The sheer size of commercial trucks traveling the highways of North Carolina increases their destructiveness in a crash. People in passenger vehicles bear the brunt of impacts with big rigs. In accidents that involve a commercial truck and a passenger vehicle, the victims in the passenger vehicles represent up to 97 percent of fatalities. Survivors often must contend with disability, disfigurement, brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Truck accidents sometimes crush, fracture or dislodge vertebrae. The damage to the underlying nerve tissue could cause paralysis, and victims will require lifelong treatment. Head trauma that causes brain injury could reduce a person’s mental function.
Many crashes produce flying debris that can deeply cut people. These lacerations threaten life by causing heavy blood loss, injure nerves or leave bad scars. Disfigured people might experience long-term emotional stress and other consequences from their altered appearance. A portion of accident victims suffer from PTSD as a result of the terror of the accident or the aftermath that included multiple surgeries and difficult rehabilitation therapies.
A person injured in an accident might face weeks or months away from work while medical bills pile up. Even a person who expects to recover physically could still endure significant financial hardship. Damages could be recoverable, however, if the truck driver or trucking company acted negligently. The support of an attorney knowledgeable about commercial truck accidents could empower a person depleted by extensive injuries. An attorney might challenge low settlement offers from uncooperative insurance companies with evidence collected about the accident. The resources of an attorney may uncover evidence of negligence, like violations of trucking regulations. These tasks might be beyond a person struggling with serious injuries. In difficult cases that require litigation, an attorney may manage the court filings and trial.