AN INDIANA/ILLINOIS PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY WRITES ABOUT COMMERCIAL VEHICLE CRASHES
If you’ve been driving long enough, chances are high you’ve been involved in a car crash as a driver or passenger. And while car on car accidents are dangerous, there may be no greater peril on the Illinois and Indiana roadways than large commercial vehicles. Even the largest personal vehicles weigh less than 3,000 pounds. By contrast, a typical tractor-trailer weighs about five tons. The amount of damage that a commercial vehicle can inflict is exponentially greater than that of a personal car—and so are the injuries sustained by the victims of these crashes.
Personal Injury and Commercial Vehicle Accidents
Because commercial vehicles are owned, leased, and operated by big business enterprises, when they’re involved in a motor vehicle accident, there is a much different dynamic. Typically, the company will dispatch an attorney, investigator, an insurance adjuster, or one of each to the scene of the crash. The job of these individuals is to assess the liability that the driver’s employer has incurred and to take steps to minimize it. The attorney or adjuster will talk to the investigating police officer, get a statement from the commercial vehicle driver, take photographs, and then talk to anyone else who was involved in the truck crash. If the attorney believes that the driver was at-fault for the crash, he or she may make an offer to settle right then and there if the victim will waive his or her right to pursue further legal damages. The reason is that the insurance companies know that most people can’t pay the doctor’s bills, medical expenses, vehicle damage, and other costs associated with a crash. This fast money may be very tempting to you if you’re involved in a car crash, but as an Indiana and Illinois personal injury attorney, you are playing with fire and jeopardizing maximizing your recovery for any inuries that may later developw.
Do Not Accept an Offer From an Insurance Company Attorney on Scene
If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense for the insurance companies to minimize their liability as early and as cheaply as possible. By getting you to sign a waiver for whatever they are offering, they make sure that you and your lawyer don’t come at them later for a much bigger sum of money. The attorney on scene might try to convince you that the offer on the table is the only offer that you’ll receive and that it will be gone if you don’t act quickly. This is almost never the case. Before accepting any offer, you should contact a reputable Indiana or Illinois (depending on where your accident happened and where you live) personal injury attorney. A personal injury attorney can assess your medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, permanent injuries, etc., and help you calculate a fair settlement.
Whether you’ve been struck by a commercial truck or involved in a car accident in Northwest Indiana, Chicagoland, Indianpolis or anywhere else in IN or IL, contact a personal injury attorney immediately.
