How Are Truck Accidents Different from Other Auto Accidents?

Truck accidents may not be as common as car accidents in South Carolina, but when they do occur, they frequently leave carnage in their wake. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, about 5,400 large trucks were involved in accidents statewide in 2019. Among all those crashes, there were 104 trucks involved in crashes with major injuries, while 83 trucks were involved in fatal crashes.

“So what?” you might think. All auto accidents are the same, right? Wrong. The South Carolina truck accidents lawyers of the Law Office of William J. Luse, Inc. Accident & Injury Lawyers have significant experience with these cases, and we’ve seen firsthand how they’re different from other motor-vehicle crashes. Curious to learn more? Keep reading, and you can contact our office for a free initial consultation if you’ve been involved in a South Carolina truck accident.

What Makes Truck Accidents Different from Other Crashes?

There are a few factors that make truck accidents different from other kinds of traffic accidents, including:

• More severe injuries — First and foremost, truck accidents often cause much more severe injuries than occur in car accidents. A semi-truck with a fully loaded trailer may weigh 20-30 times the weight of a passenger sedan, and all that extra weight means the truck hits with much more force in the event of a crash. All that extra force gets transferred to whatever the truck hits, and that frequently means catastrophic injuries for anyone in the other vehicle.
• More potentially liable parties — In most car accident cases, the primarily liable party is the other driver who hit you. That’s not the case with truck accidents. Depending on how exactly the crash occurred, there are multiple entities who could share blame for the collision, including the truck driver, their employer, the manufacturer of the truck, or cargo and maintenance workers.
• More complicated claims — The greater your injuries in an accident, the more money you’ll need to cover your medical bills, lost income, and other losses. Insurance companies fight harder against more expensive claims, so it may be harder for you to recover fair compensation after a truck accident. Furthermore, if there are multiple liable parties, you’ll need to file a separate claim against each to get maximum compensation for your injuries. That’s potentially a lot of legal work.
• Different kinds of evidence — There are certain kinds of evidence you can use in truck accidents that you don’t see in other motor-vehicle crashes. This includes data from the truck’s electronic data recorder or “black box,” the truck driver’s written logs, records from the truck driver’s employer, and more. To build the strongest possible case for compensation, you’ll need to gather as much of this evidence as you can. But trucking companies and other entities know how valuable this evidence can be, so you need to act quickly after a crash to make sure it’s preserved for later use.

All of these additional elements can make a truck accident quite complicated. To make sure you still get the money you need to cover all your losses, speak to a truck accident lawyer as soon as you can after the crash.

What Compensation Can You Recover in a Truck Accident Lawsuit?

Because of how severe your losses can be in a truck accident, it’s important to get as much compensation as you can so you can cover your medical bills and other expenses. This is something a truck accident attorney can help with, and you may be able to recover compensation for:

• Medical bills
• Lost wages
• Diminished future earning potential
• Personal property damaged in the accident
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress

What Should You Do After a Truck Accident in South Carolina?

Here are the main steps to take if you’re involved in a truck crash in South Carolina:

• Call 911, then wait for police and emergency medical responders so they can evaluate you and file an accident report.
• Before you leave the crash scene, document the crash as best you can. Use your phones to take pictures, and make sure you get the truck driver’s name, the name of their employer, and their personal and company insurance information. If there are any eyewitnesses, get their names and contact information as well.
• See a doctor right away. If you aren’t taken to a hospital directly from the scene, schedule an appointment with your own doctor the next day. You may have internal injuries that haven’t been diagnosed and could require emergency treatment.
• Stay off social media, and don’t talk to any insurance companies. Anything you say publicly about the crash or to an insurance adjuster may be used against you later on, so your best option is to keep quiet and let your attorney do the talking.
• Hire a truck accident lawyer. You have little time to waste after a crash, so get in touch with an attorney as soon as possible so they can start working on your case.

Contact Us

If you have more questions about truck accident cases in South Carolina, we’d be more than happy to answer them for you. Get in touch with the Law Office of William J. Luse, Inc. Accident & Injury Lawyers today by calling (843) 839-4795 or visiting our contact page.