Trucking Blind Spot Accidents

Every vehicle has blind spots that inhibit sight in front, back and to the sides. You and other drivers use side and rearview mirrors and backup cameras to minimize these blind spots. However, if someone gets careless or reckless, these blind spots can become significant hazards. The same is true for truckers and their truck blind spots, which are even larger than those for personal vehicles. Trucking blind spot accidents happen on highways and local roads across Wisconsin and often result in serious injuries and fatalities.

If you were hurt during a truck accident or lost a loved one, call us at Studinski Law, LLC today at (715) 343-2850 to schedule a time to discuss your options and rights to compensation.

Truck Blind Spots

Every vehicle has areas with reduced visibility. For trucks, these blind spots are:

• The area directly in front of the cab
• The area to the right and slightly forward of the cab.
• A majority of the right side of the truck
• The upper left side of the truck
• The area directly behind the trailer

These are not small areas. The blind spot in front of the cab can be as much as 20 feet, while the blind spot behind the truck can be around 30 feet. Entire vehicles can hide in the blind spots of trucks. If truckers and other drivers are not careful, there may be multiple nearby vehicles a trucker cannot see at any given time.

Common Truck Blind Spot Accidents

When vehicles ride in a truck’s blind spots or when truckers fail to pay close attention to their surroundings, accidents happen. Some of the most common types of accidents that occur because of blind spots include rear-end and side collisions. A trucker who cannot see a vehicle in front of the cab may not stop in time or at all, colliding with the rear end of another vehicle. If a trucker must stop suddenly and a vehicle is tailgating it, the vehicle behind may rear end the truck. Also, many accidents occur when a truck changes lanes into a vehicle within a blind spot. The truck and vehicle may collide or the maneuver may send the vehicle into another lane of traffic or off the road.

Truck Drivers May be Negligent for Blind Spot Accidents

Many blind spot accidents are the result of careless truck drivers.

A truck driver may negligently cause a blind spot accident if they:

• Do not have the proper training or qualifications to drive a specific type of truck
• Do not have the necessary mirrors for the truck properly installed
• Did not properly align the mirrors to reduce the blind spots as much as possible
• Failed to keep a proper lookout for other vehicles around them
• Failed to check relevant blind spots before making a maneuver
• Drove while overly tired
• Drove while intoxicated due to drugs or alcohol
• Do not have proper technology such as front, side, and rear collision avoidance systems

Who is Liable for Your Injuries?

There may be multiple parties responsible for causing your wreck. The truck driver may be responsible. Similarly, the trucking company may be responsible because the truck driver was its employee acting in the scope of his employment at the time of the wreck. In other words, the trucker’s negligence is imputed to the trucking company. In addition, the trucking company may be independently negligent in its failure to properly hire, train, supervise, and fire its employees. Given technological advancements with collision avoidance technology, we often investigate whether the trucking company failed to properly equip the truck that was involved in a wreck. There are many issues and potentially responsible parties in what may appear to be a simple crash associated with a trucker’s failure to check and monitor his blind spot.

To determine who caused your accident and which party is liable under the law, contact our trucking accident lawyers at Studinski Law, LLC. We are experienced in investigating truck accidents to determine what went wrong and who you should file a claim against.

Personal Injury Compensation After a Truck Accident

After a truck accident, you may have a lot of unexpected problems. Your physical, psychological, and financial losses give you the right to seek compensation through a personal injury claim. When you are hurt because of another person’s negligence, that person is responsible for compensating you. While they cannot take back what happened, they can compensate you for the harm they caused.

During a personal injury claim, you can seek compensation for past and future:

• Medical expenses
• Wage loss
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and mental anguish
• Disability
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of earning capacity
• Loss of society and companionship
• Property damage, when applicable

Let Our Wisconsin Truck Accident Lawyers Help You

If you were hurt in an accident with a truck and you believe it was related to the truck’s blind spots, contact us at Studinski Law, LLC right away. Our legal team has years of experience investigating trucking accidents. We will investigate what caused the accident, including whether it was the result of the trucker’s negligence and blind spots. To learn more about how we can help you, call today at (715) 343-2850.