Fort Myers Truck Accident Lawyer

If passenger vehicles being haphazardly driven by distracted, angry, and impatient drivers aren’t enough, 18 wheelers with sleep-deprived operators at the wheel add to an already dangerous situation. Collisions involving large trucks are common and also deadly. The victims of these crashes often result in incredibly horrendous injuries, and few walk away with a minor case of whiplash, as one might in a similar situation with another passenger vehicle. The injuries and fatalities are almost always one sided: truck drivers rarely suffer even a fraction of the injuries that the other parties do. And, collisions involving large trucks often affect multiple parties, especially if the crash takes place on a crowded highway or freeway at a high rate of speed. For both of these reasons, the severity of injury and the legal complexity of an accident that involves three or more parties, it is crucial to enlist the help of an experienced truck accident lawyer with a proven record of success. When dealing with large insurance providers and truck companies, you need a law firm with equal clout. Contact a Fort Myers truck accident lawyer with The Pendas Law firm today to discuss your options and begin the process of filing a claim. The financial compensation victims of truck accidents receive is often paramount to their full and timely recovery.

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Truck Accidents in Florida

In 2015, commercial vehicle crashes in Florida totalled 38,190, according to The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Administration. In Lee County there was a total of 10,383 traffic collisions in 2015, and commercial vehicles made up 1,054, or roughly 10 percent. That’s a similar percentage of the entire state, and nationally as well. In fact, commercial vehicle collisions are responsible for more fatalities than they should be, when based on the percentage of trucks on the road and the number of fatal crashes they are involved with. Trucks made up four percent of all the vehicles on the road in 2012, yet were involved in eight percent of all fatal crashes. This leads to the question of why trucks are so dangerous. For one thing, the nature of a truck colliding with a much smaller vehicle means that the outcome will likely be much dire than that of a two-party collision of passenger vehicles. The size difference kills. Secondly, truck drivers often drive for hours on end without sleep. As such, 31 percent of two-vehicle fatal crashes that involved a truck were head on collisions. Other times of truck operator negligence include distraction, becoming bored and inattentive, and, like many drivers of passenger cars, acts of aggression. When these acts of negligence and impatience occur at times on the freeway when the lives of all nearby road users are at stake, the faulty driver should be held liable. Truck drivers are, of course, not always to blame. Drivers of passenger vehicles are guilty of the same misdoings. However, the difficulty and danger of driving an 18 wheeler comes with great responsibility, and just like dangerous driving of a car done around a pedestrian, the injuries and fatalities will be one sided in collisions with trucks and passenger vehicles.

If you were injured in a truck collision, contact The Pendas Law Firm at 1-844-200-0000 today to speak with one of our experienced Fort Myers truck accident lawyers. We can help you fight to recover the compensation you truly deserve.

What to do After a Fort Myers Truck Accident

It never hurts to be prepared. While none of us think it will happen to us, U.S. drivers and occupants are injured in traffic collisions once every 14 seconds, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Administration. Of the millions of traffic collisions that occur on a yearly basis, many involve large commercial vehicles that weigh up to 80,000 pounds in Florida, or even many tons more if permitted as oversize, according to Florida State Patrol. The average passenger vehicle stands no chance in a collision with what are essentially railway trains on the highway. The sheer mass, length, and speed of fully loaded 18 wheelers means that they are incredibly hard to stop, they are prone to rollovers at intersections and fast highway curves, the driver has poor rear and side visibility, making side-swiping the much smaller pickups, vans, and cars a real problem. And, when collisions do occur, the injuries are often horrendous for the occupants of the passenger vehicle. Injuries include spinal cord and column damage, bone fractures, traumatic brain injuries, internal organ damage, and severe contusions and lacerations. Post traumatic stress disorder is another common psychological injury that many victims of large truck collisions live with for weeks, months, or even years after the event. One percent of the U.S. population will be injured in motor vehicle crashes each year, and nine percent of motor vehicle survivors develop post traumatic stress disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD. The consequences of traumatic collisions are high, but aside from taking extra precautions behind the wheel and refraining from putting yourself and others at unnecessary risk (such as using cell phones or other electronic devices when behind the wheel at any time while the engine is running), what can be done to mitigate the trauma and legal hassle in the aftermath of a bad truck accident? If you have been injured in a truck accident, contact a Fort Myers truck accident lawyer today, and to help matters along in the future, take note of the following.

Actions to Take Immediately Following a Fort Myers Truck Collision

If you find yourself in a collision with a large truck, or any other vehicle for that matter, the most important thing to do is to attend to severely injured victims with the medical knowledge that you have and to call the paramedics immediately. Most of the time, the help you can provide in the meantime is to keep the injured victim calm, warm, and as comfortable as possible. Never move a severely injured position from where they are unless their surroundings pose a hazard. If no one is in a life and death scenario, follow the steps listed below:

• Move your vehicle to the side of the road, allowing traffic to safely pass;
• Call the authorities;
• Set up a road triangle or road flares down the road to warn oncoming vehicles of the danger and to slow down ahead of time;
• Exchange contact information with all other parties, including name, address, phone number, email, license plate number, driver’s license number, insurance information, truck number, and trucking company. Refrain from engaging in an argument about who was at fault for causing the crash;
• Get witness accounts and contact information, as well as photo evidence;
• Talk with the police;
• Receive medical attention afterwards if needed. Soft tissue injuries may not show up for hours or even a day later; and
• Contact your insurance company.

Contact our Experienced Fort Myers Truck Accident Lawyers

In addition, if you need assistance filing a claim, call a Fort Myers truck accident lawyer that specializes in large truck accidents. The Pendas Law Firm of Fort Myers can be reached at 1-844-200-0000 today, and we are prepared to help you immediately.