Fatal Truck Accidents

In 2012, there were over three dozen fatal vehicle accidents in Rockwall and Kaufman County. Although strict government regulations have resulted in a smaller number of fatal truck accidents, thousands of fatal accidents still occur every year. Fatal truck accidents are preventable tragedies and often happen when trucking companies ignore safety regulations they think are too expensive. These companies would rather make a little more money than take the steps legally required to protect drivers.

A recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) study revealed that the average cost of a fatal truck accident is over $7 million dollars. This figure includes the value of remaining life-years lost by the victims of the crash plus the other costs associated with the crash: treatment of injured victims, property damage, vehicle damage, traffic delays, and more. The vast majority of the damages are suffered by the family of the deceased—not the truck company or driver who caused the accident. That is because the truck operator is unlikely to be hurt. Usually safe he or she is safe inside a massive truck, a truck which almost always severely damages the relatively fragile passenger transport. And truck companies work to limit the amount of money they must pay out to victims. That is why it is important to consult with truck accident attorneys, like the Guest and Gray Law Firm truck accident injury team.

Studies of truck accidents show that many of the most common causes of truck accidents are preventable. Accidents often result from:

• A driver with an overloaded truck
• An operator under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Aggressive driving such as illegal turns, lane changes, speeding, and racing
• Traveling too fast for weather or traffic conditions
• An improperly maintained truck
• Unsecured cargo spilling from the truck

The trucking industry has lobbied against many regulations designed to make trucks safer, such as the FMCSA’s new trucking rules. New Hours-of-Service (HoS) regulations went into effect on July 2013. These regulations limit the number of hours a trucker can be on the road without taking a rest break—during an eight hour drive a trucker must stop for a thirty minute break. Truckers can legally drive for a maximum of eleven hours a day, as before, but the new changes close a loophole that some companies used to have drivers operate for more than eighty hours a week. Drivers are pressured by their companies to ignore these sensible rules.

The Guest and Gray Law Firm team helps families heal from wrongful death cases from fatal truck accidents and we can help you. We are the largest and best reviewed law firm in Kaufman County for wrongful death and personal injury claims. The team of truck accident attorneys at Guest and Gray Law Firm has over thirty years of combined experience representing families making wrongful death actions. We know what you are going through. We will evaluate your case and help you decide what to do. We can never take away the pain of losing a loved one, but Guest and Gray Law Firm can help you with your financial harm and force the responsible parties to pay you the compensation that you deserve.