Poor Part Maintenance and Defects Cause Truck Accidents
Any vehicle is beholden to the quality of its components, Catastrophic failure is inevitable when key parts of a vehicle like a semi-truck fail and malfunction. Semi-truck accidents can sometimes appear to have been caused by something as simple as driver negligence but there may be part malfunctions caused by things such as poor maintenance or defects that can expand the number of parties that may be liable for accident injuries. Semi-truck part malfunctions have the potential to cause some of the most devastating accidents on the roads and as a result, can be the center of semi-truck accident injury claims seeking significant amounts of compensation.
How Can Semi-Truck Part Malfunctions Cause Dangerous Accidents?
When a semi-truck has parts that malfunction, then the operation of the vehicle is put in jeopardy. The safe operation of a semi-truck takes significantly more effort and concentration than driving a regular car. Semi-trucks are immense in size and can weigh up to 80,000 pounds which makes maneuvering with them an especially complicated task. Drivers have to undergo extensive training just to be qualified to get behind the wheel of one of these vehicles. So when something like a brake or steering wheel malfunctions, there is a high risk of a semi-truck accident occurring.
Common Semi-Truck Accident Malfunctions
Semi-Truck Brake Malfunctions
One of the most important part of driving any vehicle is the ability to stop. With semi-trucks, the process of braking in such a large and heavy vehicle can be difficult. With a regular car, you push down the brake pedal and the vehicle will stop at a rate depending on the intensity of pressure that you place on the brake. If you slam the brakes the car grinds to an immediate halt. With semi-trucks, braking is a long process since the truck has the inertia of all the wight ion the trailer behind it pushing it forward.
Truck drivers must have more space and time to brake safely since they can be carried forward a certain distance by the weight of the vehicle. Slamming the brakes is very dangerous since the weight of the trailer moving forward will take the path of least resistance despite the truck cab grinding to a halt which can mean the truck will jackknife or even rollover. Brakes that fail in these crucial maneuvers can lead to catastrophe.
Semi-Truck Steering Malfunctions
Semi-truck drivers need to take special care when they do something like turn or switch lanes since the length of the trailer behind them covers so much of the road. The steering mechanisms of a semi-truck can sometimes fail thanks to poor maintenance or defective parts which means that while turning the steering wheel a truck driver can have it lock up, jerk, or simply be unresponsive. When this happens the trailer can either simply collide with another vehicle on the road or a static object and sometimes roll over causing even more destruction.
Semi-Truck Tire Malfunctions
When a semi-truck’s tires give out then there is a chance that the vehicle can twist out of control and collide with another car or object. As with regular cars, regular tire maintenance to check for air pressure, integrity, and tread wear is very important to the safe operation of a semi-truck. Tires may sometimes have defects either of design or manufacturing that leave imperfections that can cause the tire to blow out unexpectedly. When this happens, the evenly distributed weight of the semi-truck can end up askew and affect the maneuvering of the vehicle or can trigger an accident outright on its own.
Contact an Experienced Florida Truck Accident Attorney
The best thing you can do when you are severely injured in a semi-truck accident is to seek a lawyer experienced in semi-truck accident injury claims. You technically could pursue a claim on your own but the odds of you successfully navigating the many pitfalls of insurance tricks and the legal process is greatly diminished. Insurance companies have everything they need to successfully deny a claim; as that is their goal since profits are their main priority. Insurance companies have the experience, personnel, resources, lawyers, and money to fight a claim to any extent necessary. If it turns into a “who can withstand the storm longer” type of situation, the answer will always be the insurance company when competing against an injured victim on their own.
It doesn’t cost you anything to get an injury attorney to look at your case. Likewise, truck accident lawyers don’t cost anything out of your pocket since they work on a contingency fee basis. This means they take a percentage of the settlement once the claim is seen through and don’t get paid at all if the injury victim doesn’t recover financial compensation. You or your loved one are likely significantly injured if you are even considering hiring a car accident attorney in the first place. So you should focus on your recovery while a professional works to maximize your settlement with the insurance companies and courts.
If you have been injured in a truck accident in the Stuart, Florida or Gainesville, Florida area, contact the experienced personal injury team at The Eberst Law Firm. We are ready to handle your case. You can contact us online or call us at 772-225-4900.
Stuart, Florida Office
101 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Stuart, FL 34994
Gainesville, Florida Office
716 E. University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
