Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident victims turn to Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys for help. Schedule a free consultation to learn more about what we can do for you.
An accident with a tractor trailer can be devastating. As the injured victim, you need the help of an experienced tractor trailer accident lawyer to get fair compensation for your losses. The Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident attorneys at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys have a history of winning tractor trailer accident cases in Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond. We represent injured drivers, passengers, truckers, motorcycle riders and pedestrians. Call, chat now or submit our online form for a free review of your case.
If you hire a Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident attorney at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys you will have no upfront costs. We work on contingency and we don’t get paid until we win your case. We handle all out-of-pocket expenses so that cost will never stand in the way of your recovery.
What can a tractor trailer accident attorney at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys will do for you
An at-fault trucking company or their insurer will try to quickly and cheaply settle your case. They are motivated to move fast before you have found the right legal representation. Why? Because without an experienced tractor trailer lawyer representing your interests, a trucking company can usually get away with spending less money and getting a cheaper settlement.
As your attorneys, we will make sure that doesn’t happen to you. We document the scene of the accident and interview any witnesses. We contact the trucking company and their insurer with legal requests to preserve any evidence from your Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident. It is imperative that evidence is not altered, misplaced or destroyed. We work with forensic experts to detail and document the accident. We work with you and your care team to estimate all present and future costs associated with the tractor trailer accident including medical, loss of wages, loss of work, equipment and adaptations that may be required as a result of your accident.
Once we have the evidence we develop a strategy and prepare your case. We hire expert witnesses and do everything possible to build a winning case.
Wilkes-Barre Tractor Trailer Traffic Statistics
Wilkes-Barre has some of the busiest interstates and thoroughfares in the state.
Wilkes-Barre sits in a unique position at the junction of many interstates and thoroughfares. With I-80 and I-81 running right through Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Township as well as 309, 93, 315, route 11, 115 and more, these busy routes and interstates see truck traffic traveling intrastate daily to Hazleton, Scranton; finding their way to the turnpike for south and northbound travel and interstate traffic north and south to states along the east coast, Ohio and beyond. Travelers and commuters on Wilkes-Barre roads daily find themselves sharing increasingly crowded roads with large trucks.
According to PennDot’s data there are almost 63,000 vehicles traveling through Wilkes-Barre on I-81 alone, every day. In PA every year there are more than 6,000 tractor trailer accidents.
Tractor Trailer Accidents Cause Roughly 130,000 Injuries Every Year
A truck driver has a difficult job with a lot of challenges they need to balance every day. Tractor trailers are heavy. They take longer to stop once their brakes are applied and when they do collide with a passenger vehicle they can do a lot more damage than a regular motor vehicle accident.
A variety of factors contribute to the number of truck accidents that happen each year including mechanical failure, distracted driving, fatigued drivers and more. Tractor trailer accidents often result in more severe injuries to the drivers, passengers, and other people involved.
Each year, about 130,000 people are injured in tractor trailer accidents.
Truck Accidents Result in More Than 4,000 Deaths Each Year
According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), compared to figures from 2009, there has been a 28 percent increase in truck accident fatalities.
Tractor trailer accidents cause approximately 4,000 deaths each year.
Who Was Responsible for Your Tractor Trailer Accident?
At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, we know we need to get to work to immediately prove liability and fault in the event of a big rig accident. Tractor trailer accidents are often far more serious and more complex than other motor vehicle accidents. If you have been injured in a tractor trailer accident you might have catastrophic injuries, looming medical expenses and property damage. You will need an experienced tractor trailer accident attorneys on your side to start collecting the necessary information about your case.
Your Munley attorney will work tirelessly to determine negligence in your truck accident case. They will research, question all involved parties, witnesses and law enforcement, obtain log books, electronic or “black box” data and other vital evidence about your truck accident from the truck driver, the trucking company and more. It is essential to determine what and who caused your accident.
Once we complete these crucial steps we may determine who may be held liable for any losses and damages as a result of your tractor trailer accident.
What Caused Your Tractor Trailer Accident?
Wilkes-Barre truck accidents can have a variety of mechanic causes. A trucking company is responsible to maintain, inspect and repair their trucks to keep them in safe, working order. If your truck accident was caused by mechanical failure, such as faulty or unchecked tires and wheels, brakes, power train failure, an unsecured trailer and overloaded trailers. According to PennDot crash and accidents data, vehicle defects ranked by frequency in relation to truck accidents include:
- Tire/Wheel-Related
- Brake-Related
- Unsecure Trailer/Overloaded – Large trucks already weigh a massive amount, and overloading them or incorrectly loading truck cargo can cause a very dangerous situation. Overloading and other unsafe loading practices can make it very difficult for a trucker to correctly maneuver a truck, cause cargo shifts, cause a rollover, or greatly impact stop times, resulting in a collision.
- Power Train Failure
- Total Steering System Failure
- Trailer Hitch/Improper Towing
- Other Failure
- Suspension
- Vehicle Lighting Related
- Windshield/Defective Wipers
In addition to the top 10 listed on PennDot’s website, truck crash incidents include “underride accidents”.
What is an Underride Accident?
When a car rear-ends a truck (or gets pushed forward into the truck when rear-ended by another vehicle), the car can slide under the truck on impact, shearing off the top of the car and killing vehicle occupants. If you’ve been injured or a loved one killed in a truck crash, call a Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys Reading truck accident attorney today.
Trucking companies are responsible for performing regular inspection and maintenance on their vehicles to keep them safe and in proper working order.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident involving a tractor trailer and you believe the company or owner may be negligent, you may be hurt, angry, confused and unsure of how to begin collecting compensation for the physical and economic damages you have suffered.
You may want to pursue compensation for your loss. If you think you need compensation for your injuries or losses, then your first step is to call an experienced Wilkes-Barre truck accident attorney to schedule a free consultation to determine what compensation might be owed to you.
Did Human Error Cause Your Wilkes Barre Truck Accident?
In addition to mechanical causes, large truck accidents can be caused by driver error.
Accidents involving large trucks, big rigs, 18-wheelers, and tractor-trailers can prove devastating to the innocent victims involved. Common truck driver-error causes of truck accidents include:
Negligent Hiring/Training – A trucking company may have hired an inexperienced truck driver, performed no background check or an inadequate background check, and then did not provide adequate training for the trucker on the particular size and weight vehicle they would be driving. If a trucking company’s negligent hiring or training practices led to your truck accident injuries, you may have a case against the trucking company. Contact the Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys truck accident lawyers today.
Violation of Trucking Regulations – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations limits the hours a truck driver can drive, as well as limiting the maximum amount of weight a truck is allowed to carry. The FMCSA provides rules for proper loading and tie-down requirements, truck maintenance and inspection procedures, licensing and driver testing, and restricts the use of drugs and alcohol. Truck drivers and trucking companies must comply with all federal and state trucking regulations. When they don’t comply, and their negligence causes a truck crash, they can be held liable for any injuries. Truckers and trucking companies are required to keep logs and shipping schedules, which need to be updated and contain the correct information.
Tractor trailers aren’t as responsive or maneuverable as passenger vehicles. Legally, tractor trailers, 18 wheelers or semi-trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. Many are approximately 65 feet long. Due to their massive size, tractor trailers can’t stop, slow, or turn as easily as a smaller vehicle. Tractor trailers also have large blind spots, so while you may think truck drivers can see you as you drive behind or pass them, that is not always the case. All these factors lead to devastating results when a tractor trailer and a passenger car, bike or pedestrian are involved in an accident, including life threatening injuries and fatalities.
Driver fatigue is to blame for many devastating tractor trailer accidents. Federal regulations limit how many hours truckers can stay on the road without taking a break. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service, drivers must follow three maximum duty limits at all times. The 14-hour driving window limit (11 hours of consecutive driving, including lunch and breaks, in a 14 hour window in any given 24 hour period with at least 10 hours of rest between 14 hour periods), 11-hour driving limit, and 60-hour/7-day and 70-hour/8-day duty limits (a maximum of 70 hours driven over a floating 8 day period.) However, drivers are often pushed to their physical limits by tight deadlines and financial need. It’s not uncommon for transportation companies to allow drivers to falsify their log books in order to make a profit.
Distracted driving also contributes to increasing numbers of highway fatalities. Technology and electronics improve our lives, but provide multiple reasons to divert a drivers attention from the road. Driver fatigue. Even when following regulations, there is fatigue and fatigue may lead to slower response, poor judgement and unfortunately, sometimes a driver may fall asleep at the wheel.
Weather conditions are also a factor. Driving on wet, snowy and icy roads is hazardous, and while many of us maybe able to avoid long-distance driving in these conditions, goods still need to be transported and tractor trailers are still on the roads. Work zones can also hazardous. With aging infrastructure and normal wear and tear, work zones are a daily occurrence. This requires slowing down, changing lanes and giving others the right away. To increase our safety, we all need to be alert to hazardous conditions and appropriately adjust our driving.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Your Tractor Trailer Accident?
The negligent trucking company: Has the trucking company been disregarding important safety procedures including timely inspections, maintenance, and repairs, putting their drivers and other motorists at risk?
Did they perform the necessary background checks on their drivers and give them the proper, legally required training?
Did the trucking company put their drivers and other motorists at risk by fostering a culture in which the truck driver feels compelled to falsify records, not take legally required rests and breaks or keep their drivers on an unreasonable schedule forcing them to speed and ignore traffic safety to keep to their schedules? Your truck accident attorney can use fact-finding to determine all of this and more.
The truck manufacturer: Defective machinery and truck parts can cause a serious truck accident. Was the tractor trailer accident you were involved in caused by faulty parts? Is the truck manufacturer liable for ignoring safety protocols by not announcing recalls of defective parts?
The truck driver: Truck drivers have the responsibility, also known as duty, to other drivers on the road. Sometimes, a tractor trailer accidents occurs when a truck driver is engaging in distracted driving habits, driving while fatigued, not securing their loads properly, when they don’t conduct their pre-trip safely inspections, when they drive too fast for the road or weather conditions and many more. Any driver error that effects all motorists can affect a semi-truck driver but due to the sheer size and weight of a big rig, the consequences can be far more serious.
What Might You Be Owed Following a Tractor Trailer Accident?
If you have been involved in a Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident, you may be entitled to financial compensation for economic and non-economic losses caused by the accident such as:
- Repairs to your vehicle or a complete vehicle replacement
- Cost of rental vehicles or other transportation costs due to loss or damage of your primary vehicle in the truck accident
- Compensation for any lost wages due to the accident such as lost time at work for injury, pain or doctors’ visits
- Direct medical costs related to injury caused by the accident
- Pain and suffering resulting from the accident
- Loss of or damage to property as a result of the accident
Other expenses that are related to the accident such as
- Cost of mental health treatment
- Cost of physical therapy following an injury caused by your truck accident
To discover what compensation you may be entitled to, contact the experts at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys for a free consultation.
Truck accident attorneys nationwide look to Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys as the industry experts in truck crash cases. Daniel Munley and Marion Munley have both chaired the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group – Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys is the only firm in the United States to have two lawyers among the leaders of this elite group. We have achieved some of the largest settlements in the country for our truck accident clients.
Contact our Wilkes-Barre semi-truck accident lawyers today
Call, chat or fill out our online form for a free review of your case. Our Wilkes-Barre semi truck accident lawyers will advise you on your legal options for recovering money for the losses you have suffered. With Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys you will have the best possible representation. You need an expert in truck accident law and our attorneys have that expertise. Don’t put this off. Contact us now to see how we can help you.
There are many personal injury lawyers. Why should you hire a tractor trailer accident lawyer at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys?
With so many personal injury law firms to choose from, it can be hard to tell the difference between them. The fact is that not all law firms are created equal, especially when it comes to tractor trailer accident cases. These cases involve large transportation companies and industry-specific regulations. You need a lawyer with a special focus on this area of the law and a solid track record of winning maximum compensation for truck wreck victims.
- Expertise – We have extensive experience representing victims of tractor trailer accidents. We know the ins and outs of trucking industry regulations and the tactics trucking companies and their insurers will try to use to win their cases. Recognized as experts in the field of truck accidents, we are invited to speak about trucking laws all over the country. Marion Munley is chair-elect of the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group, and Daniel Munley previously served as chair.
- Record of success – We do what not all law firms can – we take on the big companies and win. Our Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident attorneys won the 2nd largest settlement in Pennsylvania and the 25th largest in the country in 2015. See a list of some of our recent multi-million dollar victories.
- We live and work in the Wilkes-Barre area – We’ve represented thousands of people in this region. While we have all the resources of a large city firm, we offer the kind of personal service you can only get from a small local business . The people of Wilkes-Barre aren’t just our clients, they are also our neighbors. Since our firm was founded in 1959, it has been our mission to serve this community. We are your trusted, local Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident attorneys.
Talk to Us Before Talking to the Truck Driver’s or Trucking Company’s Insurance company
Immediately after your truck accident you might be contacted by the insurance company for the truck driver or the trucking company. Insurance companies are in the business of making money. It is not in their best interest to pay victims what they are owed for injuries or other losses. They might try to convince you to settle for a lot less compensation than what you are owed. You need an experienced accident attorney who knows the trucking and insurance industries on your side to help you fight for what you are owed. Call a Munley truck accident attorney today before you accept any settlement from the insurance company.
If you or a loved one were involved in a tractor trailer wreck, contact a trucking accident attorney at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys.
Our attorneys will provide a FREE review of your case and inform you of how you should proceed. With over 60 years of experience in trucking law, you can be confident in the advice you receive from the truck crash lawyers at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys. If you choose to hire us, our Wilkes-Barre tractor trailer accident attorneys work on a contingency basis. That means no upfront or out-of-pocket costs for you. We pay all costs in getting you justice. And because we don’t get paid until we win your case, you can be confident we do not cut corners. We do everything in our power to get you the maximum compensation. The proof is in our track record.
Get started today. You can be sure the trucking company and their insurer start building their case the minute they learn of the accident. To protect yourself, you need to do the same. Call, chat live, or fill out our online form.
Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys
1170 PA-315
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
(570) 399-0406
Wilkes-Barre Practice Areas
