Motor vehicle accidents in Colorado can be devastating financially, physically and emotionally. Truck accidents in particular can be especially catastrophic. Commercial trucks, such as a dump truck or a big rig, are often large in size and fully loaded, making them 25 times the weight of the average passenger vehicle. Accidents involving these trucks are likely to involve serious injuries and fatalities.
Accidents involving commercial trucks can occur for a number of reasons. As mentioned previously, these trucks are big and heavy, making them extremely difficult to maneuver, even for a trained driver. Eighteen-wheelers have a tendency to jackknife if they have to turn or brake suddenly. In some cases, this is caused by the truck driver’s negligence, but in other cases, it can be caused by slippery road conditions unforeseeable to the driver. In many cases, trucks require additional lanes to complete their turns. A truck driver who does not do this carefully and causes an accident can be seen as negligent in some cases.
If you were involved in a truck accident, you may want to file a lawsuit against the truck driver to hold him liable for any damages you may have incurred. To do this successfully, you will need to show that the driver was negligent at the time of the accident.
To prove negligence, you will have to show that the driver owed you a duty to exercise reasonable care and that he breached that duty. In most cases, drivers owe a duty of reasonable care to all other drivers on the road. The more challenging part will be to show that the driver breached his duty. The last crucial part of a negligence claim is to show that your injury was caused by the driver’s breach of his reasonable care duty. If you can prove all three elements, you will likely be able to recover damages from the driver responsible for your injuries. You may also want to file suit against the trucking company who employs the driver in question. In many cases, a company can be held legally liable for their employee’s negligence.