Truck Accident Investigations
North Carolina Truck Accident Investigations
If you have been involved in an accident with a commercial truck in North Carolina, it is important that you contact Davis Law Group as soon as possible so that our attorneys can begin an accident investigation. A trucking accident investigation will (1) identify the cause of the accident, and (2) identify who is liable for the accident—whether it is the truck driver, the trucking company, maintenance personnel, or the cargo loader.
Davis Law Group provides legal representation to victims of trucking accidents in Asheville, Hickory, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh. We will act fast to investigate your trucking accident before evidence disappears and eyewitness memories of what happened fade. We will piece together exactly what happened in your accident and lay the groundwork to get you the compensation you deserve.
Identifying the Cause of the Truck Accident in North Carolina
There is a certain timeline that we at Davis Law Group follow when we begin investigating a trucking accident. Following this timeline is one of the reasons we are so successful in helping our clients succeed when it comes to recovering after a truck accident.
Not only will we talk to you about your memories of what happened just before and during the accident, but we will also talk to those in law enforcement who responded to your accident (either local or state officers), obtain copies of all reports written about the accident, and talk to other witnesses including eyewitnesses, all first responders, emergency room personnel, members of the media who may have reported live on the scene of the accident, and even tow-truck drivers.
Why do we go to such lengths to talk to everyone who might have been involved or at the scene of the accident (or in the aftermath at the hospital)? Because all of these witnesses and official reports will help document what exactly happened to cause the accident, and therefore, determine who is liable for your injuries and property damage.
Identifying Who Is Liable
Once we have documented and proven what caused your accident with a commercial truck, then we will go about determining who is liable for the accident. There can be a number of factors that contributed to the truck accident, and we at Davis Law Group have the experience of knowing where to look and who to investigate. These factors can include the following.
Truck Driver Negligence. This might be a truck driver who was driving impaired, distracted, or fatigued. It also might be that a truck driver was not trained properly in safety techniques or defensive driving or even how to adjust their driving in inclement weather. Truck drivers are supposed to be thoroughly trained and vetted to be safe drivers, but we have often investigated drivers and found that they had a less-than-ideal driving record, or they had falsified their driving logbooks.
Truck Driving Violations. There are serious federal and state regulations regarding commercial trucks that must be followed, but sadly this is not always the case. A trucking company may impose unrealistic schedules on their drivers, or they may ignore equipment and safety inspections to save money. There are also guidelines on how cargo must be loaded and secured in a commercial truck to keep it from shifting during transportation. If these guidelines are ignored, the cargo loader could be held liable for causing an accident.
Why Hire an Attorney?
An accident with a commercial truck is not the same as an accident with another passenger vehicle. First of all, thanks to their size and weight, a commercial truck is far more likely to cause serious injuries or even death.
Federal and state laws that govern commercial trucks and their drivers are very specific. You should not be expected to be an expert when it comes to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, but you can hire a professional team of attorneys at Davis Law Group who are.
You should not have to suffer when a truck driver or his employer’s negligence caused your accident. Once we are retained, we will immediately start working to document what happened, preserve evidence from the accident, and retain all experts necessary (such as an accident reconstruction engineer).
Large trucks, like tractor-trailers and dump trucks, have an electronic control module (ECM) mounted to their engine that records a huge amount of data in the event of a crash. The ECM is very similar to the black box located in the cockpit of airplanes. Preserving and downloading the ECM data is often critical to proving why a crash happened and who’s responsible. The EMC data can disappear quickly! If the truck company drives the truck or repairs it after the crash, the data can be erased. Davis Law Group acts quickly to preserve this important evidence.
Other trucks have real-time video monitoring and even GPS tracking. This electronic evidence can be critical in proving that that truck driver and truck company are responsible for causing the accident. This data can also be erased unless the truck company is put on formal notice of your claim.
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Davis Law Group—Proven North Carolina Truck Accident Investigators
At Davis Law Group, we understand how truck drivers and their employers will try to get around safety regulations put in place to protect the public when they are on the road. We will thoroughly and quickly investigate your accident to uncover what caused your accident and who is ultimately liable. We will then aggressively pursue legal action to hold a person or an entity accountable for their actions that caused you harm.
We provide high-quality legal services to victims of trucking accidents throughout western North Carolina. Contact Davis Law Group today via our online contact form, or call our toll-free number at 828-350-7700 to schedule a free initial consultation. If we accept your case, you will have Attorney Brian Davis’ cell phone number so that you can speak with him whenever you need him!