Tractor Trailer

Semi Truck Accidents

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that large trucks have a greater likelihood of being involved in a fatal accident than a passenger car. The sheer weight and size of a semi means that drivers and passengers in an automobile or even a smaller truck will suffer if involved in an accident with a large truck. When the truck crash resulted from negligence or misconduct, the injured may be able to recover compensation for their medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.

New York lawyers with years of experience handling truck accidents

At the Manhattan law firm of Shandell, Blitz, Blitz, & Ashley, we have the investigators, experts, and resources to undertake complex and difficult truck accident cases. Trial lawyers for more than 30 years, we have handled many tractor trailer accidents throughout the New York City area, obtaining substantial awards for our injured clients. If you have been injured in a tractor trailer accident, contact our law firm for a free initial consultation. Call 646-736-0959. Learn how we can put our trial experience to work for you.

Drivers and trucking companies are frequent causes of truck crashes

Our clients injured in tractor trailer crashes have been injured because of negligent actions such as:

• Driver failing to make required rest stops, resulting in sleep deprivation
• Driver operating the truck too fast for conditions or over the speed limit
• Driver failing to light truck or place warning signs when stopped
• Driver neglecting to make mandated equipment checks
• Trucking company failing to investigate driver's record
• Trucking company failing to train drivers properly
• Trucking company failing to maintain truck as required
• Load supplier failing to balance load properly
• Selling defective equipment to truck fleets

The cause may be the road, not the truck

Anyone who has driven on a roadway with lots of truck traffic, such as the Cross-Bronx Expressway, has seen the tire debris left by trucks. While such hazards may seem commonplace, when a tire explodes on the truck right in front of another moving vehicle, the results can be catastrophic to the following car or other truck. Other highway hazards are actually part of the road. The municipality and state of New York can neglect road maintenance to the degree that serious accidents are common involving trucks that cannot stop or maneuver quickly enough to avoid large potholes and other road defects.

How we investigate a tractor trailer accident

These and other acts of negligence cause many injuries and fatalities each year. Our law firm uses its investigative resources to identify liability on the part of the driver, trucking company, or the supplier of the load. We visit the scene, take photographs, reconstruct the accident, review the event data recorder (black box), evaluate the driver's past performance, interview witnesses, and analyze the record of the trucking company. We determine whether road defects were known to the agency operating the highway. In short, we undertake to document the facts of the accident, building a strong case for our injured client.

Contact an attorney with experience handling all types of truck accidents

If you have been injured in a tractor trailer accident, contact the experienced attorneys at Shandell, Blitz, Blitz, & Ashley, to learn how we can help you. We serve all five boroughs of New York City as well as upstate counties such as Orange, Putnam, and Ulster. In addition to helping people injured in semi truck accidents, consult us when you've been injured in accidents involving garbage trucks, delivery vans, step vans, and large recreational vehicles.