Georgia roadways are no strangers to lumbering 18-wheelers, semi-trucks, and commercial vehicles of all sizes. Unfortunately, they are often involved in accidents as well, and when that much weight gets involved, the injuries that result are all the more likely to require serious medical care. Luckily, treatment can be paid for through a personal injury claim. This article explains how this process works, including:
- What causes trucking accidents and what injuries result from these collisions?
- Who is liable for truck accident injuries, and up to what amount can they pay?
- How do trucking accident personal injury cases differ from car accident personal injury claims?
What Are The Most Common Causes Of Commercial Vehicle And Trucking Accidents Across Georgia?
While much attention naturally falls on the devastating accidents involving massive 18-wheeler trucks, it is actually even more common for the commercial vehicles involved in Georgia accidents to be smaller.
A small van with a logo on the side is a commercial vehicle; a UPS truck, an Amazon delivery vehicle, and even a plumber’s truck all qualify as commercial vehicles. The most common accidents they are involved in are rear-end collisions.
The reason for this disconnect is that the biggest trucks are driven by well-trained and skilled professionals who are careful and specially licensed. However, the drivers of smaller commercial vehicles are not as careful, and inattention remains the most common cause of accidents.
This is especially common when they are looking at a phone, a delivery schedule, or even a map. Driver inattention and error thus remain the most common cause of accidents among trucking vehicles of all sizes. The injuries they cause, unfortunately, are anything but ordinary.
What Severe Injuries Are Caused By Accidents Involving Semi-Trucks And Large Commercial Vehicles?
When you look at a car after an accident involving a truck or commercial vehicle, you often see a metal structure damaged to the point where it cannot even be driven anymore. Someone might be walking around out of their car and saying that they are fine. But if their car sustained that much damage, there is no way the vulnerable insides of their body are unscathed.
Soft tissue damage is common, as are neck injuries, back injuries, and shoulder injuries. Broken arms and hand injuries from the steering wheel are also common, as are cuts from glass, depending on how hard and from where the car is hit. These injuries range from mild to severe and life-threatening, with long-term consequences and pains tragically common.
Fortunately, if you are hit by a commercial vehicle, at least it is generally clear who will be footing the considerable medical bill.
Who Is Potentially Liable For My Serious Injuries Caused By A Trucking Accident In Georgia?
Every commercial vehicle on the road is required to be insured and at a far higher level than ordinary cars. Therefore, when it comes to making a claim for the harm and injuries you have suffered, the demand is always made against the insurance company that holds that truck’s policy.
The driver could also be at fault and therefore their own personal insurance could be held liable if they were doing something unrelated in the work vehicle. Sometimes, the owner of the company may also be liable under their general liability policy if they put the driver and hence you in danger or were negligent with their internal policies or maintenance.
Therefore, there are several options for who to hold liable for your injuries during a truck accident, and they generally have much higher insurance policy ceilings as well.
Do Trucking Or Commercial Vehicle Companies Carry Larger Accident Insurance Policies?
Unlike the average car insurance policy you might have on your personal vehicle, the typical commercial vehicle policy starts at $1 million. That is nearly 40 times the amount of insurance that the average driver has, which in Georgia is around $25,000.
This is vital to your ability to recover personal injury damages, as the larger their policy, the more reasonable the insurance company will be when negotiating. With the rising cost of healthcare, even a minor accident, just for the ambulance and the hospital, will often cost more than basic car insurance can cover.
How Much Compensation Can I Get For Serious Trucking Accident Injuries?
The amount of money you are entitled to receive after a trucking accident, while capped by their insurance policy, is determined by your injuries.
Personal injury compensation is designed to cover all of the harm you have endured after an accident. This means that the amount you can receive will be determined by the severity of your injury. It will include the medical costs, immediate emergency care, short-term treatment, long-term treatments, and even future medical costs.
In addition to medical costs, you are also entitled to compensation for other economic losses, such as the inability to work for a time or permanently. Some non-economic damages can also be included, such as emotional pain and suffering endured.
Since these amounts can often be well above what ordinary insurance can cover, commercial vehicle cases, on average, get considerably more compensation than ordinary passenger vehicle collision cases.
How Do Trucking Accident Personal Injury Cases Differ From Passenger Vehicles Accidents?
While the personal injury process is largely the same between commercial and passenger vehicle accident injuries, the people involved are different.
Instead of dealing with Geico, Progressive, and State-Farm, insurance companies that everyone knows, in a commercial vehicle case, you are dealing with companies most people have never even heard of. These are specialists who are used to dealing with these cases, injuries, and claims. As a result, the experience can be quite different.
Having an attorney on your side with experience dealing with trucking insurance companies and personal injury claims is vital. For help with your Trucking Accident Injury Claims In Georgia, an initial consultation is your next best step.
