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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Talks About Trucking Accidents Involving Hazardous Materials

A tanker truck recently rolled over and ruptured, spilling diesel fuel into a creek in Alton. The truck went off of the Homer Adams Parkway Extension as it attempted to navigate a curve in the road, and it rolled down an embankment to the edge of the creek. As the tanker rolled, rocks punctured it in multiple locations, and the top hatch of the tank came loose. Fortunately, the truck driver was not hurt. Traffic was diverted from the area for hours after the wreck to allow cleanup efforts to take place.

 Trucking accidents involving hazardous materials like diesel fuel require an immediate and comprehensive response from more than the usual police, fire, and emergency rescue workers. Special teams of workers who are trained to manage releases of hazardous materials must be summoned to the accident scene as soon as possible. The type of personnel and materials required to respond to a hazardous materials trucking accident depends upon the type of hazardous materials released in the accident. Sometimes, people must be evacuated from the area surrounding a hazardous materials trucking wreck. It does not appear as though evacuation occurred after this tanker wreck.

After the aforementioned wreck, the Madison County Hazardous Materials Team rushed to the crash scene. A nearby fuel refinery sent a foam truck and several of its firefighters to aid in containment and cleanup efforts. As happens with many hazardous materials trucking accidents, multiple teams worked together to contain the diesel fuel and clean up the area. Heritage Environmental Services sent a group of workers to the accident scene to help with the task of cleaning up the spilled fuel.

Depending upon the size of the vehicle involved in the crash, a hazardous materials trucking accident can release any amount of hazardous material into the environment. The accident mentioned above did not cause a small release – over three thousand gallons of spilled diesel fuel were reportedly recovered from the crash site, and that number was not the final count. There are multiple ways that firefighters and hazardous materials response teams can remove hazardous materials from the environment. In the situation described above, firefighters used absorbent materials to remove some of the spilled fuel from the area. A vacuum truck also helped remove the spilled fuel. A tanker truck removed the fuel that remained inside of the wrecked tanker. Emergency workers kept track of where the spilled fuel was going as it headed down the creek. They placed an absorbent boom in the creek ahead of where the fuel had traveled and prevented it from going farther down the creek.

Trucks haul many kinds of things over American roads every day. Some of those things, like diesel fuel, can cause severe environmental damage and personal injury if they are released into the environment through a truck wreck. Hazardous materials truck wrecks are dangerous, and they are sometimes deadly. If you were hurt in a hazardous materials trucking accident, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Discusses Log Truck Accidents

No one was hurt in a recent Pike County accident involving a log truck and a passenger vehicle. Drivers in the area experienced minor inconveniences when authorities closed the road to allow for removal of the wrecked log truck and its load of logs, which spilled out when the truck went off of the road.

Log trucks do the vital work of moving logs out of the forests where they are harvested to the wood products companies that turn those logs into lumber, paper, and many other useful items we use every day. Drivers of log trucks have a tough job, and since they are professional drivers, they must undergo professional training and licensing before they start hauling logs. Some of the rules for log truck driver qualifications are less stringent than the criteria required for other types of trucking jobs, and a lack of training or skill can sometimes lead to a dangerous or deadly log truck wreck.

Log truck accidents are less common now than they were before the early 1990s when the random, roadside inspection of trucks by trained law enforcement officers came into practice. Trucking companies and private owners of log trucks and other trucks started to pay more attention to keeping their vehicles properly maintained and in good repair because the fines and penalties for failing roadside inspections would negatively impact their businesses.

Unfortunately, some truckers continue to roll the dice and skimp on maintenance and repairs. Sometimes a failure to maintain a truck in a safe condition causes an accident, whether it be with a log truck or some other type of commercial vehicle. Some of the worst log truck accidents involve minimally qualified drivers driving older log trucks that are in poor condition. However, experienced log truck drivers driving newer, well-maintained log trucks do occasionally wreck their vehicles.

Most log truck accidents involve at least one other vehicle. Sometimes, the vehicle collides with the log truck, and at other times, the log truck is forced off of the road to avoid a collision with the other vehicle. In twenty-five percent of fatal log truck accidents, the log truck rolled over during the wreck. Over eighty percent of log truck accidents happen on dry roads during the daytime. Pictures of the aforementioned log truck accident show a daytime crash scene with dry roads.

Some log truck accidents occur when a log truck is overloaded. In some of those situations, the driver of the truck does not load it and is unaware that it’s too heavy until they drive it and experience trouble with braking, steering, or handling. Some drivers load their trucks, and some load them too heavy, again, deciding to take a chance if they do not feel as though they’ll be driving through an area where a roadside inspection is likely. Unfortunately, even a load of logs that do not exceed a log truck’s capacity can shift during transport and cause the driver of the truck to lose control of it.

Many things can cause log truck accidents, and log truck accident claims can be complicated. If you were hurt in a log truck accident, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Discusses Winter Truck Accidents

January is on its way, and with it comes the possibility of snow, ice, slippery roads, and truck accidents. Winter driving in Mississippi is challenging, and icy road conditions increase your risk of being involved in a wreck with a truck. Last January, a snowstorm created slick road conditions on I-55 in Tate County. During the storm, a tractor-trailer jack-knifed, requiring the Mississippi Highway Patrol to shut the northbound side of the road down for half an hour to clear the crash scene. Fortunately, the driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt in the wreck. Travelers had been encountering difficulty in navigating the slippery roads throughout the state even before the accident, with icy travel conditions reported throughout the region.

In addition to the ice, snow, and water on the road this winter, look out for other drivers, as their behavior could cause an accident. This is especially critical if you’re traveling in heavy traffic, where there are vehicles all around you. Even those vehicles that are driven by professionals, such as tractor-trailers, can slip and slide on icy, snowy, or wet roads, creating a danger that they will be involved in a crash and possibly ensnare other vehicles in the wreckage.

Each type of vehicle has a unique set of vulnerabilities in the winter. For example, the large size of tractor-trailers can cause them to have limited visibility, especially in their blind spots. All vehicles can encounter difficulties with traction and braking when roads are wet, icy, or snowy. Another factor that affects winter accident risk is driver experience. Not all drivers have the same amount of experience with winter driving conditions, and experience can bring with it the much-needed skills that help drivers avoid accidents on slippery roads.

The following tips can help you navigate winter driving conditions more successfully, reducing the risk that you will get into an accident with a truck or some other vehicle. The best way to cut down your accident risk is to slow down when roads are wet and snowy. Reducing your speed can help you avoid sudden braking, which can lead to slipping and sliding on wet or icy roads. Check the forecast, so you can anticipate what the road conditions are likely to be when you head out, and when you plan to return. As difficult as it can be to make changes to our plans when you discover a forecast that will make travel dangerous, it is better to postpone or cancel a trip somewhere than to drive when there is a heightened risk of an accident. Use your seatbelt every time you drive and ask others traveling with you to do the same. If there’s any snow or ice on your vehicle, clear it off before you drive.

Truck accidents can happen at any time during the winter, just as at any other time of year. If you’re involved in a truck wreck this winter, call for help immediately. After you have received any necessary medical care, contact a Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorney. You might be able to pursue a claim for damages in connection with your crash. Learn more about your options following a Mississippi road rage truck crash by calling the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

 

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Talks About Accidents on Rural Roads

This past summer, an early morning head-on collision between a box truck and a van turned into a catastrophic wreck that claimed the lives of eight people. The eight people who lost their lives in the crash were in the van, riding to work. The van is owned by a Mississippi forestry company, and the workers were on their way to a job site in Alabama to cut trees. The passengers in the van were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The truck was owned by an Alabama company whose ninety-one commercial drivers operate a fleet of eighty-five trucks. Nine crashes involving trucks owned by that same company were reported during the past two years. The van driver received a ticket for not having a driver’s license. At the time of the writing of this article, no other charges were filed in connection with the accident.

The driver of the van survived, as did the driver of the truck. The van driver claims that although he swerved to avoid the box truck, it hit his van. An official investigation into the accident validated the van driver’s claim with a finding that the box truck crossed the center line before colliding with the van on June 3, near Scooba. The truck came to rest on the van, which it had pushed backwards into a guardrail.

Rescue workers who responded to the wreck say that the road where it happened is in a rural area and that drivers must use caution when driving on country roads late at night or in the early morning. The roads in much of rural Mississippi are very dark, and they are two-lane highways with one lane traveling in each direction, separated in most places only by a centerline. That’s not the only danger present on Mississippi’s rural roads, where higher speeds can lead to more forceful collisions than occur in areas where there is more traffic and lower speed limits.

Accident investigation data from across the nation shows that rural roadways like the one where this crash happened are four times as deadly as city streets. Mississippi often tops lists of the most dangerous places to drive, and the amount of rural roads in the state is a major contributing factor. Law enforcement agencies do what they can to keep the road safe, but the number of officers is small, considering the number of miles of roadway that they are responsible for policing. When motor vehicle wrecks occur on Mississippi’s rural roads, there may be a significant delay between the time of the crash and the time someone sees it and reports it, if the driver or passengers cannot report the accident themselves. It may also take rescue workers a while to get from where they are to the site of the wreck, which could be miles and miles away from where they are when they get the call. The crash scene could also be many miles from a hospital, which could mean the difference between life and death in some cases.

To learn about how you can file a claim for damages that you suffered in a Mississippi truck crash, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

 

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Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Talks About Accidents on Rural Roads

This past summer, an early morning head-on collision between a box truck and a van turned into a catastrophic wreck that claimed the lives of eight people. The eight people who lost their lives in the crash were in the van, riding to work. The van is owned by a Mississippi forestry company, and the workers were on their way to a job site in Alabama to cut trees. The passengers in the van were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The truck was owned by an Alabama company whose ninety-one commercial drivers operate a fleet of eighty-five trucks. Nine crashes involving trucks owned by that same company were reported during the past two years. The van driver received a ticket for not having a driver’s license. At the time of the writing of this article, no other charges were filed in connection with the accident.

The driver of the van survived, as did the driver of the truck. The van driver claims that although he swerved to avoid the box truck, it hit his van. An official investigation into the accident validated the van driver’s claim with a finding that the box truck crossed the center line before colliding with the van on June 3, near Scooba. The truck came to rest on the van, which it had pushed backwards into a guardrail.

Rescue workers who responded to the wreck say that the road where it happened is in a rural area and that drivers must use caution when driving on country roads late at night or in the early morning. The roads in much of rural Mississippi are very dark, and they are two-lane highways with one lane traveling in each direction, separated in most places only by a center line. That’s not the only danger present on Mississippi’s rural roads, where higher speeds can lead to more forceful collisions than occur in areas where there is more traffic and lower speed limits.

Accident investigation data from across the nation shows that rural roadways like the one where this crash happened are four times as deadly as city streets. Mississippi often tops lists of the most dangerous places to drive, and the amount of rural roads in the state is a major contributing factor. Law enforcement agencies do what they can to keep the road safe, but the number of officers is small, considering the number of miles of roadway that they are responsible for policing. When motor vehicle wrecks occur on Mississippi’s rural roads, there may be a significant delay between the time of the crash and the time someone sees it and reports it, if the driver or passengers cannot report the accident themselves. It may also take rescue workers a while to get from where they are to the site of the wreck, which could be miles and miles away from where they are when they get the call. The crash scene could also be many miles from a hospital, which could mean the difference between life and death in some cases.

To learn about how you can file a claim for damages that you suffered in a Mississippi truck crash, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Explains How Courts Determine Who is at Fault in a Trucking Accident

Loaded long haul trucks can weigh ten times more than an average passenger car. As a result, that weight differential results in trucking accidents being catastrophic for the vehicles and people involved. You might think that if your vehicle is struck by a large truck, the trucking company will pay for your injuries and damage to your vehicle.  But it is not that simple, and the trucking company usually tries to claim that it and the driver are not at fault.  I wrote the following blog post to help people understand how courts determine who is at fault after a trucking accident.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of a trucking accident, you will need to have experienced trucking accident counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury, recovery, and loss of work. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

How Courts Determine Fault After a Trucking Accident

Under Mississippi law, being injured in a trucking accident is not sufficient to attain compensation for those injuries. Instead, you must prove that the party that injured you was  “negligent,” which means that they had a duty to act reasonably to prevent harming you and that they failed in that duty.  Accordingly, if you are driving down a highway and a herd of wild horses runs into the road, causing a truck to slam on its breaks and swerve into your lane, injuring you, you may not have a solid case. That is because the truck driver acted reasonably under extreme circumstances.  However, if one cow walks into the road and an intoxicated truck driver swerves wildly well in advance of the cow, striking and injuring you, you have may have a strong case.  That is because the second truck driver acted unreasonably by being intoxicated and you were injured as a result.

Those are somewhat far-fetched examples that I have used to illustrate a point, but these are much more common ways that truckers fail to act reasonably towards other drivers, such as: Not getting sufficient sleep; Being under the influence of drugs or alcohol; Speeding; Hauling an unbalanced load; and Failing to maintain the truck or secure the truck’s cargo. To prove that a trucking company failed to reasonably meet a duty to protect you and other drivers from harm, you will need to collect evidence of one of these failures.

An experienced trucking attorney can gather relevant evidence, such a driver’s sleep and driving log.  Police reports usually indicate whether a driver with a commercial driver’s license or CDL was under the influence of any intoxicants at the time of the crash, and a truck’s “black box” indicates real drive time when driver logs might be faked. Finally, a trucking accident attorney knows how to subpoena maintenance and driving records from trucking companies.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in an Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a trucking accident, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact a Mississippi attorney experienced in taking on trucking companies.  You need to focus on healing from your injuries and getting back to work. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions regarding the cause of the accident, and dealing with the trucking company’s attorneys. These are complex tasks that only a trucking accident attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury as the result of a trucking accident. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Explains Tractor Trailer Accident Evidence Issues

Being injured in a trucking accident can be a life-altering or, worse, a life-ending event. Receiving the full compensation you deserve for your loved one’s death, or your injuries, loss of work, and loss of lifestyle will depend in large part on what evidence you can preserve that shows that the trucking company was at fault for your accident. There are many ways a company can be liable, ranging from improperly trained drivers, distracted or sleepy drivers, or poorly maintained trucks. Regardless of the reason for your accident, being made whole will depend on accessing evidence regarding the accident’s cause. The problem is that the evidence in your case—the truck itself, the truck’s black box, and important records—can either be destroyed in the normal course of business or intentionally to weaken your case.

If you have been injured in a trucking accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured and knows how to prevent important evidence from being destroyed after a truck accident.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Types of Evidence in a Trucking Accident

There are a wide variety of sources of evidence in a trucking accident, all of them important:

The Truck—after a crash occurs, it is understandable that the truck that hit you is one of the most important pieces of evidence in your case. However, if it was only lightly damaged, it may be repaired and quickly returned to the road, losing its evidentiary value completely. On the other hand, if it was badly damaged in the accident, it may be scrapped, also ruining its evidentiary value. As a result, it is vital that your team photographs the truck, an effort that must be directed by an experienced trucking accident attorney.

Trucking Company Records—the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mandates that trucking companies keep detailed records of post-accident drug test results, driver logs, personnel files, maintenance logs, and other vital documents. It is crucial that these records be requested immediately after an accident to prevent their destruction or loss.

Truck Data—modern trucks have “black boxes” that record their location, speed, and other data regarding their travel. This is vital to establish how long the driver had been driving without sleep, what speed it was going before impact, and breaking. As you can imagine, this data is vital to proving negligence, the legal standard in this sort of accident case.  Negligence is established when it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that a truck driver did not reasonably meet the industry or legal standards for safety at the time of the crash.

In the end, it does not matter what the truck driver or trucking company says happened—the evidence your lawyer attains will tell the true story. For a person severely injured in an accident, an attorney’s ability to attain that evidence and understand its technical aspects is critical. Only experienced trucking accident counsel will suffice.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Trucking Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a truck accident, you deserve compensation for your loss—loss of life, injuries, loss of work, and other pain and suffering. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving trucking company records, attaining expert reports, and dealing with the trucking company’s attorneys. These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered a truck-related injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Explains Common Tractor Trailer Accident Injuries

Anyone who spends any time on Mississippi’s highways knows that they are filled with trucks. Whatever you call them—big rigs, long-haulers, eighteen wheelers—they are large, moving fast, and, unfortunately, prone to devastating accidents. Unfortunately, I frequently meet clients who have been injured or had a loved one killed in an accident with one of these trucks. I am often asked what sort of injuries result from these accidents. The answer is that injuries range considerably, from cuts and scratches to death.  That said, I created the following blog post to describe the most common injuries I see.

If you have been injured in a trucking accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Head Injuries

Head injuries are both the most common and the most misunderstood truck accident injuries.  Because there is no blood or broken bone involved, people often treat concussions lightly and do not think of them as particularly severe. We now know, however, that concussions and other brain trauma have far-reaching, devastating effects on a person. But concussions are only one type of head injuries. Bleeding on the brain, nerve damage, and traumatic brain injuries can all be life-altering. Even if you do not feel that your head was injured in a crash, I advise seeking a medical professional’s assessment immediately after the accident to attain a professional assessment, and baseline data in case problems develop later.

Neck and Spine Injuries

A big rig weighs 70,000 to 80,000 pounds, while an average car weighs about 4,000. That difference in weight can mean incredible force on a car passenger’s body in an accident with a truck. That trauma and force often wreak havoc on the passenger’s neck and spine.

The neck and spine are a series of vertebrae, bones stacked from the buttocks to the bottom of the skull.  Inside the vertebrae is the spinal cord, a thread-like nerve that communicates messages between the brain and the nervous system. The vertebrae are held in place by muscles and ligaments that keep the “stack” of vertebrae in line.

Injuries to the spine can vary greatly in severity but are almost always debilitating for a period. Even minor injuries such as whiplash and strains to the back’s ligaments can mean soreness, loss of sleep, and missed work. More serious injuries, such as cracked or crushed vertebrae can mean years of recovery and even permanent disability. Severing the spinal cord can result in paralysis and death. 

Broken Bones

The force generated by a tractor-trailer accident often results in broken bones.  Breaks can be minor, such as simple breaks in the fingers, nose, or other extremities, or significant, such as skull fractures, broken bones in the back, or bones that are crushed to the point that they cannot heal with time. Compound fractures that break the skin are common and particularly dangerous, as they can result in dangerous bleeding and, later, infection.

Lacerations

Because of the force of a truck hitting your car, there is often broken glass and metal being quickly compressed around the car’s passengers. Those sharp metal or glass pieces can cause significant injury. Lacerations are all varieties of cuts, from minor scrapes or abrasions requiring only a bandage, to large lacerations requiring stitches, to life threatening injuries that sometimes require plastic surgery to repair.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Trucking Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a truck accident, you might have a claim for compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and other losses. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with your employer’s attorneys. These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered a truck-related injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Explains How Wind Causes Trucking Accidents

Long haul trucks weigh 70,000 to 80,000 pounds and can move down the highway at high rates of speed. With those factors at play, accidents can be sudden and devastating. One factor in crashes that I commonly see is wind. Given trucks’ incredible weight, many of my clients here do not suspect that wind can play a significant role in trucking accidents, leading to roll-overs, loss of control and loads breaking loose.

If you have been injured in a trucking accident, you will need to have experienced Mississippi counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the trucking accident experience that can mean the difference between attaining your compensation and receiving nothing at all.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Wind’s Role in Trucking Accidents

It is just plain physics. As Archimedes said, “give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand and I will move the Earth.” The same forces are at play as eighteen-wheelers roll down Mississippi highways. While the truck’s weight is great, so is their trailer’s surface area. As a result, when crosswinds start blowing at 40 miles per hour or greater, the wind catches the trailer like a sail.  The wind uses the trailer as a lever, pushing the heavy mass from side to side. Once a vehicle starts moving from side to side, the oscillation can increase in frequency, causing the vehicle to fishtail. With tractor trailers, the truck’s extreme length compounds this oscillation. Once the truck’s back end starts moving from side to side, it can become incredibly difficult to control. And once a driver loses control, rollovers can cause extreme collisions with much smaller passenger cars.

Are Wind-Related Accidents Preventable?

Wind cannot be prevented, but a driver and company can reduce the odds of a wind-related accident. In a trucking accident, the injured party or plaintiff has to prove that the truck driver or trucking company’s negligence. To establish negligence, the plaintiff has to show that the defendant driver or company failed to take reasonable steps to meet the industry standards for safety. Regarding wind, there are several steps that a driver and company can be expected to take to prevent wind-related accidents.

When I represent a client in a wind-related trucking accident, I always carefully look through the driver and trucking company’s logs to determine several important facts:

Speed—slowing down is the easiest way to prevent wind-related accidents and is also likely to reduce any accident’s magnitude.  I analyze the truck’s black box data to determine whether the trucker was speeding at the time of the crash.

Weather Forecast—did the driver check the weather forecast prior to driving? Did the trucking company send out a weather advisory as wind speed climbed into the 40 mile per hour range?

Pre-Trip Inspection—did the driver conduct a pre-trip inspection? Wind that would normally not cause an accident can wreak havoc on a trailer with loose tarps or an open door. When wind catches open doors or tarps, they act as a sail, pushing the truck dangerously from side to side.

Empty Trailers—usually, heavy trucks are more dangerous than lighter ones, but that is not true in the case of wind. In high wind situations, the empty trailer’s high surface-area-to-weight ratio makes for a particularly dangerous situation. In periods of high winds, truckers should not take empty trailers onto the highway.

These factors may not individually cause a tragic accident, but they often combine and act in concert to cause a tragedy. Similarly, traditional factors in truck accidents—poor truck maintenance, distracted driving, and drowsy driving—can all be exacerbated by wind, when responsiveness is even more critical.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Trucking Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a truck accident, you deserve compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and pain and suffering. Let an experienced trucking accident attorney take care of preserving truck records, attaining expert opinions, and dealing with the trucking company’s attorneys. These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered a truck-related injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Explains Common Tactics Companies Use to Avoid Liability

As a trucking accident and personal injury attorney, I have seen every imaginable attempt by trucking companies to shift blame away from their drivers, trucks, and companies. This is particularly saddening because of the serious injuries to motorists that result from these crashes. Believe me, if a car is hit by a semi-truck or 18-wheeler, their massive weight mass results in a far greater impact and, sadly, more significant injuries. One thing is critical to state up front—you will need to have experienced trucking accident counsel help you attain any settlement from a trucking company. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Below are four common tactics employed by trucking companies to shield themselves from liability. They illustrate why you need an experienced trucking accident attorney by your side to take on the company’s legal team.

Dismantle the Truck—Often, trucking companies will declare the truck that injured you as a “total loss” or “totaled” and dismantle it for scrap. While that may sound innocuous, it is actually an attempt to destroy evidence crucial to proving your case. The company may be negligent if the truck was not maintained to a reasonable standard or was lacked required safety technology. Immediately dismantling the truck prevents you from attaining this sort of evidence and proving negligence. As experienced trucking accident counsel, I have the experience to attain a motion immediately to prevent this sort of action.

“Repair” the Truck—When destroying or “totaling” a truck cannot be justified, a trucking company will often “repair” it. While repairs may seem innocuous or reasonable after an accident, they may be an attempt to upgrade the truck so that it has safety features that it should have had at the time of the accident.  Similarly, safety features that were not working at the time of the accident may be fixed to appear that they were.  Again, as experienced trucking accident counsel, I have the experience to attain an emergency order prohibiting this sort of tampering.

Interfere with the Crash Scene—Trucking companies have teams standing by to rush to a scene of an accident. Once there, they often try to bias investigators by talking with police officers, gather up pieces of a crash so that they cannot be photographed accurately, and influence witnesses.

Destroy Records—As discussed above, there is evidence at the scene of the crash, but also in the company’s own records. Often after an incident, important records regarding safety inspections, driver complaints, and other evidence are destroyed.  As experienced trucking accident counsel, I have the experience to attain a motion immediately to prevent this sort of action.

What Should You Do If You Were Injured in a Truck Accident?

If you were injured as the result of impact with a large truck, contact an experienced personal injury attorney so that you can focus on yourself and on your healing process. You may be offered a quick settlement after an accident in exchange for your agreement not to pursue a legal challenge.  Do not accept these “low-ball” offers, as while they may be tempting when you are out of work and in pain, you are due much more.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury as a result of a collision with a tractor trailer or 18-wheeler.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and trucking companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact our seasoned Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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