San Diego Trucking Accident Attorneys

Welcome to the Trucking Accidents and Fatalities Resource website. This website has been created by the Casey Gerry team of San Diego trucking accident attorneys especially for people who have suffered a serious injury in a crash involving an 18-wheeler or other large truck, and for those who have lost a loved one in a trucking accident.

On this site you can learn more about the causes of trucking injuries and fatalities, big rig safety and collision prevention, and what to do if you're involved in an accident or collision with a heavy truck. If you or a loved one has recently suffered serious injuries, or you have lost a loved one in a trucking accident you will want to learn more about your rights. On this site our San Diego trucking accident attorneys can help you think through the medical and financial realities you face, and your options for funding them. The page After a serious trucking accident: should you consider legal action? may be particularly useful.

In cases involving unsafe truck or trailer design, failure of truck parts or tires, and negligent installation or maintenance, the plaintiff’s citizenship or immigration status is not an issue. Casey Gerry has represented Mexican citizens, Mexican nationals living in the US, and undocumented immigrants who have been harmed by unsafe vehicles or tires. The location of the trucking accident is also not a factor. Whether the accident occurred in the US or in Mexico, if the harm was due to unsafe or defective design, manufacture, or defective component parts on the part of a US manufacturer, or negligent installation or maintenance, Casey Gerry's San Diego trucking accident attorneys can seek justice in US courts.

Dangerous vehicles

Large trucks with a gross vehicle weight greater than 10,000 pounds are a fact of life on American highways. Also called big rigs, 18-wheelers, semi-trailers, or tractor trailers, these large, heavy vehicles can present a significant threat to other drivers and pedestrians. Large trucks account for only 7 percent of vehicle miles per year, yet those same large trucks are responsible for 12 percent of all traffic deaths.

The US Department of Labor reports that every year about 475,000 large trucks are involved in crashes. In 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available, 4995 people died, and another 140,000 people were injured in accidents involving large trucks. Of the victims who died in truck accidents, nearly 75 percent were occupants of other vehicles, usually passenger cars, and about 3 percent were pedestrians. Excessive speed was a factor in 22 percent of the fatal crashes.

In crashes with large trucks, motorcycles and cars are at a serious disadvantage because of the weight differences between the vehicles. The weight of the average car is 3400 pounds, and a large tractor trailer, fully loaded, can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. With these disproportionate weights, it's not surprising that eight out of 10 people killed in truck accidents were drivers and passengers in other vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The probability that a truck accident will result in death or serious injury increases with each extra ton of weight over 80,000 lbs.

The large size and weight of an 18-wheeler seriously reduces its ability to maneuver. On slick roads, a tractor-trailer may lose traction, and the trailer may slide into another lane, creating a severe hazard for other vehicles and their passengers. Tractor trailers are at risk of jackknifing and rollovers. They require extensive space to turn, and take longer to stop. Their large size also compromises the driver's field of vision; drivers of tractor-trailers have significant blind spots on the trailers' sides and directly behind them.

Trucking accidents can result from negligence by the truck driver or the trucking company, or both. Semi-truck accidents can be caused by aggressive driving, including road rage, use of drugs or alcohol, driver fatigue, insufficient maintenance of the vehicle or failure to perform necessary maintenance, driving with an unsecured load, and negligence in screening and hiring of drivers.