The Gainesville, Georgia personal injury lawyers at Weaver Law Injury Attorneys are ready to fight for you if you’re in a frightening truck accident. We have decades of experience standing up for people who have been struck by big trucks and left without enough support from the truck driver or the driver’s employer.
After an accident, don’t wait to get the help you need to recover physically and financially. For a free consultation, contact us today.
Will I Need a Lawyer After Getting Hurt in a Truck Accident?
With the weight they carry and their unique shape and size, trucks often cause devastating harm when they strike smaller vehicles. When victims suffer serious injuries, like fractured bones and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs), they need to understand their options.
Talking to a skilled Gainesville, Georgia Truck Accident Lawyer can help you avoid some common insurance tactics meant to rob you of compensation. When injuries are serious, medical bills will be higher, and insurance adjusters will fight harder to avoid having to accept blame.
What’s more, truck drivers are often on the road for large trucking companies, farms, or retailers. These businesses can afford teams of lawyers to attack your case, and if possible, even blame you for what happened.
Our attorneys can fully investigate your accident and the past records of drivers and the companies that hired them. We build up the evidence so that the facts can’t be changed, leaving employers no choice but to accept full responsibility. We insist on the maximum amount in a settlement check for our clients.
Truck Accident Dangers in Gainesville and Across Georgia
Georgia is an industrious state with agriculture and manufacturing providing many jobs. Those businesses all send large trucks out onto the many interstates, highways, and city streets. You might see refrigerated trucks from a poultry processing plant trying to make a wide turn. You might see a semi-truck making its way to supply the Walmart on Shallowford Road.
A farm vehicle could be blocking a rural road outside of town. A delivery van may be rushing through your neighborhood to make deliveries and not making full stops at stop signs.
Most of these drivers are on the road for someone else. If they make a mistake and cause a collision, the employers should be held fully accountable. Training, hiring practices that identify safe drivers, and even truck maintenance all fall to the company the truck driver represents.
Unfortunately, truck accidents still occur daily across Georgia. These are just a few of the most common actions that lead to devastating crashes:
- Distracted Truck Drivers: All drivers have the temptation of cell phones trying to steal their attention. Truck drivers and delivery drivers also face further distraction from computers that may update their schedules, their destinations, and provide other job communication. When traveling in a heavy vehicle, drivers who take their eyes off the lanes can end up hurting themselves and others.
- Reckless Truck Drivers: Most truck drivers do their best to practice safe driving. Unfortunately, some drivers become careless or may feel pressure from their employers to rush. They may drive aggressively to meet a deadline. They may go too fast to be able to brake quickly and stay in control of the loads they are carrying. They can hit a tight curve with a load that’s packed top-heavy and end up flipping over on a smaller vehicle.
- Drowsy Truck Drivers: Professional drivers are required to take a certain amount of breaks. They are also monitored to be sure they get enough sleep before climbing into their cabs for the day. Even with adequate monitoring, drivers can lie about their downtime and get behind the wheel without getting the rest they need. They may have slowed reaction times or could just doze off at the wheel to create a fast-moving accident risk.
- Truck Drivers Under the Influence: Some professional drivers decide to break the law and rely on drugs to stay awake and focused on the road. They are supposed to be drug-tested regularly, but a problem can sometimes go unnoticed until an accident has already occurred. Some drivers may have a few alcoholic drinks before hitting the road. Truck drivers must stay under stricter Blood Alcohol Content standards than normal drivers. If they are drunk and cause an accident, the trucking company that hired them will have a hard time avoiding blame.
- Untrained Truck Drivers: Trucking companies, retailers, and farms may be found liable in accidents for not providing proper training to handle a semi-truck or box truck safely.
- Failed Truck Driver Background Checks: Companies may have to provide support after truck accidents when they hire someone with a suspect driving record. A driver who shouldn’t be given the keys to a large truck could end up on the road due to an employer’s lax hiring policies.
These are all reasons you can demand full recovery support from a truck driver or a company after a serious accident. Unfortunately, you’ll need evidence of these lapses and mistakes before those at fault will accept the blame. An attorney can help you build a strong case that shows exactly who was at fault.
Gainesville Truck Accident Statistics
The dangers that big rigs present are easy to notice when a heavy, wide load rumbles past you on a busy Gainesville Road. They can be racing down I-985 or squeezing into lanes along the Butler Parkway.
According to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Traffic Safety, the number of fatalities across the state hit a recent high in 2022. The state recorded 265 deaths in truck-involved collisions. That was higher than 2021’s already tragic figure of 246 fatalities, and was more than any of the past five years.
Between 2019 and 2023, The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) reported there were 25 fatalities caused by accidents involving tractor-trailers, panel trucks, single-unit trucks, and vans in Gainesville and Hall County.
Truck accidents continue to be a major risk to local motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists. Those victims and families affected must receive support to rebuild their lives.
What Makes Truck Accident Cases More Complex than Most Car Accident Cases?
Truck accidents, like car accidents, can have devastating consequences. But car accidents usually aren’t as complex or as challenging to investigate. Unlike most car accidents, truck accidents can involve:
- Multiple liable parties
- Complex state and federal regulations
- Technical data
- Many other types of evidence
These can all add up to a much more challenging case than the average car accident claim.
Truck accidents often involve in-depth regulations covering everything from how trucks are maintained to how much rest a driver needs. Sifting through regulations and reviewing piles of relevant evidence can make a truck accident case significantly more challenging than a car accident claim.
One other important way that truck accidents can be different from car accidents is that they may pull in highly technical evidence. Modern trucks are equipped with event data recorders and a suite of sensors that collect data about the vehicle before, during, and after a wreck. A truck accident case will need this data as supporting evidence.
These are only some ways that a truck accident case can be more complex. After an 18-wheeler crash, make sure that you’re working with an experienced truck accident lawyer in Gainesville, GA, who knows how to investigate and build your claim for the compensation you deserve.
Who Is Responsible If I’m Hit by a Truck in Gainesville GA?
This is a common question that people have after a complex big-rig accident. Unlike a typical car accident, where you might pursue compensation from the other driver, it may not be clear who is ultimately responsible after a truck accident injury.
That’s why it’s essential to thoroughly investigate the accident, understand the parties involved, and determine who you may be able to hold liable for your injuries. Each liable party may also have multiple insurance policies involved.
Following a commercial truck accident, these parties and others could be held financially responsible:
- The driver
- Their employer
- Truck owners
- Truck maintenance companies
- Cargo loaders
- Truck manufacturers
What Type of Evidence Will I Need To Prove a Truck Driver Was at Fault?
A Gainesville truck accident attorney from Weaver Law Injury Attorneys can pull together the documents and support that your claim needs. Evidence and records that we could use to build a claim include:
- Driver logs
- Maintenance records
- Event data recorder logs
- Drug and alcohol test results
- Police reports
- Photos and witness reports
- Medical records
- Work records
- Expert testimony
How Much Is My Truck Accident Case Worth?
A true estimate of what you may earn will be hard to give you without knowing anything about your accident or your injury. The size of a settlement check will largely hinge on the severity of your accident and the time it takes you to heal. The longer recovery takes, the higher your hospital bills will go, and the more paychecks you’ll have to forfeit at work.
The value may be only the cost of an ambulance ride and an emergency room visit when a more minor injury is involved. But in some cases, truck accident settlements reach into the millions of dollars when victims endure a long-term injury or permanent disability.
Compensation varies from case to case, but these and other factors will determine the size of the truck accident settlement check:
- Medical bills
- Rehabilitation and future treatment for injuries
- The amount of pain you must endure
- The amount of emotional trauma a frightening truck accident causes
- Loss of consortium for spouses
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Lost wages and work benefits
- Damage to your future earnings
- The cost of travel to medical appointments while you can’t drive
After an accident, you may be able to pursue these and other types of compensation. An easy way to determine what’s possible is to go over your case with a truck accident lawyer in Gainesville GA. It’s a free case review. If we can help you earn more for your injury claim, we’ll tell you that. If we can’t, you’ll find out how to best file your claim yourself and avoid the tactics that commercial truck insurance companies use to shed blame.
How Long Do You Have to File a Truck Accident Lawsuit in Georgia?
You typically have two years from the accident’s date to file your lawsuit in a truck accident case. Georgia’s laws lay out this time limit, known as the statute of limitations. If you don’t file within the time allowed in your case, you could lose your right to bring a truck accident claim. Do not put off talking to a lawyer about your case.
How Our Gainesville Truck Accident Lawyers Can Help
When you’re recovering from an accident, an injury lawyer can help take the pressure off you. At Weaver Law Injury Attorneys, we work on truck accident cases regularly and know what it takes to build a strong claim for maximum compensation. Essential ways that our lawyers can help include:
- Pulling together complex evidence about your truck accident and the injuries you are facing
- Working with experts to understand what caused the accident and who was responsible
- Using medical records, expert evaluations, and your own accounts to understand how your injuries have harmed your life
- Managing the calls, paperwork, and forms that go with a truck accident claim
- Building your claim and identifying all available sources of compensation for your injuries
- Advocating for you in all negotiations with insurance companies
- Filing a truck accident lawsuit and fighting for you at trial, if necessary
Talk to a Gainesville Truck Accident Lawyer Now
If you’ve been seriously injured in a truck accident in Gainesville, Georgia, contact Weaver Law Injury Attorneys today. We’ve been serving North Georgia for more than 20 years and continue to help victims earn more for their recoveries.
Our Truck accident attorneys in Gainesville offer a free consultation to review your case and answer your questions. Contact us online to schedule your free consultation. There’s no obligation for this free case review.
And if you feel we can help you secure more for your injury, you don’t need to worry about finding the money to hire a truck accident lawyer. We don’t earn anything for our services unless we recover money for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement that a trucking company provides to you and your family.
