When the side of one vehicle strikes the side of another on the roadways, it’s typically called a sideswipe motor vehicle accident. Sideswipe accidents can be caused by improper lane changes or merging, or it may involve weaving within a single lane. When a commercial truck sideswipes a car, that can be a recipe for disaster. The sheer size and weight of a truck can cause severe damage to a car and its passengers when sideswiping the vehicle. Depending upon the rate of speed at impact, it may easily force the car into other moving vehicles or even cause the car to rollover.
Factors that Often Lead to a Truck Sideswiping Accident
A lot of things can lead to a sideswiping incident, but typically when truck drivers sideswipe another vehicle, it is often the result of a failure to check mirrors or blind spots, which can be significant in a commercial truck. Other conditions that may lead to sideswiping is truck driver fatigue, distracted driving, overly aggressive driving and impaired driving. In some cases mechanical issues involving wheels or tires may also lead to a sideswiping incident. If, in fact, mechanical issues are the culprit, it may point to personal injury liability on the part of the manufacturer.
Injuries resulting from a truck sideswiping accident or resulting calamity like a rollover or a chain reaction involving other vehicles can include brain injuries, spinal chord damage, broken limbs and even internal injuries. Life altering injuries may result from such cataclysmic accidents. When injuries do occur, an accident victim may file a lawsuit to recover compensation against the truck driver involved, the trucking company that owns the vehicle and/or any other entity involved in the cause of the accident.
Proving Liability for a Trucking Accident
As with most other personal injury claims, proving liability typically involves demonstrating that the defendant was negligent, and that negligence caused the accident. Essentially, you must show that they did not take reasonable care on the roads and failed to maintain their duty of care to other drivers on the road. If that involved violating the law or rules of the road in some way, or even trucking industry standards, that fact can contribute strongly to success in proving your claim. However, observing all applicable laws and regulations does not necessarily absolve the defendant from liability. If they did not use reasonable care in the situation they were in at the time of the accident, they can still be held liable for your injuries.
Arriving at such a determination often requires careful investigation of the accident scene and inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the accident. In may cases, review of the truck’s “Black Box” data can be extremely useful in uncovering the details leading up the accident.
It is often helpful to have an accident reconstruction expert on hand to help develop evidence on your behalf. For these reasons, it’s often vitally important to obtain the counsel of an experienced trucking accident attorney who has an expertise in and resources to develop accident investigations. They can help build your case and negotiate a settlement based on the facts. The more evidence they can develop demonstrate fault on the part of the truck driver the better leverage they can maintain against the defendants to negotiate the highest award damages you’re entitled to receive.
If you’re looking for an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer to help navigate your personal injury claim, we will fight assiduously for your right to the compensation you deserve. Call Bizzieri Law Offices at 773.881.9000. The case evaluation is free, and we never charge a fee unless we recover damages for you.