What happens if I have an accident while driving a truck?
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source: http://www.alltrucking.com/
After the accident happens, the police and insurance companies of the drivers involved will decide who was at fault. In some cases, both drivers are at fault, in which cases a percentage of the blame is assigned to each party.
If you are found to be partially or entirely at fault, you may receive tickets as the result of your accident. It’s important to remember that fines and license points tend to be stricter for CDL holders than for those driving a vehicle for personal use. This can be a fairly lengthy process, particularly if your employer or the other party involved in the accident decide to go to court over the accident.
Many trucking companies have policies in place for when a crash occurs. Regardless of whether or not you are found to be at fault, you will likely have to go through drug and alcohol testing immediately after the accident through a company of your employer’s choosing. If the test shows that you had any unauthorized drugs or alcohol in your system at the time of the accident, immediate termination is possible. Your former employer may even bring charges against you for the damage you caused while under the influence.
If your test comes up clean, then you’ll move on to the next step of the process. What happens then depends on the severity of any tickets received and damage caused by the accident.
In the event of a minor accident, you may well be able to keep your trucking job. Employers understand that accidents happen, even if you have thousands and thousands of miles under your belt.
Certain offenses require you to give up your commercial driver’s license, in which case you undoubtedly lose your job. These offenses include driving while under the influence, fleeing the scene of an accident, or vehicular manslaughter.
Otherwise, what happens to your job depends on your employer. If you have a long history of safe driving, you may be safe. Being fully transparent and cooperative during the testing and police investigation process may help you with your employer.
Keep in mind that getting tickets does put points on your license. As is the case with a regular driver’s license, you can only have so many points on your license before your license is suspended. If you have a high number of points on your license, your employer may require you to complete a driving class to get points off of your license.
An accident doesn’t have to be the end of your career. Work with your employer and stay honest to demonstrate your integrity during this process.
After all the facts are gathered, consult an experienced Arkansas commercial vehicle accident attorney. If you believe that the truck driver was at fault, it is important to consult an attorney as soon as possible so that there is no loss of evidence from the simple passage of time.
If a truck driver is at fault in an accident, there are multiple theories of liability that will solidify your cause of action against the defendants. A theory of liability is your argument as to why the defendant owed you a duty of care. It will explain how the defendant breached that duty, and why the defendant’s breach caused your injuries. After successfully pleading a theory of liability, a damages argument is made to display how you can be “made whole” again.
It is important to have a theory of liability against the driver and the company in accidents involving semi-trucks. This is important because multiple defendants allow a plaintiff to utilize multiple theories of liability, and also maximize possible damages, such as with insurance coverage. The theories of liability behind accidents involving consumer vehicles and semis include (1) negligent hiring, entrustment, supervision or retention (2) vicarious (employer) liability, and finally (3) broker liability.
Negligent Hiring
Negligent hiring may be found where an employee had a reputation or record that demonstrated his or her propensity to act in a negligent behavior, and yet the employer still hired the employee. Sometimes, negligent hiring may occur where an employer did not use due diligence in hiring an employee. For example, take a truck driver who had been previously arrested for a DUI charge. All truck companies are required to run background checks on potential employees before hiring them to ensure that an employee does not have a driving offense record. If an employer fails to run a background check on a truck driver, or even worse, runs a background check and ignores it, then a negligent hiring argument may be fortuitous.
Negligent entrustment may also be argued in accidents involving semi-trucks. Negligent entrustment is a cause of action where an entrustor is held liable for negligence because they provided a third party with a dangerous instrumentality. Negligent entrustment may be found in truck accident cases because a semi-truck can be considered a dangerous instrument when given to a delinquent driver.
Negligent supervision occurs where an employer failed to train, or negligently trained, an employee, which otherwise would have prevented that employee from acting in an injury-prone behavior. If a truck company sends a new employee out onto the road without coaching him or her on proper business practices, then this may lead to negligent supervision.
Negligent retention is a claim in which an employer failed to discharge an employee, even though the employer knew or should have known that the employee had a propensity for malfeasant behavior. An example of this would be if an employer completely ignored the fact that a truck driver had his or her commercial driver’s license suspended.
Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer
At Truck Accident Attorneys in U.S 95% of our practice is devoted to representing victims of commercial truck accidents. Our expert attorneys are nationally recognized for their expertise in this complex area of the law. Every truck accident case needs a truck accident attorney.
While our focus area is in commercial vehicle accidents, our experience extends to all areas of personal injury litigation. For a free consultation with one of our attorneys, please call us at one of the below phone numbers or complete the form on this page and we will respond promptly. Click on the link and call us!
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