Over on the Toll Road in LaPorte County, two semi trucks crashed into each other last Friday night. It’s being reported that a tire blew on a FedEx big rig, causing the truck driver to lose control and slam into a flat-bed semi truck. The FedEx semi then jackknived, blocking westbound traffic on the Toll Road bridge. Then, to make matters worse, the FedEx big rig burst into flames.
The westbound lanes were blocked by the truck itself, and the eastbound traffic was held up by all the FedEx debris scattered all over it. (So if you haven’t received that package from Amazon.com maybe this is why.) Both truck drivers were seriously injured. The Northern Indiana Public Service Company is checking for damage to the power lines.
Fortunately, no one was hurt other than these two truck drivers. This time, we’re not reading about families in passenger cars or minivans being killed in car-truck collisions. (Remember that horror from last month, where the family going to a wedding on I65 was killed in a truck crash?)
However, reading this story did cause discussion, and once again talk turned to how the trucking companies – and their insurance carriers – are always ready for a wreck.
Trucking Companies are Ready for a Wreck
“Trucking companies are experienced in dealing with accidents involving their tractor-trailers and drivers, which immediately puts the driver of a private auto at a disadvantage,” explains Bryan L. Bradley, senior partner here at Kenneth J. Allen & Associates.
Bradley is one of the two attorneys who handle all of the law firm’s trucking and tractor-trailer rig crashes. “Trucking companies start preparing their defense immediately following the crash. Their emergency response teams consisting of lawyers, accident reconstruction experts, and investigators are on-call twenty-four hours a day so that they can be on
the scene within minutes or hours of a tractor-trailer crash.”
Forewarned is Forearmed: Be Prepared to Defend Yourself and Your Loved Ones Immediately if There’s a Crash
“Victims of truck accidents should be aware it is vitally important to contact an attorney experienced in handling truck accidents as quickly as possible — for numerous reasons — if they want the best possible chance of recovering damages for all of the harms suffered in the crash,” Bradley said.
Lessons to be Learned
Talk around the water cooler for personal injury attorneys can be rather serious to some — but today, the Toll Road crash was somewhat of a blessing to be discussed. Things could have been so much worse, given the time and location of this crash.
Helping victims of serious injury is a difficult job, year after year — and knowing the antics of insurance adjusters and trucking company investigators doesn’t help if the injury victims aren’t aware of them, too.
So, from the morning discussion of the FedEx truck crash on Friday comes this warning — if you’re in a wreck involving a commercial truck, know that the defense started work almost at the moment of impact.
