Risks and Reasons for Garbage and Dump Truck Accidents
When speaking about the horrors and catastrophic destruction of truck accidents, the first thing you may picture is a jackknifed semi or a blazing trailer overturned on the highway. However, truck accidents aren’t limited to commercial big rigs. In fact, the types of trucks that you see every day and may not even think twice about, actually pose greater threats than semi-trailers — trash and dump trucks.
Trash and Dump Truck Accident Risks
Whether running their normal routes or running back-and-forth to a construction site, heavy carrier trucks like garbage and dump trucks pose serious dangers that everyone should know. Although smaller than semis, these trucks have a tank-like design and the potential to cause far more serious collision damage than commercial trucks. If you’ve been following our Facebook posts or reading our other articles on truck accidents, you know this isn’t an easy thing to do.
The two main reasons for the destructive capabilities of these vehicles follow from three observations:
- Heavy loads mean stronger forces. These types of trucks carry heavy materials, and they are built extra sturdy to bear these loads. This means that they bring a lot of force to collisions, and are devastating when colliding with other vehicles on the road.
- Stop-and-go driving makes them unpredictable on the road. Trash and dump trucks are built to stop and turn a lot. This means that they are often out of the flow of traffic, and can pose a danger to others when they halt or turn in the middle of the road, especially when driven at higher speeds or without signals.
- Unsteady loads mean unstable trucks. In addition to heavy materials causing increased collision forces, the poorly stacked materials can also throw a truck off balance as well as fall off of or out off the truck altogether. When a load is dropped on the road, the debris could easily cause an accident, and if the load drops onto a car, it can cause serious damage and injury.
Even though crashes that involve cars and trash vehicles and dump trucks can be very serious for you and your loved ones, there are some slivers of good news among the bad. Because these trucks are often run by city employees or bigger construction companies, there are often big insurance policies that cover their operations, as well as multiple avenues for liability.
All persons injured in a truck wreck that was caused by a negligent driver have legal rights to pursue financial compensation for their medical bills, other costs, and even very real instances of pain and suffering.
Dumping the Rubbish Settlement for Better Compensation
Unfortunately, the only guarantee after being injured in a wreck is that the insurance company will not offer the best settlement up front. This is why you should consult with an attorney in order to get real advice as to what you may be able to expect. To move forward in your case and get the guidance you need to avoid a trashy claim offer, call Attorney Steve Lee today at 800-232-3711 or click on the contact link on this page to learn more.