Dallas Distracted Truck Driver Accident Attorneys
Have you been injured by a truck driver guilty of distracted driving? If so, you may be entitled to compensation for the injuries you received because of their careless driving behavior. Every year, distracted drivers needlessly injure and kill thousands in our country and in Texas. Put a distracted driver behind the wheel of a large commercial truck, and you have an even more dangerous situation on our roads.
What’s truly alarming about distracted truck driving is that truck drivers must have more training than the average passenger vehicle driver to be licensed. They are also trained in and taught the strict federal guidelines they must follow. Yet, each year distracted truck drivers endanger thousands of innocent Dallas motorists, such as yourself and your loved ones.
The Dallas truck accident attorneys of Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers help thousands of distracted truck driver accident victims every year get the settlement they deserve. We have taken on large insurance companies who refuse to offer a fair and just settlement and filed lawsuits against them. We can do the same for you, fighting for your rights so that you can focus on your recovery.
Truck drivers must handle their big rigs in the safest manner possible. That includes paying close attention to the road and driving. Texas leads the nation in collisions involving large trucks. It’s time that innocent people stopped getting injured or killed due to truck driver carelessness. Contact the experienced Dallas distracted truck driving accident legal team at Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers by calling (214) 777-7777 today.
Why Hire the Attorneys at Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers
The experienced personal injury attorneys at Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers have years of experience dealing with insurance companies that often balk at giving victims such as yourself the settlement you deserve. In truck distracted driving accident cases, you must determine where your compensation should come from. That could be the truck driver’s insurance or, more likely, the trucking company’s insurance.
In some instances, you may need to deal with the truck manufacturer or other drivers in the vicinity or who were involved in the accident if the driver claims they share some responsibility. Shared responsibility can include a truck defect or other event that turned their attention away from driving. In Texas, those bearing any portion of fault for an accident must share in paying compensation. If you are injured but also share some responsibility, your compensation is reduced by the same percentage of fault attributed to you.
Don’t talk to insurance adjusters
That is why you mustn’t make any statements to insurance adjusters until you talk to a Dallas distracted driving truck accident attorney. The other parties may try to assign some blame to you so that they can pay less. You may unknowingly say something that could help their case but hurt yours.
We are also expert evidence collectors. Gathering this information can be tedious in cases involving distracted commercial truck drivers. We may need to review the trucking company’s policies on distracted driving and assess whether they are doing enough to enforce distracted driving rules among their truck drivers. Our attorneys can look at records and see if the driver or company has past violations. We will get a copy of the accident report and work to track down and interview any witnesses. We may also need to review weather reports from the day of the accident.
Once you hire Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers, our compassionate and experienced attorneys will fight for you so you can focus on your recovery. Let us do the evidence-collecting and legwork to build you the strongest possible claim. If settlement negotiations founder, we are prepared to go to trial on your behalf.
Common Causes of Distracted Truck Driver Accidents
Truck drivers can become distracted by the same things as other motorists in passenger vehicles, such as eating, drinking, texting, grooming, or trying to find a destination. Delivery truck traffic is increasing with more people ordering items online for home delivery. Truck drivers are constantly looking for unfamiliar addresses, which means they are becoming more distracted.
Distractions occur inside and outside the truck and, along with driver inattention, are a leading cause of crashes involving large trucks.
Some potential distractions include:
- Texting on a mobile device
- “Texting for Truckers,” or using your dispatching device
- Talking on a cell phone
- Entering GPS data points
- Looking at a map
- Eating and drinking
- Looking at objects outside the vehicle, such as billboards and roadway accidents
While truck drivers are responsible for their driving behavior and should not allow themselves to become distracted, their employers must also do enough to discourage distracted driving and reward responsible driving.
Some ways trucking companies can help truck drivers free themselves from distractions include:
- Have a strict no cell phone policy or ban them from the truck altogether.
- Install voice-activated, hands-free phones in the trucks.
- Use voice-activated GPS devices.
- Place a lock-out feature on the dispatching device to prevent use while the truck moves.
- Have strict policies and penalties for eating and drinking in the truck cab.
- Provide frequent training and testing on preventing distracted driving.
The experienced distracted truck driving attorneys at Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers can review the trucking company’s policies and procedures to assess how seriously it takes distracted driving prevention. These companies are responsible for keeping their drivers’ training up to date and taking advantage of new technology that can increase safety for all motorists by decreasing opportunities and temptations for their truck drivers to drive while distracted.
Texas leads the nation in crashes involving large trucks. Big rigs are not leaving the Dallas area anytime soon. Motorists and passengers in smaller vehicles are often seriously injured when they crash with large trucks. And distracted driving is something truck drivers could easily prevent. Holding them accountable when innocent people like you get injured is one way to make them take this irresponsible behavior seriously.
Don’t Delay – Call Now
Don’t let another day go by while you worry about paying your medical bills, whether you can return to work or do the same job. Give the compassionate and experienced attorneys at Benton Accident & Injury Lawyers a call at (214) 777-7777 for your free consultation. We’ll review the facts of your case and discuss the next steps to getting you the compensation you need to put your life back together.