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Truck Wreck Justice 

First, if your husband or wife was injured in an 

, you have our condolences. We know all too well the devastating nature of these crashes and the terrible injuries and disabilities they leave in their wake. We’re truly sorry that your family is going through something that no family should ever have to experience.

In addition to the serious injuries that victims suffer, truck wrecks often disrupt and unsettle the lives of victims’ spouses and loved ones. If your spouse was hurt in a wreck, you may be feeling overwhelmed, confused, frightened, angry, and sad all at once, and that’s completely normal for people who are thrown into this situation.

To help, we’ve drawn on our experiences helping the families of hundreds of truck wreck victims and written a few tips about what you should know and what you can do to help your loved one through this incredibly difficult time.

Tip #1: Make Sure Your Loved One Gets the Medical Care They Need

Crashes involving tractor-trailers and other types of large trucks tend to create incredible devastation, so there’s usually not much chance of the victim walking away from the scene without receiving immediate medical treatment.

But even if your spouse received emergency care to stabilize their condition, it’s probably just the beginning of a long recovery journey — one that may never end. Your spouse may need multiple surgeries and other types of long-term care, like ongoing physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Sometimes, truck accident victims get discouraged with physical therapy and other long-term treatments, especially if they don’t see results at first. The schedule of treatment can seem overwhelming, and they may start to miss follow-up appointments or not follow through on treatments and exercises their doctors recommend. This can be especially true if your spouse is struggling with depression, which is very common among truck wreck victims who have suffered debilitating injuries.

You can help support your spouse through this long and sometimes exhausting process. Make sure they attend all the follow-up appointments that their doctor recommends, including physical therapy and rehabilitation. And encourage them to follow their doctor’s advice as closely as possible.

Your spouse might also get tired of talking about their health. They may try to avoid what they see as “complaining” about the various pains and health problems they’re experiencing. But it’s important to tell their doctor about any new symptoms or complications that crop up in the weeks and months after the truck crash.

Some symptoms of serious injuries only appear weeks or even months after the initial trauma, especially in victims who have suffered traumatic brain injuries or spine injuries. These complications are serious, and they require evaluation from a doctor.

Tip #2: Document and Organize Everything You Can

Your spouse may have a legal case against the truck driver or trucking company. Filing a lawsuit could provide much-needed compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. However, their personal injury case will require lots of evidence. Because your spouse most likely has their hands full with their health and recovery after the wreck, it’s important for you to help them gather and organize this evidence.

All the following items play an important role in a trucking accident lawsuit:

Records of travel costs and other expenses that are related to medical treatment

In addition, it’s important to maintain a record of your spouse’s experiences and emotional journey in the aftermath of the wreck. Encourage them to keep a diary where they can write down their physical, psychological, and emotional experiences as they work to recover from their injuries and learn how to live with new restrictions, limitations, and health issues.

Follow This Checklist After a Trucking Accident

Tip #3: Contact an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer Who Can Help

This tip is probably the most important of all. An attorney with a track record of successfully handling truck wreck cases can help you manage the tips above along with many other aspects of your loved one’s recovery and legal case. Even if you do your best to help your loved one in any way you can after the crash, it’s probably not enough from the standpoint of their lawsuit.

The trucking company and its insurance company have enormous resources that no family can match. They have legal teams on retainer, including “rapid response” teams of attorneys and investigators who will show up to the scene of a crash within hours and begin looking for evidence they can use to protect themselves against any potential lawsuit. It may be your first time dealing with the incredible trauma of a tractor-trailer crash, and you’re just trying to gather your wits and keep your head above water. But the insurance company’s lawyers and investigators know exactly what to look for and what they can do to undermine your spouse’s claim for compensation.

The insurance company may also begin making offers to compensate your family. They might ask you to sign a release while you’re confused, overwhelmed, and looking for help as medical bills rise and you have suddenly lost your spouse’s income. The amount they offer probably won’t even come close to addressing the long-term costs of your spouse’s injuries. But it’s difficult to know that when you’re just coming to terms with a serious, life-altering injury.

All of this makes it extremely important to 

contact an experienced truck accident lawyer

 as soon as possible after the crash. An attorney who knows how to handle these complex cases should be able to move quickly, making sure that your loved one’s rights are protected and that key evidence in your case gets preserved.

Best of all, if the attorney offers free initial consultations, then you can get an expert assessment of your legal case and your options at no charge or financial risk to you. During an emotionally isolating and financially stressful ordeal, that’s one piece of good news you shouldn’t take for granted.

Contact Truck Wreck Justice if Someone You Love Has Been Hurt in a Trucking Accident

If your spouse has been injured in a crash involving a large truck or bus, Truck Wreck Justice Attorney Morgan Adams is here to help. With years of experience and a sole focus on large truck and bus crash cases, Morgan Adams is a powerful advocate for trucking accident victims. He is an experienced trial lawyer who won’t hesitate to fight for your rights in court.

fill out a quick and easy online contact form

 if you need legal representation or help of any kind after a devastating truck accident. Truck Wreck Justice also offers free initial consultations, and we handle cases on a contingent fee basis. That means you won’t pay attorney’s fees or case expenses unless we help your family get financial compensation for your loved one’s injuries.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.

My Spouse Was in a Truck Accident. What Do I Need to Know?

losing a lawsuit that would have overturned a federal mandate requiring electronic logging devices (ELDs) on all commercial trucks

, the trucking industry is fighting against this important safety regulation in a different way: by trying to delay it to death.

In November 2017, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), a trucking industry lobbying group, filed a request with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) asking for a five-year exemption to the ELD rule for some trucking companies. The exemption would cover companies classified as “small transportation trucking businesses, meaning those that have less than $27.5 million in annual receipts. This classification includes the vast majority of trucking companies in the United States.

Unfortunately, exempting small trucking companies from the ELD regulation would effectively cripple the rule for at least five years by preventing it from applying to the companies that need this type of oversight the most: small, fly-by-night trucking companies that routinely commit the types of safety violations that lead to deadly 

Electronic logging devices are one of the most important weapons against 

employer coercion and truck driver fatigue

 because they allow for easier and more effective enforcement of hours-of-service regulations. Those are the rules about how long truckers can drive without a rest break. By creating an electronic log of a truck driver’s activity, ELDs increase accountability for individual drivers and prevent their employers from pressuring them to drive longer hours in violation of hours-of-service regulations.

Since ELDs are a relatively new technology and have never been mandatory on large trucks, data about their effectiveness is limited. (And, after all, trucking companies who were already violating hours-of-service regulations won’t report that they stopped after installing ELDs.) However, one anonymous survey of more than 2,000 trucking carriers showed that 84% of respondents who had implemented ELDs had fewer hours-of-service and logging violations.

Trucking Safety Advocates Fight Back Against Delay Request

Advocates for trucking industry reform have roundly condemned OOIDA’s request for the 5-year exemption. Two prominent highway safety advocacy organizations, the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security (also known as the Trucking Alliance) and the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (AHAS), put out a joint press release in February arguing that the five-year exemption “would gut the long-settled electronic logging device rule by allowing nearly all trucking companies to delay compliance.”

“[OOIDA’s request is] a transparent attempt to bypass Congress and the courts by regurgitating discredited arguments which seek to advance special interests at the expense of road safety for all motorists,” the press release said.

In a statement accompanying the press release, AHAS President Cathy Chase argued there was no excuse for the FMCSA not to implement the ELD rule immediately given 

the troubling year-after-year increases in annual fatalities resulting from truck wrecks

 and the potential for ELDs to save lives by reducing driver fatigue.

“Especially with truck crash deaths rising, this minimal, proven, effective technology should be in use in every truck immediately,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “OOIDA’s exemption request is just a smokescreen that attempts to re-litigate a closed case and undermine the effectiveness of the ELD rule.”

News Outlets Fail to Report on ELD Mandate Accurately

Besides the expected backlash from trucking companies, news media outlets have made the situation worse by publishing inaccurate and incomplete reporting about the effects of the ELD rule. As an example, an article appearing in the 

 in January 2018 pointed to mandatory ELDs as one of several factors causing a nationwide shortage of available trucks.

RELATED: Don’t Believe These 3 Trucking Industry Lies

“A new federal safety rule in December requiring drivers to track their hours behind the wheel with electronic logging devices, or ELDs, has exacerbated [the truck shortage],” the 

 reported. “Prices shot up for some routes that now might take two days instead of one because of stricter timekeeping.”

This irresponsible statement fails to mention that ELDs only serve to enforce existing regulations. If they cause a shipping run to take two days instead of one, it’s because truckers previously completed the run faster by breaking hours-of-service regulations that they now have to comply with.

Violating hours-of-service regulations is no trivial matter. Chronic fatigue and drowsiness are epidemic-level problems in the trucking industry, and widespread violations of hours-of-service regulations are the primary reason. In fact, fatigue and drowsy driving are themselves 

some of the most common factors that lead to deadly truck wrecks

Unfortunately, innocent drivers will continue to suffer until trucking companies agree to implement ELDs on every large truck and until news outlets report the real reasons why trucking companies keep fighting against the ELD rule — like valuing short-term profits over human lives.

Contact Truck Wreck Justice if You’ve Been Hurt in a Trucking Accident

If you or a loved one has been injured in a crash involving a large truck or bus, Truck Wreck Justice Attorney Morgan Adams is here to help. With years of experience and a sole focus on cases involving large vehicles, Mr. Adams is a powerful advocate for trucking accident victims and an experienced litigator who won’t hesitate to fight for your rights in court.

 if you need legal representation or assistance. We offer free consultations to help you understand your legal options, and we handle cases on a contingent fee basis, which means that you’ll only pay fees or case expenses if and when we achieve a verdict or settlement on your behalf.

Cubitt, B. (2016, September 22). ELD survey: The data, the facts, and how ELDs affect carriers. 

https://logisticsviewpoints.com/2016/09/22/eld-survey-the-data-the-facts-and-how-elds-affect-carriers/

Cullen, D. (2018, February 1). 5-year exemption would “gut” ELD rule, truck safety groups say. 

http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/fleet-management/news/story/2018/02/truck-safety-groups-5-year-exemption-would-gut-eld-rule.aspx

Jaillet, J. (2017, June 27). Supreme Court declines to hear ELD lawsuit. 

https://www.ccjdigital.com/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-eld-lawsuit/

Smith, J. (2018, January 25). A shortage of trucks is forcing companies to cut shipments or pay up. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-shortage-of-trucks-is-forcing-companies-to-cut-shipments-or-pay-up-1516789800

5-Year Exemption Would Cripple Electronic Logging Rule for Trucks

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