California Truck Accident Lawyer

Trucking Accidents Involving Tractor Trailer Big Rigs Trucks

Truck accidents involving Big Rig Tractor Trailer trucks comprise a significant number of motor vehicle injury accidents, as well as fatalities each year. An accident involving a Big Rig Tractor-Trailer truck may create liability for not just the driver of the truck, but also the employer of the driver, the owner of the tractor, the owner of the trailer, the owner of the container being transported, as well as the owner of the load in the container.

Various state and federal regulations apply to the operation of Tractor-Trailer trucks above and beyond the usual Vehicle Codes which apply to drivers of passenger vehicles.

The State of California also requires a tractor trailer truck to carry a much higher minimum liability insurance policy then a typical passenger vehicle.

Accidents involving "Big Rig" Tractor Trailer trucks often involve a greater risk of injury in that the body of the trailer sits higher than an average passenger vehicle, causing a likelihood of "underride". An "underride" collision involves the lower passenger vehicle (usually the front) traveling under the higher body of the trailer (usually the rear), causing the trailer to intrude into the occupant compartment of the lower passenger vehicle causing injury to those inside.

Although there are regulations which require some tractor-trailers to be outfitted with retroreflective tape on both the rear and/or have a rear bumper equipped at lower heights, there are still thousands of tractor-trailers lacking proper safety underride protections. Bumpers often do not meet Department of Transportation standards or collapse on contact.

Despite efforts to equip a tractor-trailer truck to prevent an underride accident, there are uncontrollable factors such as weather and driver negligence that often lead to fatal injuries on the highways. In many circumstances an underride accident becomes unavoidable.

Underride accidents are often horrific as the big rig trailer often acts as a guillotine slicing off the passenger and driver-side compartments of the colliding passenger vehicle. Fatalities are very common in these types of accidents. Many organizations and other safety and consumer interest groups are working towards the implementation of more advanced bumper systems and other safety devices to help prevent the multitude of these types of underride accidents which occur each year.

Click here to see an animation we used at trial to obtain a $7 million verdict against the driver, employer and owner of a "Big Rig" Tractor-Trailer for illegally and dangerously parking on the shoulder of a highway.

Also click on our "VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS" link to read about our $6.1 million dollar settlement for injuries caused by an improperly loaded pallet in the trailer of a "Big Rig Truck" obtained against the owners of the tractor, trailer, shipper and owner of the load.