Important Things to Know About Clearwater Truck Accidents

Some things that make a Clearwater truck accident case different from car accidents are the rules that truck drivers have to follow to make sure that it is legal that they are on the road at the time of the accident.

Oftentimes, the injured party is not only suing the driver for being at fault but they may also be suing the company that owns the truck for a number of different reasons depending on the circumstances of the accident. Additionally, truck accidents usually, because of the size of the truck and the weight of the truck, may result in greater injuries to those involved.

Contributory Negligence

In a Clearwater truck accident, contributory negligence means the way in which the victim in the case may have contributed to the accident in addition to the at-fault driver of the truck. This becomes an issue in cases where the injured party may not have been wearing their seatbelt, which creates a situation where the injuries sustained are significantly worse because the driver did not have their seatbelt on than what they would have been had they taken the correct protective measures.

Speeding is another circumstance in which contributory negligence could apply, even if the driver was somewhere where they had a red light, the speed that they were driving could have enhanced their own injuries a bit and could have contributed to the injuries that were actually caused by the truck driver.

Importance of Contacting An Attorney

The most important reason to contact an attorney is to make sure that all of your documentation is in order, and to make sure that you get all of the information you need from the truck that was at fault for the accident. Retaining a lawyer early on protects you from the insurance company or the company that owns the truck. Additionally, there may be a lot of paperwork and investigation that goes on at the very beginning of the case, as well as a lot of medical treatment that you want your attorney to be on top of.

If the case begins and lasts without an attorney on it, then the other side potentially has a major corporation, an insurance company, and maybe some lawyers involved at the very beginning of the case, so if you do not have an attorney at the beginning of the case, you could be taken advantage of because of your lack of representation.