Kentucky & Tennessee Truck Accident Attorneys

Our practice has five locations in Tennessee (Nashville and Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Columbia, and Gallatin) and five locations in Kentucky (Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, and Elizabethtown). We have a growing team of more than 30 attorneys and more than 60 staff members, including case coordinators, investigators, and paralegals, and we handle cases of all sizes.

Tennessee Truck Accident Lawyers

Nashville Truck Accident Lawyer

Murfreesboro Truck Accident Lawyer

Clarksville Truck Accident Lawyer

Columbia Truck Accident Lawyer

Gallatin Truck Accident Lawyer

Kentucky Truck Accident Lawyers

Louisville Truck Accident Lawyer

Lexington Truck Accident Lawyer

Bowling Green Truck Accident Lawyer

Elizabethtown Truck Accident Lawyer

Our mission as personal injury attorneys is to represent injured people, but we don’t want you to think of us as just that: personal injury attorneys. Our team members are part of the community.

We live and work here and it’s the place we call home. We live in the same neighborhoods as you, and we want to make sure that our neighbors and friends are well taken care of as well.

Our experienced attorneys have obtained successful outcomes for their clients in a variety of practice areas, including auto accidents, motorcycle accidents, brain injuries, Social Security and Veteran Disability, defective products, fire and burn injuries, drug injuries, nursing home abuse, truck accidents, and wrongful deaths, among others.

Size

The huge difference in size between a tractor-trailer and a regular vehicle can contribute to devastating results in an accident. Tractor-trailers can weigh over thirty times more than a regular vehicle. As a result, tractor-trailers take longer to stop than an ordinary vehicle. If you have to slam on your breaks in front of a tractor-trailer, even with the quickest of reactions the truck driver might not provide the distance needed to bring their vehicle to a stop before a collision. In 2014, 73% of fatalities involving a tractor-trailer were occupants of ordinary vehicles.

No Zones

You may often see “BACK OFF” printed on the mud flaps of a semi-tractor trailer, and they’re telling you to “BACK OFF MY RIDE^®” for reason. Tractor trailers have blind spots on all four sides of their vehicle. You should never tailgate a tractor trailer and should always try to pass them promptly. If you are unable to see a driver in their mirror, they are unable to see you. Stay safe and reduce the possibility of an accident by staying out of their blind spots.

Federal Regulation

Unlike regular drivers, tractor-trailer drivers are required to comply with a variety of federal regulations that dictate how long he or she can drive in one session. There are also regulations regarding how much time off for rest the driver must take between trips. Tractor-trailer drivers are also required to meticulously and regularly check their trailer to make sure that it is up to code and does not have any problems.

If any of these regulations are not complied with before or at the time of your accident, then you may have a strong case against the driver of the tractor-trailer. Our personal injury lawyers will perform an in-depth investigation of your accident to determine your likelihood of success.

Tennessee and Kentucky Trucking Accidents

Tennessee and Kentucky are both above the national average in terms of deaths involving large trucks. In 2014 the national average of fatal accidents involving trucks was almost 11 per million people. The average for both Kentucky and Tennessee was over 14 deaths per million people.

Truck accidents are common throughout the United States due to the heavy traffic from trucking companies. Thankfully, the first responders have been particularly trained to assist us if we ever experience a truck accident. However, the injuries are frequently painful and life-threatening. With the help of experienced truck accident attorneys, you and your family may obtain help right away, working to get you the best medical care, documenting your injuries, and protecting the accident scene before important evidence is “lost.”

While automotive accidents involving passenger vehicles can be devastating, collisions between a passenger vehicle and an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer are often far worse. It’s simply not a fair contest to pit an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer against 3,000-pound passenger cars and other smaller vehicles. When a semi-truck collides with a passenger vehicle, 72 percent of the time the car occupants are harmed, but only 17 percent of the time the truck occupants are injured.

The number of heavy trucks involved in fatal crashes grew by 8% from 2014 to 2015, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the trucking sector. During the same time frame, the number of buses involved in fatal collisions climbed by 11%.

There are numerous sorts of automobile and truck collisions, including:

• Collisions with the back of the vehicle
• Rollovers
• Accidents involving a jackknife
• Crashing into each other.
• Side-impact collisions
• Sideswipes
• Underride of a truck (where the car goes under the truck or trailer)
• Trailer that has gotten away
• Furthermore, because many large vehicles have a “no-zone,” blind spot incidents are more common in cars than in trucks. These are locations around the truck where a truck driver may be unable to see an automobile and hence collide with it more readily.

Unfortunately, a truck driver’s negligence frequently damages a victim’s way of life, making it impossible for you to earn a living and maintain your family. Fortunately, reckless drivers, the trucking company, and their insurance company are required by law to compensate the innocent individuals they harm. The following are some of the most prevalent injuries that occur in car wrecks:

• Bruises and cuts
• Injuries to the soft tissues
• Bones are broken
• Disc herniation
• Injuries to the face and teeth
• Injury to the neck and back
• Concussions
• Various types of traumatic brain injuries
• Death

Hughes & Coleman Personal Injury Lawyers always seeks to incorporate provisions in our lawsuits to pay future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, outpatient treatment costs, pharmaceutical costs, and any other non-economic damages that may be related to your recovery, whenever possible. Call 800-800-4600 for a free case review today.

Accidents involving large vehicles and 18-wheelers, in particular, can be disastrous to those involved. Big trucks and 18-wheelers can weigh 80,000 pounds or more as they travel along highways and roads, which is nearly 20 times the weight of the ordinary automobile. The nature of these types of collisions is often more catastrophic due to the sheer size and weight of huge trucks and 18-wheelers.

If you drive on any of Tennessee or Kentucky’s roadways, you will never be far from an 18-wheeler. The dangers of being involved in a collision with large trucks and 18-wheelers are significant, but they are an important component of our economy. As a result, both federal and state regulations establish the minimal safety standards that heavy trucks and 18-wheelers must adhere to before, during, and after operating on highways and roads.

It should come as no surprise that the majority of heavy truck and 18-wheeler collisions are not the type of collisions where everyone involved walks away with minor to no injuries. Many large truck and 18-wheeler accidents are caused by factors that may have been avoided, such as:

Distracted Driving – Nationwide, including  Kentucky and Tennessee, driver error is one of the leading causes of commercial vehicle accidents. Any distraction that takes a truck driver’s eyes and/or attention off the road, whether it’s from chatting on the phone, texting, streaming a movie/TV show and/or video while driving, or any other distraction is a major hazard to other vehicles on the road.

While state and federal minimum safety regulations compel big truck businesses to guarantee that the drivers they hire are qualified and adequately trained, many big truck companies cut shortcuts on driver credentials and/or training, putting unsafe and untrained drivers on the road.

Truck driver fatigue – arises when a truck driver is weary and works longer hours than is legally permissible. The hours a driver can be on duty in a day and a week is limited by state and federal minimum safety requirements; yet, big truck firms and their drivers frequently break these limits.

Aggressive Driving (Speeding – Failure to Yield Right of Way – Failure to Maintain A Safe Following Distance) – Aggressive and unsafe driving choices such as following too closely or passing illegally are dangerous choices made by big truck and 18-wheeler drivers on a daily basis.  These actions are extremely dangerous to other motorists on the road. This is a major component in traffic accidents all around the country.

Failure to obey basic safety regulations – Truck drivers and their employers are required to follow a set of minimum safety rules meant to protect themselves and other motorists. Failure to adhere to these minimum safety regulations puts the driver and other motorists on the road in danger.

Despite the fact that some 18-wheeler drivers are subjected to random drug testing and medical exams, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is still a major cause of accidents.

Failure to properly load or secure goods — If the driver fails to follow the basic safety regulations when securing or loading cargo, unbalanced distribution of weight and/or a shift in weight might occur, increasing the risk of a disaster.

Driving in inclement weather – When faced with inclement weather, heavy truck drivers must adjust their driving (and/or get off the road) according to the minimum safety regulations. The reason for this is that large trucks take much longer to stop than passenger cars. Driving under poor visibility/traction circumstances, such as fog, rain, sleet, ice, snow, or smoke, among other factors, dramatically enhances a heavy truck driver’s chances of causing a collision.

In 2017, 4,761 individuals were killed in collisions involving heavy trucks (defined as vehicles with a GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) greater than 10,000 pounds) according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

When people talk about “truck wrecks,” they’re talking about collisions involving large commercial trucks. This category includes the following trucks:

18-wheelers

Semi-trucks

Trucks that transport oil and gas

Trucks that dump waste

Trucks that deliver packages

Trailers pulled by tractors

Box Trucks

Towing vehicles

Trucks with refrigeration

If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, you should contact experienced and reputable truck accident attorneys who are familiar with local and national trucking regulations and can help you get the treatment and compensation you and your family deserve. Hughes & Coleman’s truck accident lawyers have years of experience handling semi-truck accident cases throughout Kentucky and Tennessee.