Your Trusted Personal Injury Lawyers in Waterford, CT
Despite the regulations requiring commercial truck drivers to take regular breaks and get eight hours of sleep per day, many big rig drivers today are under pressure to stay on the road and keep driving despite fatigue and exhaustion. Besides fatigue, additional in-cab distractions like texting and phone calls can cause poor judgment and bad driving, resulting in accidents.
Victims of fatigued truck drivers in New London accidents should consider seeking assistance from a big-rig accident attorney. There may be more than one at-fault party involved after this type of commercial truck wreck. The driver, their employer, the trucking company, and even the maintenance yard could all be implicated in your collision. When you have been injured in a truck accident, you may need help from the attorneys at Polito & Harrington LLC.
Commercial vehicles range from local delivery vans to 80,000-pound long-haul big rigs. All of them are bigger and heavier than the average passenger vehicle. Nearly all commercial trucking companies have drivers working busy schedules on tight deadlines with inadequate staff.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) mandates that drivers must take 30-minute breaks every eight hours, and not work more than 14 hours in any 24-hour period. Trucking companies routinely violate these regulations by putting “ghost drivers” in the cab and altering driving logs in other ways.
Long-haul drivers also suffer from the simple fatigue of many hours on the road with nothing to do. Staring at the road for hours at a time leads to “road hypnosis,” when drivers see nothing but the asphalt in front of them. Rest breaks only limit this fatigue, but nothing can prevent it except stopping and getting some sleep. Sleepy truck drivers in New London may not realize they are a danger to others on the road until it is too late to avoid a collision.
In an ordinary accident, drivers exchange insurance information. In a big rig or other commercial vehicle accident, you may need to get insurance information from more than one party. The driver is not the only person involved in a commercial vehicle accident. You may need to include others in your insurance claim, including:
This complicated chain of liability means that victims need legal assistance to file their insurance claims and legal action after a New London truck accident involving a fatigued driver.
If your accident was due to a truck driver’s fatigue and lack of rest, you need help from the experienced attorneys at Polito & Harrington LLC. Our team has experience identifying evidence for cases involving fatigued truck drivers in New London accidents, such as drivers’ logs, electronic logging devices, and other information that can show evidence, like whether or not the driver took the required number of breaks.
Our legal team could take your case to trial if necessary to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we secure a settlement or win your case. Call us today for a free and confidential consultation and to discuss your situation now.
We are committed to provide personalized attention to each and every client’s case – no matter how large or small– because that is each client’s only case. We are proud of our firm’s reputation of combining integrity and compassion with an unflinching dedication to getting the right result. We will do what we say.
