Trucking Accidents can happen at any time
Living in the Susquehanna Valley or Northern Maryland, it is not unusual to spend a good amount of time on some of our country’s busiest roads and highways. If you spend time traveling on “81, 83, 95, 15, 30, 695, or 76,” you have to grapple with the dangers posed by heavy traffic, distracted drivers, aggressive drivers, and lots of large commercial vehicles.
These commercial vehicles are a necessary part of our world. They carry the produce we eat, wood to be made into furniture or paper, gravel and asphalt for our roads, steel and glass for our buildings, computers and books, new cars. Everything from potato chips to fresh seafood, from baby formula to caskets. The list goes on and on when discussing the ways in which commercial vehicles are utilized.
Many of us have found ourselves in between two large commercial tractor trailers. You wonder whether they see you switching lanes or whether they see you at all. Sometimes I wonder whether the driver has slept for an adequate amount of time. This might not be something everyone worries about but spending most of my adult life dealing with auto accident claims, it is something I worry about.
People operating commercial vehicles are governed by a completely different set of rules than the rest of us who carry a regular Driver’s License. Some of those rules are specifically in place to make sure drivers are operating these large vehicles with sufficient rest. Commercial drivers are subject to mandatory breaks and limitations on the number of hours they can spend driving during a work session, and how many hours they can spend driving per week. You can find more information about these regulations at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) website: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/
What if it happens to me?
In the event that you are involved in a truck accident, proving fault and recovering compensation can be complicated. These types of accidents are often much more complex than accidents involving two passenger cars. Sometimes there can be several parties who may be responsible in a trucking accidents, such as:
- The Truck Driver
- The Trucking Company
- The Vehicle Manufacturer
- The Vehicle Parts Manufacturer
- The Person or Business Who Loaded The Vehicle
In some cases, we have discovered that commercial drivers, and their employers, don’t always follow the rules governing commercial drivers. If you are involved in a trucking accident, the best thing you can do is report the accident to the police, seek medical care, and contact one of our experienced lawyers at Mooney & Associates as soon as possible.
Count on Mooney
Our legal team has decades of experience in complex tractor trailer accident cases. We stand ready to assist you in your time of need and you know you can Count on Mooney, whatever your legal need.
Mooney & Associates has 14 offices spread throughout Central Pennsylvania including:
We can meet you at the office location most convenient for you. Contact us today for a free consultation or call us at 717-632-4656 or toll free at 877-632-4656.
