Large commercial trucks can weigh as much as 25 times what passenger cars weigh. This is one of the main reasons that Tennessee truck accidents can be so deadly. If you survived a truck accident, you may have expensive medical bills and a totaled vehicle.
After a truck accident, victims may decide to file a personal injury claim for financial compensation. Since truck accidents are different than passenger car accidents, it’s important to be aware of how fault is determined.
Proving a truck driver was negligent
Proving fault in any motor vehicle accident comes down to proving that one party’s negligence caused another party’s injuries. In a truck accident, however, there are more ways to prove negligence. Truck drivers are subject to both local and state traffic laws as well as federal truck safety laws. That means that a truck driver could be found negligent if they violated certain laws that passenger car drivers don’t have to adhere to.
Truck drivers have to abide by hours of service laws that restrict how long they can be on the road and how many driving breaks they must take. Federal safety laws also require truckers to keep records of their time on the road for several months.
The truck driver is not the only liable party
Another thing that makes proving fault different in truck accidents is that there can be several responsible parties. The truck driver is either an employee or an independent contractor for a company. Therefore, there may be one or several other parties that can be held partially responsible for the truck driver’s negligence.
There are also third parties other than a trucker’s employer that could be responsible for an accident. A truck mechanic that missed an important problem with a truck or a cargo loader that created an unbalanced trailer could both be found negligent.