A commercial center with a national impact is the Pacific Northwest. Cargo from all over the globe is unloaded at Sea-Tac and the Port of Seattle, where it is then transported to retailers and manufacturers in every state by semi-trailer trucks. Without such business cars, the economy as a whole would stagnate.
In spite of this, the continual usage of semi-trucks in Washington State has grown recently as a result of the rise in online ordering and the box trucks used to transport the goods. Due to this enhanced visibility, there are now more transportation accidents and the catastrophic injuries they cause.
General Problems
Even though the massive weight of a semi-truck may inflict catastrophic damage even at moderate speeds, many—if not most—collisions between a passenger vehicle and a commercial truck end in the same kinds of minor scratches and bruises associated with traffic incidents involving automobiles. A fully loaded commercial lorry may weigh up to 80,000 pounds, although cars typically weigh about 4,000 pounds.
Whether at the site of the accident, in a local emergency center, or at your doctor’s office, you should always get medical help right away after colliding with a vehicle. Injuries may not be obvious right once; symptoms might take hours or days to manifest.
Injuries with a permanent disability
Truck accidents may inflict life-altering, irreversible injuries because of the large weight and power differential between a semi-truck and a passenger car:
Injuries to the brain and spinal cord The occupants of an automobile will be forcefully flung about by the speed and power of a semi-truck. Even when safety features like airbags and seatbelts save a person’s body from being tossed about the vehicle, the sudden motions may still injure the brain or spinal cord, which might leave a victim paraplegic or with cognitive impairment.
Internal organ damage. While these injuries do also occur in collisions involving only cars, the enormous weight differential between a truck and a car again significantly raises the risk of internal injuries, either as a result of the collision’s violent impact or as a result of the vehicle damage having caused a crushing or penetrating injury. Furthermore, seatbelts and airbags may result in severe bruising and even internal damage, but they are nevertheless advised since they guard against even worse injuries from being tossed about the cabin or ejected from the car.
Limb injuries The damage to the bone and tissue may be severe enough to need amputation when an arm or a leg is crushed between pieces of the car’s frame. Additionally, several fractures or crushed bones might easily result from the severity of the original collision and the following crash, which could mean that the person never completely recovers their prior strength or mobility.
Unjustified Death
Sadly, a semi’s weight and force make it quite likely that someone else may die. According to an analysis of collision data, there is a threefold increase in the risk of injury for the car’s driver when a truck collides with a passenger vehicle. This stresses the great danger faced by drivers as a result of the strong shipping industry, together with the statistic that one in every 100 truck accidents will end in death.
What occurs after the accident?
Truck drivers who go over the speed limit, improperly secure their loads, refuse or are denied rest, become fatigued, follow too closely and don’t give themselves enough time to stop, ignore their blind spots, or are distracted by their phones or onboard computers while driving can cause serious injury or death to innocent motorists. Failure to warn dangerous or large cargo or poorly maintained trucks demonstrate a lack of care on the part of the trucking firm, which may therefore bear some responsibility for these tragedies that might have been prevented.
Final thoughts
If you or someone you love has been wounded in a trucking accident and you feel the driver or their business is a fault, you need an attorney with expertise in trucking injury cases who is ready to stand up to company and insurance attorneys to demand full and fair compensation for your injuries. You need the best truck accident attorneys Bothell attorney with this kind of experience if you have been injured in a shipping accident and you believe the driver or their company is to blame.