation he or she deserves.