Shelton, CT Truck Accident Attorneys

Lawyers for Victims of Collisions With 18-Wheelers and Other Large Trucks in Shelton, Connecticut

Large commercial trucks are massive vehicles, and they can cause serious injuries when collisions occur. When an 18-wheeler weighing 80,000 pounds strikes a passenger car, the occupants of the smaller vehicle may suffer catastrophic harm. These situations often involve multiple liable parties, and legal representation can be crucial for victims as they take steps to recover compensation for their damages.

At Tremont Sheldon P.C., our lawyers represent people who have been seriously injured or who have lost family members in commercial truck accidents. These cases often involve unique challenges, but our legal team has experience handling complex truck accident litigation. We know how to obtain crucial evidence to establish how accidents occurred and identify the parties that may be held liable for our clients' damages. Our attorneys provide compassionate representation while fighting to secure full compensation that will address the injuries our clients have endured in devastating truck crashes.

Common Causes of Commercial Truck Accidents

Collisions involving large trucks often involve negligence by drivers, trucking companies, or others involved in commercial transportation. Our attorneys can take steps to determine the specific causes of crashes, which may include:

• Improper Maintenance or Inadequate Inspections: Federal regulations require regular inspections and maintenance of trucks to ensure that they can operate safely. Brake failures, tire blowouts, steering system malfunctions, defective lights, and other mechanical problems may cause accidents when trucking companies or maintenance providers fail to perform required inspections or do not complete repairs correctly.
• Traffic Violations: Unsafe driving behaviors by truck drivers can lead to collisions. Speeding can be a problem in the trucking industry, particularly when drivers face pressure to meet tight delivery schedules. When traveling at excessive speeds, trucks will require longer stopping distances, and they will become more difficult to control. When following too closely behind other vehicles, truck drivers may be unable to stop safely. Improper lane changes without checking blind spots or signaling can lead to sideswipe collisions.
• Driver Fatigue: Hours-of-service rules require truck drivers to take mandatory rest breaks while limiting how much time they can spend behind the wheel. Despite these regulations, some drivers exceed their allowable hours due to pressure from employers to meet delivery deadlines. Drowsy truck drivers can experience slowed reaction times, impaired judgment, and reduced attention. Some fatigued drivers may fall asleep at the wheel, resulting in devastating crashes.
• Intoxicated Driving: Commercial drivers are held to higher standards than ordinary motorists when it comes to alcohol use. Commercial drivers cannot drive if they have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04 percent or higher, which is half of the legal limit of 0.08 percent that applies for regular drivers. In addition to alcohol intoxication, drug use by truck drivers can also lead to impairments. Drunk or drugged driving can be incredibly dangerous when operating a large truck.
• Overloaded Trucks or Improperly Secured Cargo: Maximum weight limits apply to commercial vehicles. Exceeding these limits will make a truck harder to control, increasing stopping distances and placing excessive stress on braking systems and other components. Overweight trucks can cause more damage in crashes due to their increased mass. Cargo that has not been secured properly can shift during transport, causing trucks to become unbalanced and potentially leading to jackknife accidents or rollovers. In some cases, unsecured cargo may fall from trucks, creating hazards for other vehicles.

Identifying the Liable Parties in Truck Accident Cases

Commercial truck accidents often involve multiple parties who may share legal responsibility. At Tremont Sheldon P.C., our lawyers can take steps to identify all potentially liable defendants and ensure that our clients can recover maximum compensation from all available sources.

Individual truck drivers may be liable when their negligent operation of trucks causes accidents. Drivers who speed, violate hours-of-service regulations, operate while fatigued or impaired, or commit traffic violations can be held accountable for causing harm in collisions. Even when other parties share responsibility, driver negligence is a central element in most truck accident claims.

Trucking companies that employ drivers may be held liable for negligent acts their employees have committed. When truck drivers cause accidents while performing their job duties, the companies employing them share responsibility for the damages suffered by victims. Trucking companies may also be liable for negligent practices, including hiring drivers without conducting background checks, failing to provide adequate training for drivers, allowing drivers to violate hours-of-service rules, pressuring drivers to meet unrealistic schedules, neglecting to maintain vehicles, or failing to use drug and alcohol testing to prevent intoxicated driving.

Cargo loading companies may be held responsible when improperly loaded freight causes accidents. When loading commercial trucks, these companies must pay attention to weight distribution and load capacity limitations while ensuring that cargo is secured correctly. Companies that exceed weight limits or fail to secure freight may be held liable for accidents resulting from overloaded, shifting, or falling cargo.

Maintenance providers, including repair shops and third-party maintenance companies, may be held liable when substandard maintenance or repairs lead to mechanical failures that cause truck crashes. If brake systems fail because a repair shop performed inadequate repairs, or if tire blowouts occur because a maintenance provider failed to identify worn tires during inspections, these service providers can be held accountable for accidents caused by their negligence.

Investigating Truck Accidents and Gathering Evidence

Thorough investigations can be crucial after truck accidents, and prompt action can preserve critical evidence that may otherwise be lost. Our attorneys can act quickly to preserve evidence by sending spoliation letters to trucking companies, maintenance providers, and other parties and gathering information about vehicles, electronic data, driver logs, maintenance records, and other relevant documentation. Commercial trucks may be repaired or sold quickly after accidents, and electronic logging device data may be overwritten if it is not preserved immediately. Our prompt intervention can protect evidence from disappearing.

Our legal team can take steps to obtain driver records from trucking companies to determine whether drivers possessed valid commercial licenses, met medical fitness standards, and had acceptable driving histories. These files will also show what training drivers received and whether companies conducted the required background checks. Inadequate qualifications or training can show that a trucking company was negligent when hiring drivers.

We will obtain hours-of-service logs that may show whether drivers violated federal regulations and were likely to experience fatigue. Modern trucks contain electronic systems recording when vehicles are in motion, and this data can help determine whether fatigue contributed to an accident.

Our attorneys will examine maintenance and inspection records, including pre-trip inspection reports, annual inspections, and repair records that show what maintenance was performed and when. Gaps in required inspections or records of known mechanical problems that were not addressed can show that negligent maintenance was responsible for a truck accident.

We can obtain black box data from trucks. This can provide information about a vehicle's speed, how brakes were used, engine performance, and other factors related to a truck crash. This electronic evidence can help determine how an accident occurred and whether a truck driver attempted to brake or take evasive action.

We work with accident reconstruction specialists who can analyze physical evidence from crash scenes, including skid marks, debris patterns, vehicle damage, and road conditions, to determine how a crash occurred. These professionals can provide opinions about the causes of an accident and who was responsible.

We can also interview witnesses, including other drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and first responders who observed an accident or its aftermath. These witness accounts can provide crucial information about a truck driver's behavior, traffic conditions, and the causes of an accident.

Contact Our Shelton Commercial Truck Accident Lawyers

The team at Tremont Sheldon P.C. can provide the experienced legal representation you need to obtain compensation from the parties who were responsible for a truck accident. Our lawyers have the knowledge and resources needed to handle these challenging claims effectively. Contact our Shelton, CT commercial truck accident attorneys by calling 203-335-5145 and arranging a free consultation. Let our experienced attorneys conduct a thorough investigation of your truck accident and take legal action to help you obtain the compensation you need to recover from your injuries.