Tractor Trailer Accident Attorneys in Las Vegas
Individuals with tractor trailer injury matters can get help for their losses and injuries by contacting the Las Vegas law firm Bertoldo Carter Smith & Cullen.
Our experienced Las Vegas, Nevada truck accident attorneys strive to attain the best possible outcome for our injured clients and their families.
Large, Heavy Trucks
A tractor trailer, also known as a “semi truck,” is a large two-part truck. The tractor is the truck’s cab where the driver sits, and the trailer is hitched to the tractor to be filled with freight. Many tractor trailer combinations are upwards of 25,000 pounds, and they can easily reach 80,000 pounds when filled with cargo.
These trucks carry freight of nearly every imaginable material, including:
- Livestock
- Cars
- Logs
- Hazardous materials (flammable, toxic, explosive, or radioactive)
- Prefabricated buildings
Although tractor trailers are an integral part of the American economy, transporting millions of tons of consumer goods and supplies, their presence on the roads and freeways populated by smaller vehicles has resulted in many serious injuries and fatalities. Because of their great length and weight, tractor trailers are difficult to maneuver and stop.
Very Severe Injuries
Tractor trailer accident injuries are often very severe. The persons injured in a tractor trailer collision are nearly always the drivers/occupants of the other, smaller vehicle(s), not the driver or passenger in the tractor trailer. This is due in part to the huge size of semis, with weights up to 80,000 pounds and cargos that can do severe damage when they become loose (or burn). The force of a tractor trailer moving at freeway speeds can cause devastating injuries.
Typical tractor trailer injuries include:
- Traumatic brain injury or other brain damage
- Open head wounds
- Permanent disfigurement
- Paralysis
- Spinal cord injury
- Back and neck injuries
- Broken bones
- Loss of limb(s)
- Internal bleeding
Thousands of fatalities have occurred in tractor trailer collisions on Nevada and U.S. freeways.
Tractor Trailers Are Dangerous Vehicles
The dangers of tractor trailers on the streets and highways around Las Vegas include:
- Blind spots: tractor trailers have large blind spots at their back, sides, and even front, where cars cannot always be seen by the tractor trailer’s driver.
- Greater stopping distance: tractor trailers and other large trucks need a longer length of road and a greater amount of time to stop compared to other vehicles. If, for instance, a car/SUV/light truck moving on the freeway in front of a tractor trailer has to stop suddenly, the trailer-tractor behind it may not have enough time and road space to stop without hitting the vehicle from behind.
- Wide turns: tractor trailer accidents sometimes occur because trucks of this length must swing wide to make a turn. If a car drives between the tractor trailer and the curb, it may get squeezed or hit.
- Going off-track: When a tractor trailer is moving at high speed and moves into another lane, the trailer may swing in an uncontrolled manner, perhaps hitting other vehicles.
These factors, combined with other problems have resulted in thousands of tractor trailer fatalities and permanent injuries.
Most of the other causes of tractor trailer injuries can be traced to these categories:
- Driver error
- Maintenance failure
- Tired, distracted, or drugged drivers
- Overloaded trucks
- Inadequately maintained trucks
- Drivers under pressure to deliver their cargos quickly to their destination
Tractor trailer combinations are also prone to “trailer sway,” sometimes called “fish-tailing,” in which the long trailer moves from side to side, whether due to a driving maneuver, loss of control, incorrect hitching, icy roads or high winds. Trailer sway is dangerous to everyone on the roads, with the potential for the trailer to hit another vehicle and for the truck itself to tip or roll over.
Contact Las Vegas Tractor Trailer Accident Lawyers
It takes experienced, knowledgeable truck accident attorneys to help determine responsibility for tractor trailer injuries. Top notch Las Vegas injury attorneys at Bertoldo Carter Smith & Cullen know how to obtain the best possible legal outcome for individuals and families who have been impacted by tractor trailer injuries.
