Connecticut Truck Accident FAQ
When you share the road with semis, flatbeds, and other large trucks, you never expect one to crash into your car. Truckers always appear in control, but they have good days and bad days like any other drivers.
A trucker might feel fatigued from driving all night. Some truckers speed, drive distracted, or get behind the wheel while alcohol impaired. When poor choices or unexpected complications make a trucker lose control, every motorist nearby may become their victims.
As big rigs deliver goods throughout our state, we understand that a truck accident can happen at any time. We created our Connecticut Truck Accident FAQ to help you understand the potential risks and legal issues. This blog isn’t a substitute for professional legal advice. If you’re injured in a truck accident, you should consult with a truck accident attorney as soon as possible.
Should I Call The Police If a Trucker Hits My Car?
Yes! Dial 911 immediately. Never send the trucker on their way, hoping everything works out. If you can’t locate your phone or you can’t make the call, ask a bystander to call on your behalf.
You, your attorney and your insurer, need personal information from the trucker, and they might refuse to give you what you need. A law enforcement officer has the authority to capture data you might not get otherwise. They document their findings in a written report, which becomes a formal record of the accident.
- Trucker’s Information: The big rig trucker driving on a Connecticut highway might be from any state in the USA. You need their name, address, license, insurance, and employer information.
- Vehicle Owner: It’s possible that one company owns the tractor, another owns the trailer, and a different company owns the cargo. These details can help your lawyer determine legal and contractual responsibility.
- Driver & Witness Versions: Law enforcement officers ask questions, take statements, and write reports describing what they think might have happened. If they feel it’s warranted, they also test drivers for alcohol impairment and look for signs of speeding, distraction, drowsy driving, and drug use.
- Traffic Site Details: Officers document accident scenes, looking for details you might not consider relevant. They sometimes photograph the scene, capturing details that begin changing as time passes.
What is a Large Truck?
Federal standards define a large truck as a medium to heavy commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more. They’re the big vehicles that haul goods, equipment, and other loads throughout the state and across the country. Here are a few additional large truck facts.
- Gross vehicle weight rating is the total weight of a truck plus its trailer and load.
- A heavy large truck has a GVWR greater than 26,000 pounds.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Association statistics show that heavy large trucks were involved in 71 percent of large truck traffic-related fatalities nationwide.
- In Connecticut, the maximum large truck GVWR is 80,000 pounds.
Does That Mean That Garbage Trucks Are Large Trucks?
The big rigs you see on the highway aren’t the only large or heavy large trucks. The Department of Energy and other federal agencies list thirty different types of service vehicles with weights ranging from 10,001 to 33,001 plus pounds. Here are a few:
- Walk-in Vans: 10,000 to 14,000 pounds
- Landscape Utility Trucks: 14,000 to 16,000 pounds
- Utility Bucket trucks: 16,001 to 19,500 pounds
- Fire Trucks: 33,001 pounds plus
- Garbage Trucks: 26,001 to 33,001 pounds
- Dump Trucks: 33,001 pounds plus
- Cement Mixers: 33,001 pounds plus
You encounter these types of vehicles in your neighborhood, on local streets, and sometimes in your driveway. They often move slowly and don’t seem quite as dangerous as a big tractor-trailer rig. When a driver makes a critical mistake in one of these trucks, they can cause significantly more damage and injuries than any private passenger vehicle.
How Does a Driver Qualify to be a Commercial Trucker?
Other than a few farm vehicle exceptions, Connecticut drivers need a commercial driver’s license to operate vehicles over 26,000 pounds. CDL candidates must be at least 18-years old or 21 for interstate driving. They must provide a Real ID and proof of the following: identity, Connecticut residency, citizenship, social security, and any name changes. They must also meet stringent licensing requirements.
- Obtain a Commercial Learner’s Permit
- Present a valid medical examiner’s certificate
- Self-Certify Driver type
- Learn information in the FMCSA-compliant Connecticut Commercial Driver’s License Manual. Some candidates take formal classes.
- Earn required special endorsements: Hazardous loads, passengers, etc.
- Take a knowledge and skills test
How Often Do Truck Accidents Occur in Connecticut?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Analysis & Information Data Tool estimates Connecticut’s recent large truck-related casualties. As with other Safety agency reporting systems, A&I relies on reported data but considers it “preliminary” until finalized.
Recent large truck accident statistics:
- Total large truck crashes: 802
- Total vehicles involved: 859
- Total Injuries: 320
- Total fatalities: 17
What Are the Common Truck Accident Trends?
Just as with private passenger vehicles, certain large truck accident patterns occur more frequently than others. NHTSA documents national trucker accident trends in Traffic Safety Facts: Large Trucks. The most recent publication shares these common large truck accidents scenarios.
- Sixty-one percent of fatal accidents occurred while the truck was going straight. The other involved vehicle was:
- Going straight, 41 percent
- Stopped in the road, 2.1 percent
- Turning right, 0.6 percent
- Turning left, 7.8 percent
- Negotiating a curve, 0.7 percent
- Unknown, 9.2 percent
- Twenty-seven percent of fatal truck accidents occurred on interstate highways.
- Fifty-four percent occurred in rural areas.
- Seventy-six percent occurred on a weekday.
- Seventy-percent occurred during the day, after 6 a.m. and before 5:59 p.m.
What is a Rear or Side Underride Truck Accident?
Underride crashes don’t happen as frequently as other large truck accidents. When they occur, they can cause devastating injuries. Each year, 17 vehicle occupants die nationwide and 69 sustain serious injuries due to these accidents. They happen during sideswipes and other collisions where a smaller vehicle may become lodged beneath a large truck.
- The space beneath a trailer is usually high enough for the front of a small car to enter.
- When a small vehicle impacts a trailer’s side or rear, it sometimes continues moving partially into this space.
- Once this occurs, the bottom trailer edge easily shears or crushes the vehicle’s roof, or it intrudes into the passenger compartment.
As underride accidents are a known large truck hazard, some transport companies voluntarily install underride guards. After years of study, reports, and Congressional action, the NHTSA issued a federal safety rule mandating underride guards.
Are Large Trucks Inherently Dangerous?
Large trucks are oversized trucks that require skillful operation. The potential for truck accident danger depends on many factors.
A Large Truck Outweighs Every Other Vehicle On the Road
A large truck’s weight and mass allow a trucker to survive a serious crash, while simultaneously injuring or killing other motorists. The average private passenger vehicle weighs in at just over 4,000 pounds. No safety measures can protect vehicle occupants from a 26,000 to 80,000 pound truck traveling at highway speeds.
Motorcyclists and bicyclists are at an even greater disadvantage during a truck crash. Depending on the type and function, a bike weighs an average of 15 to 40 pounds. E-bikes weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Motorcycle weight varies as well, but the average ranges from 300 to 500 pounds.
When a truck crashes into these much smaller modes of transportation, the impact easily sends the rider airborne. Some riders crash into freestanding structures while others land on the pavement. Fatal or catastrophic injuries become inevitable.
A Large Truck Accident Can Affect More Than One Vehicle
Due to its size, a truck can be dangerous when sharing the road with multiple vehicles. If a driver loses control in traffic, they can damage more than one vehicle at once. If their dump truck, flatbed, or animal transport truck loses its load, it can cause a chain of accidents, affecting all vehicles in its surrounding lanes.
The Environment is Sometimes a Factor
When the pavement is deteriorating, under construction or slippery due to weather conditions, it’s often difficult for a trucker to control a heavy vehicle. When snow, ice, or water covers the road, even an experienced trucker may have difficulty stopping or maneuvering their truck or maintaining control. Buildings and natural landscaping can also become obstacles to a trucker’s view.
Truckers Don’t Always Control Their Behavior
When environmental conditions are perfect, the person behind the wheel can still be the factor that causes a crash. Despite intense training and testing, truckers occasionally engage in what NHTSA calls risky driving behaviors.
- Drunk Driving
- Drug-Impaired
- Distracted Driving
- Speeding
- Drowsy/Fatigued Driving
Underride Accidents Remain a Problem
Trucking companies have pushed back against underride guard mandates due to the estimated $2,900 per vehicle cost. Based on their cost benefit analysis, the lives saved don’t justify the expense. As underride accidents occur infrequently, transport companies don’t view guards as necessary. They also suggest that guards would create problems with ground clearance, railroad crossings, and loading docks.
What Types of Injuries does a Truck Accident Cause?
When a large truck crashes into a smaller vehicle at highway speeds, it rarely causes minimal damage. Even if the trucker walks away unharmed, the crash may leave the smaller vehicle totaled and its occupant requiring emergency care.
A body can’t absorb the impact of an intense large truck crash. The blow may damage the brain, contort the spine, or traumatize the skeletal structure. The human body responds by manifesting catastrophic injuries:
- Brain damage
- Spinal cord injury
- Multiple fractures
- Internal organ damage
- Muscular trauma
Should I Talk to The Trucker’s Insurance Company About Making a Claim?
No! Whether or not you believe a trucker is responsible for your accident-related injuries, you should never talk to their liability insurance claim investigator. They represent the trucker and his employer. While it’s their job to find out what happened, they are also trying to determine if there is any way to defend against your claims.
- Insurers want to get all of your information first-hand.
- They usually ask to record you as you respond to their questions.
- Your recorded statement provides a permanent record of your accident version.
- As you might not understand all of the legal or injury issues, you may say something that sabotages your case.
What If I Refuse to Give the Insurance Investigator a Recorded Statement?
If you meet with an insurance claim representative and refuse to give a recorded statement, they can still document what they observe. Claim investigators evaluate you as you interact with them. They watch how you talk, how your injuries affect you, and whether you seem in pain. They use their overall impressions of you to assess your strengths or weaknesses as a witness on your own behalf.
What you reveal during those early post-accident meetings may haunt you throughout the life of your claim. It informs negotiations, discovery, and trial efforts. It helps the liability insurer understand what to expect if and when they try to settle your case.
Should I Talk to My Own Insurance Company?
Your auto policy requires you to cooperate with your own insurance company. While the trucker’s insurer may or may not pay for your damages and injuries, your insurer has no choice. They must pay according to your applicable policy coverages. These may include:
- Auto Collision Coverage
- Medical Payments Coverage (optional)
- Uninsured Motorist Coverage (mandatory)
- Liability Coverage
If you fail to report your accident or refuse to cooperate, your insurer may have the legal right to decline your coverage if you make a claim at a later time. If you’ve arranged for legal representation for your accident, your attorney can advise you on how to proceed.
Should I Contact a Truck Accident Attorney?
Yes! You should consult with a truck accident attorney as soon as possible after your accident.
Truck accidents can be complicated. They often involve convoluted factors you don’t encounter when private passenger vehicles collide. When you establish a working relationship with an attorney, a legal team handles the complications while you spend time resting and healing.
Truck accident attorneys understand the legal and injury issues and know how to address them. They interact with truckers, transport companies, insurance companies and any other relevant parties on your behalf. They investigate your claim, assess the liability issues, evaluate your injuries and work to resolve your case when the timing is appropriate.
A truck accident attorney works on a contingency basis. They perform a long list of legal tasks but charge you only after they resolve your case.