Disclaimer: The information presented below is meant to serve only as a guide on what to remember about the difference between car and truck accidents in the eyes of the law, and shouldn’t be taken as legal advice. To know more about how the law treats car and truck accidents, you would have to consult a licensed lawyer who can further orient you on what legal actions you can take in case you become involved in either one of them.
Here’s to hoping this won’t happen to you anytime soon, but imagine yourself for a moment that you’re casually driving while on your way to work when another car suddenly crashes onto you. To make things worse, a truck does the same to you a few minutes later. Then regardless if you believe in miracles or not, you somehow make it alive after having been hit by a car and a truck on the same day and sustaining injuries out of those two accidents. You might be thinking of filing only one lawsuit against the drivers of both the car and truck that hit you, but did you know that the law treats car and truck accidents differently?
What Are Some of the Legal Differences Between Car and Truck Accidents?
As much as you might initially believe that car and truck accidents are essentially the same since both involve vehicles, the law says otherwise. Thus, you would want to know some of the legal differences between car and truck accidents which are as follows:
- A truck causes more substantial damage compared to a car.
At the risk of stating the obvious, a truck is bigger and heavier than a car. With the vast difference in size and weight alone, it then follows that you wouldn’t want to get involved in a vehicular accident with the former.
- Even if a car and a truck are both running at the same speed, you would feel a greater impact when the latter crashes into you and causes a vehicular accident to occur.
- The greater impact that you would experience once you collide with a truck then translates into a more extensive amount of injuries to you and damages to your vehicle.
- There’s more to an accident involving a truck than driving while under the influence or getting distracted.
Both car and truck drivers can be held liable for two reasons that caused a vehicular accident involving them to occur. One is driving under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. The other is driving while distracted by a call or text that they felt like answering even if they’re behind the wheel.
- However, truck accidents can also happen as a result of drivers either operating their vehicle despite being visibly exhausted or not securing their cargo properly.
- Some truck drivers are made to work unreasonably long hours by their trucking company that they only clock in around half of the recommended eight hours of sleep for everyone, thus leading them to experience fatigue that can drastically affect their driving skills.
- Trucks also usually carry heavy loads with them. If a driver hadn’t made sure to check first if all cargo had been properly secured after loading them in the back of a truck, it could spill out in the case of an accident and cause damage too, even if the truck itself didn’t collide with any other vehicle at all.
- The driver of the truck that caused the accident to happen is usually not the only person to blame for it.
Whereas most car accidents are usually the result of the driver’s own negligence, those involving trucks not only puts the driver involved in hot water but their trucking company and even the manufacturer of the truck itself as well.
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- In the previous example, wherein a driver was made to operate a truck beyond their usual working hours by their trucking company, the latter can be held liable for making their driver work more than the reasonable amount of hours in a day that a person should be working.
- On the other hand, if it was found out that a truck accident was caused by a defective part of the truck that wasn’t intentionally made that way by anyone, the manufacturer of the truck itself can also be held liable for having caused the accident to happen.
- Hiring the services of an attorney who specializes in truck accidents can help you with the claim filing process and the negotiation of a settlement.
Both car and truck accidents might be vehicular in nature, but in the former, you often have a good chance of getting out of it with only fairly minimal injuries to you and damage to your vehicle. The latter on the other hand is something that you might find yourself wishing to not happen to you at all as a truck is bigger in size, has more weight, and carries more load that can leave you seriously injured and your vehicle rendered beyond repair. If your initial notion regarding both car and truck accidents is that they’re relatively similar, you might find yourself surprised to know that the law treats both types of vehicular accidents differently. Thus, you would want to seek the services of a professional lawyer who can help you explore further what you can do legally to make those responsible for either a car or truck accident that you got involved in accountable for injuring you and damaging your vehicle.
Sylvia Johnson
Sylvia Johnson is equipped with 20 years of experience in the business industry, where it is her passion to help teach and enlighten others with things in the legal and business world. She writes about the law and other subjects from a practical standpoint. She enjoys playing tennis with her daughters during her free time.