Truck Accident Attorney In Michigan City, Indiana
Guy S. DiMartino is here to help victims of semi-truck accidents in Michigan City, IN and throughout the NWI region.
Statistics tell us that there are more than three truck accidents in the United States every minute in which somebody is hurt or killed. Thousands of people in this country are killed or injured by semi-truck or big rig accidents on our roadways. Northwest Indiana is the crossroads across America. Many of these accidents happen on our most frequent highways (I-80/94) the Borman, (I-90) the Toll Road or (I-65). Overworked drivers that are paid by the mile, poor driving, oversized loads, mechanical failure and other unsafe practices in the truck industry increase the risk of these devastating accidents. But most of these truck accidents happen because of driver error or driver distraction. These big rigs simply do not have the same margin of error that passenger cars do when on our highways.
Truck accidents are much more complex than car accidents because there are a number of different parties that can be responsible for the injuries including the driver, the owner of the tractor or trailer, the leasing company, the loading company or the manufacturer of a defective product on the rig. If you or a loved one has been injured because of a semi-truck accident in Michigan City or LaPorte, Lake, Porter, Jasper, Newton, St. Joseph, Starke, Marshall or Elkhart counties, you should speak with one of our Michigan City Truck Accident Lawyers as soon as possible.
Causes of Northwest Indiana Truck Accident Cases
Generally, there are three main causes of truck accidents that are not present with passenger vehicles in Michigan City. First, because trucks are big, heavy and long they have a more difficult time stopping, which leads to rear-end accidents. Second, truck drivers have a difficult time changing lanes on highways, crossing over center lines on rural roads and making turns in urban areas. The third main cause of truck accidents is driver fatigue. Most truck drivers are paid by the mile. The longer driver drivers the more miles are covered and the greater income earned. The federal government has performed a number of studies on driver fatigue and determined that the average truck driver gets about one-half of the sleep of the average person. In order to combat the problems with fatigue, the government has instituted stringent hours of service rules that place limits on the hours one can drive. However, there are those truck drivers that cut corners and put people on our roads at risk because they are tired.
Handling Truck Accident Cases In
Many lawyers handle truck accident cases the same way they would handle any other car accident case. It may be appropriate to handle a car, pick-up or SUV case as a routine automobile accident case but commercial truck accident cases are different. One of the main differences is the stringent rules and regulations that govern the truck industry. Your truck accident lawyer has to be intimately familiar with these rules and regulations because the truck driver or trucking company may have violated one or more of the safety rules relating to the weight of the freight, mechanical inspections or hours of service.
Because the stakes are potentially higher in truck accident cases the Northwest Indiana truck accident lawyer has to investigate the cause of the crash immediately and work to preserve critical evidence. This critical evidence may include skid marks, photos of the scene, an inspection of the semi-truck, preserving the driver’s logbooks, maintenance schedule and the electronic data recorder (“Black Box”) that may contain vital information regarding the speed of the rig before the crash, braking and deceleration.
Contact Us For A Michigan City Accident Consultation
If you have any additional questions about an Indiana truck accident case, call one of our Northwest Indiana truck accident lawyers or fill out the internet consultation box below.
