Truck Accidents Caused by Unfamiliarity with the Roadway

Commercial truck drivers travel assigned routes, often over long distances. When truck drivers have to make deliveries in new locations, they may be unfamiliar with the interstate exit ramps, a city’s roads, or the precise location of their destination. Some truckers will consult maps or electronic navigation systems while driving instead of pulling off of the highway. That creates a dangerous distraction that can lead to a serious accident.

The federal government’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) reported that 22% of large-truck crashes occurred when drivers were unfamiliar with the roadway. Truck drivers on unfamiliar roads who miss a turn or interstate exit sometimes try to recover by making unsafe maneuvers, such as braking and changing lanes suddenly. A U.S. Department of Transportation study found that approximately 630,000 lane-change crashes occur annually involving large trucks and passenger vehicles.

If you have been injured in a collision with a commercial truck in Indiana, the Indianapolis-based truck accident lawyers at Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC can work to identify the cause of the crash and help you seek full compensation for your injuries and other losses. If a trucker was lost or driving on unfamiliar roads and made a driving error that led to your injuries, he and the trucking company that employs him may be held accountable.

Get Experienced Legal Help After an Indiana Truck Accident

The occupants of cars and other smaller vehicles hit by semis and tractor-trailers are likely to have been badly injured and face long recoveries. This makes it crucial to work with an experienced truck accident injury lawyer who understands the challenges these cases pose and can help you understand your legal options and protect your rights.

Attorneys David W. Craig and Scott A. Faultless of Craig, Kelley & Faultless are among a select group of attorneys who have earned board certification from the National Board of Trial Advocacy in commercial truck accident law. They have assembled a truck accident emergency response team that includes a private investigator, a mechanical expert, a specialist qualified to download data from a commercial truck’s “black box” event data recorder, and an accident reconstructionist. The team investigates truck accidents to determine fault and then negotiates aggressively for full compensation for clients injured by negligent truckers and trucking companies.

The attorneys at Craig, Kelley & Faultless have decades of experience representing victims of large truck accidents from Indianapolis, Batesville, Richmond, Fort Wayne, and throughout Indiana. We handle truck accident cases on a contingency fee basis so clients have no upfront costs to have legal representation. Contact us for a free review of your case today.

How Unfamiliar Conditions Lead to Truck Accidents

Commercial truck drivers who have dedicated routes quickly become familiar with the roads they travel. However, about a fifth of truckers works the spot market, getting paid the going price, or “spot rate,” for moving freight from Point A to Point B at any given time. These truck drivers regularly drive on highways and city streets they may not know.

Truckers should plan their routes before their rigs begin to roll. Most commercial trucks are equipped with GPS units, and maps, mapping apps, and instructions from dispatchers are typically available, as well.

Being unfamiliar with the route increases a trucker’s risk of being in an accident. The driver is distracted by having to check a GPS, map, navigation app, notes, or phone call to find the way. Even an over-reliance on road signs takes some of a trucker’s attention away from the task of driving and focusing on surrounding traffic.

Among the top factors associated with accidents in the Large Truck Crash Causation Study are:

• Driver inattention
• Distraction by an object or person inside the vehicle
• External distraction
• Inadequate surveillance – not looking ahead well enough to recognize a hazard.

Distracted driving studies say that glancing at a screen for even 4.5 seconds to read and/or enter text while a vehicle is traveling 55 mph is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes shut. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates the trucking industry, says the odds of being involved in a crash, near-crash, or unintentional lane deviation are 23 times greater for truck drivers who text while driving than for those who do not.

Becoming flustered because of a missed freeway exit or city street and reflexively turning to look as it passes or to consider a quick move to recover from the mistake also distracts a truck driver and detracts from safe handling of the vehicle.

Accidents that indicate a truck driver may have been unfamiliar with the roads or distracted at the time of the crash include:

• Sideswipes. A distracted driver can drift out of a traffic lane and into other vehicles. A trucker who is trying hastily to change lanes to make an exit or turn, or who swerves to avoid a collision can easily sideswipe other vehicles. Tractor-trailers and similar commercial trucks have large blind spots, which make it harder for drivers to see nearby vehicles before attempting lane changes.
• Rear-end collisions. A distracted trucker can fail to brake in time to avoid running into the rear of vehicles ahead in traffic. The weight of a large truck greatly increases the room a truck needs to stop.
• Jackknife accidents. Slamming on a tractor-trailer’s brakes can make the trailer swing out of line so that cab and trailer fold in together at the joint where the trailer is hitched to the cab. The out-of-control trailer can collide with and damage other vehicles as it slides across the road.
• Underride collisions. A tractor-trailer’s height makes it possible for a car to slide underneath the trailer, causing catastrophic injuries to the occupants of the smaller vehicle. Underride accidents typically when a large truck stops suddenly and a passenger car slams into its rear. Commercial trucks are required to have underride guards to prevent smaller vehicles from sliding under a trailer in a collision, but they are sometimes absent or defective.

If the truck accident you were involved in was a rear-end accident or sideswipe or involved a jackknifing truck, it could be that the truck driver was distracted by his unfamiliarity with local roads, and this contributed to the crash. You should consult an experienced truck accident attorney who can investigate the accident and seek full compensation from the negligent trucker and/or the trucking company.

How Our Experienced Lawyers Can Help After a Truck Accident

Accidents involving large trucks are more complex than most passenger car accidents. To determine how a truck accident occurred, you will need an independent investigation by an experienced law firm that has the resources and commitment to do a thorough job.

It is best to contact Craig, Kelley & Faultless immediately after a truck accident so we can gather the evidence before it is destroyed or otherwise disappears. Our investigators will examine the accident scene, where a lack of truck skid marks or short and heavy skid marks indicate no braking or a late effort to stop, typical indicators of distraction or inattention. We can take photos of this evidence to present in court.

Our team will also seek access to the wrecked truck to download information from the truck’s event data recorder (EDR). This black box device records data from the truck’s systems just before a crash. It will indicate whether brakes were applied and when and for how long, as well as the truck’s steering trajectory (whether the driver tried to swerve to avoid the crash), and a variety of other data.

In addition, we will be interested in obtaining a variety of other records, such as any dispatch or cell phone communications with the trucker, which may indicate that the driver was lost or in an unfamiliar location.

When we begin our investigation, we can issue a spoliation letter to the trucking company or truck owner, advising them of evidence that we wish to review. The letter compels them to preserve the evidence. Trucking companies are only required to keep records and logs for a certain length of time without such intervention, and potentially important evidence may be lost if you wait too long to hire an attorney. If you have been injured in a collision with a large commercial truck in Indiana, the longer you put off contacting a truck accident lawyer, the more difficult it becomes to ensure that evidence is preserved, and the greater the risk of jeopardizing your claim.

Contact Our Truck Accident Attorneys Today

Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC offers you a legal team dedicated to investigating commercial truck accidents and fighting aggressively to recover maximum compensation for your losses. If you have been injured in an accident that may have been caused by a truck driver distracted by unfamiliarity with local roads, we have the experience and skills to identify how and why the accident occurred. We are skilled litigators who prepare each case as if it will go to trial in case insurers do not offer proper settlements.

Reach our law firm at (800) 746-0226 or online for a free consultation about pursuing a truck accident claim. We handle truck accident cases in Indiana on a contingency fee basis. We only charge a fee if we recover compensation for you. Contact us now.