Despite pressures to deliver packages on time, drivers of delivery trucks have a duty of care to drive safely and prevent accidents. This legal guide explains some of the causes of delivery truck accidents, types of injuries and liability issues for delivery truck accident victims.
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Causes of Delivery Truck Accidents
Pressure from rushed delivery schedules often contributes to safety compromises that cause serious accidents. Delivery trucks pose unique hazards because they often travel in congested urban and residential areas, unlike other large trucks that spend most of their time on the highway. Drivers of services like UPS and FedEx are under tremendous pressure to get packages delivered as quickly as possible. Efforts to save time can cause negligent actions that compromise safety. Some delivery truck accidents involving pedestrians have occurred when a driver fails to engage parking brake while going inside of a building to deliver a package, causing the truck to roll forward or backwards into the path of other vehicles or pedestrians. Other accidents involve drivers backing up after passing an address, hitting a pedestrian, automobile or bicyclist.
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Types of Delivery Truck Accident Injuries
Accidents involving delivery trucks and drivers and passengers of automobiles, motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicyclists can cause catastrophic injury or death. Victims of delivery truck accidents may suffer broken or fractured bones, spinal cord injury, neck injury, back injury, brain injury, road burn injury, blunt trauma injury, amputation injury or death. If you or a member of your family have been injured or killed in a delivery truck accident, you may be entitled to substantial compensation for your injuries, past and future lost wages, pain and suffering and other expenses.
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Liability Issues of Delivery Truck Accidents
Delivery truck drivers may disobey traffic laws to deliver more packages in less time. The company that hired the driver may be liable for the driver’s negligent actions and your injuries. It is important to talk to an experienced and qualified delivery truck accident lawyer as soon as possible after an accident. Your attorney will likely consult with investigators to preserve and analyze evidence and determine the cause of an accident. Insurance companies and their investigators and attorneys will utilize tactics to pay as little as possible for your injuries, and may argue that you were partially at fault. If you have been injured in a delivery truck accident – contact an attorney with experience handling injury claims against commercial delivery companies. By law you have a limited time to file a claim – so contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Most injury attorneys handling delivery truck accidents offer free consultations and handle cases on a no-win, no-fee basis.
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