As attorneys who practice trucking accident personal injury and wrongful death cases, we know that a collision between a passenger vehicle and an 18-wheeler can be devastating, causing catastrophic or fatal injuries to the people involved, but even we are left breathless by the brute force demonstrated in this video that has recently gone viral on the Internet, showing raw footage of a trucking accident, captured by a state trooper “dashcam.” Clearly, even a large passenger vehicle like an SUV or a van stands little chance in a trucking accident with a tractor-trailer.
While the video showed a passenger vehicle driver losing control on a slushy highway and crossing paths with the big truck, a similar Tampa trucking accident could occur on rain-slicked roads, and destructive trucking accidents can occur under many, very different scenarios – including those where the truck driver or trucking company are violating federal trucking safety regulations. Consider this wrongful death lawsuit filed this month in Illinois, in response to a deadly trucking accident in which an Illinois State Trooper standing roadside was killed by a truck last November during a traffic stop when a truck driver lost consciousness and crashed into him.
Many trucking accidents have been caused by the kind of trucking negligence alleged by the Plaintiffs; the complaint claims that DOT Foods, Inc., the nation’s largest food redistributor, put an unhealthy driver, prone to blackouts, in the driver’s seat, because the company was having a hard time recruiting enough drivers and ensuring that they were physically fit would cut into the company’s profit margin. The trucking company has denied negligence, claiming it followed the same federal trucking regulations that trucks must comply within Florida.
Trucking accident lawsuit claims like the ones made against DOT Foods, if proven, could result in an award of punitive damages against a trucking company – amounts awarded to punish a defendant that knowingly acted with extreme disregard for others’ safety – in addition to monetary compensation for routine wrongful death damages, such as medical expenses, funeral expenses, lost future support and loss of companionship and services to family members.
If you or someone you love has been hurt or killed in a Tampa trucking accident; an accident with a big truck in St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Winter Haven; or a wreck with a truck anywhere in South Florida, Brooks Law Group offers experienced, aggressive personal injury and wrongful death attorneys who train steadily to learn more about big trucks and developments with trucking regulations. Our highly-skilled attorneys know how to handle a wrongful death lawsuit against a trucking company and we work hard to obtain maximum compensation for personal injury and wrongful death from Florida trucking accidents.
