Commercial 18-wheel trucks, or “semi-trucks,” can be exceptionally dangerous.

In a business where time is money, corporations often push their drivers to the brink of what a normal human being can take. Truck drivers are under constant pressure to meet deadlines, which often leads to drowsiness and sleep deprivation. Nothing is more dangerous than an inattentive or sleepy trucker driving an 80,000-pound vehicle.

Commercial truck crashes have many causes, including excessive speed, driving longer than the maximum amount of hours, driving overloaded trailers, improperly secured loads, a trucker’s failure to leave sufficient room between his rig and the vehicle in front, and drowsiness.

It’s physics: When a car is hit by a semi truck, the results are often devastating. Because injuries are often life-altering and require an extensive amount of medical treatment – thus leading to a much higher potential jury verdict – insurance companies defend trucking crash cases in an exceptionally aggressive manner. While it is unlikely that any injured person, no matter how sophisticated, can effectively handle his or her own personal injury claim, it is truly impossible for victims of commercial trucking negligence to do so. Therefore, it is critical to immediately retain an attorney to defend your interests.