When you’re involved in a car or truck accident, one thing is for sure – that you’ll be entitled to recover compensation from the person at fault. However, do you know that car and truck accidents are two distinct things? If you want to know how car and truck accidents work differently, below are the key things to remember legally:
Things To Consider In Car And Truck Accidents
When you’re in a car and truck accident, injuries that you’ll sustain may be severe. However, there are other important things to consider when dealing with the aftermath of a car and truck accidents. Below are the things to do when you’ve experienced a car crash:
Stay at the accident scene and seek medical attention if someone is injured: In a car and truck accident, it’s best if you remain at the accident scene and check if you or anybody else has been injured in the collision.
- Remember to call the police to assist in the accident scene. Don’t forget to ask for a police report if there’s significant damage to your car or truck and physical injuries.
- Make sure that all injured persons are given medical attention until medical help responds in the accident area.
- Gather information and collect pieces of evidence: When you’re in a car and truck accident, get and exchange information from all the drivers involved. This information will form part of your evidence in case you decide to bring a legal action in court.
- Take time to get all the names, addresses, contact information, driver’s license numbers, and basic insurance details from all the persons involved including the passengers. Also, include all personal information of the witnesses who saw the actual accident scene.
- Don’t also forget to take pictures of the accident area, the damages of your car (if applicable) and the physical injuries. These photos will help you in getting claims from your insurance and the party responsible for the accident.
- Notify the insurance company: Notify your insurance company when you’ve been in a car accident.
- Try to cooperate with them and disclose all information as much as possible to make the insurance processing easier and faster.
- If necessary, get a copy of the police report to prove your claims. By doing so, the insurer will know what laws are violated, who is at fault and who are the aggrieved party.
- Consider getting a lawyer: If you know that your loved one has been injured in a car accident, consider hiring a lawyer.
- The assistance of an attorney can help you recover the compensation you’re legally entitled under the law, and if you’re at fault, they can also help you properly defend yourself before the court.
Differences Between Car And Truck Accidents
Both car and truck accidents may result in serious injuries. However, trucks are larger than the usual personal vehicles that’s why the extent of damages can be more disastrous compared to car accidents. To further understand the difference between car and truck accidents, here are the things you have to remember legally:
- Extra care in driving: Unlike cars or other personal vehicles, truck driving requires a more stringent rules to prevent accidents.
- Truck drivers need to be more careful in driving because the consequences of the crash are more severe than in car accidents. That is why getting a driver’s license for truck driving is stricter than the process for a personal vehicle driver’s license.
- In fact, certain safety rules are provided to truck drivers to ensure that they’re not driving for too many hours in a day. This also means that they should go for breaks to make sure that they’re not overworked or excessively tired while driving.
- If it’s found out that you’ve violated the said safety rules, you’ll be possibly facing more severe sentencing.
- More detailed records regarding their driving history: Keeping a more detailed record related to driving is required for truck accidents.
- When you’re in a truck accident, you need to have more documentation and paperwork than in accidents involving cars.
- In most cases, truck drivers are subject to thorough training since trucks and other commercial vehicles are difficult to operate. That’s why keeping records related to driving history plays a relevant factor in truck accidents.
- The litigation process is more complicated: Unlike car accidents, truck collisions involve a more complicated and long litigation process.
- It has been noted that insurance policies for truck accidents are more complicated for lawyers to deal with. In other words, there are more things to take into consideration when litigating a truck crash.
- In truck accidents, you have to check if third-party companies are involved in transporting the freight. You also have to consider if the truck has only been leased out to do a hauling job.
- In simplest terms, truck collisions are sometimes hard to investigate as lawyers need to account everything including the lost earnings, and other related expenses. This is, of course, to ensure that no minor or major details are left behind in the litigation.
As mentioned earlier, car and truck accidents may happen anytime and the possibility of getting injured is more likely. That’s why we hope that the examples mentioned above can give you information as to the key things to remember between car and truck accidents. However, it’s still encouraged for you to talk to a lawyer experienced in truck accidents to understand more the legal nature of being involved in car and truck accidents and their corresponding consequences.
Disclaimer: If you’ve been in a car or truck accident, this article only serves as general guidance as to the legal aspect of the said subject matter. It should not be treated as actual legal advice. To better learn about the legal aspect of car and truck accidents, approach a licensed attorney who can help you with your particular issue related to the topic of this article.
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.