Semi Truck Accident

According to the United States Department of Transportation, over 500,000 truck accidents occur every year, and nearly 5,000 people are killed in these accidents. To put it another way, one person is injured or killed in a truck accident every 16 minutes. Statistics don’t show the human tragedy of a semi truck accident, though. On April 11, 2011, a semi hit and killed a 25 year old University of Minnesota student while she was biking toward campus. In another accident, a semi rolled across the road from a truck stop in Dodge City into a motel room. The driver was filling up the truck when he went into the truck stop without putting on the brake. Atlanta semi truck accident victims have recourse when injured due to commercial trucking liability. If you’ve been injured in a semi truck accident in Georgia, Atlanta catastrophic injury attorneys Goldstein & Hayes will protect your rights.

Georgia Semi Truck Accident Attorney

A big rig is heavy, with a high center of gravity—meaning that its height is greater than its width. Cargo can raise the weight of these trucks to more than 80,000 pounds each. If a load is overweight or unbalanced, it can cause a tractor trailer rollover, a blowout, or brake failure. It’s up to the truck company and the driver to make sure a truck is loaded legally and safely. If an investigation shows improper loading, the driver and trucking company are liable for injuries and damage from a crash.

While Atlanta area semi truck accidents can result from improper maintenance and inspection, they can also be caused by truck driver fatigue. Big rig drivers log hours at a time behind the wheel, sometimes flouting federal laws requiring sleep and rest. They may exceed speed limits to deliver cargos on time. Sometimes the drivers are using drugs, and legally prescribed narcotics are as deadly as illegal drugs.

Contact an Atlanta Semi Truck Accident Attorney

Injury from a semi truck accident can devastate your life. The trucker’s insurance company won’t offer its operational records. With experience and subpoena power in a Georgia semi truck accident, Goldstein & Hayes will give you sound advice based on years of experience. Our attorneys represent clients in Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.